Bond Oversight Done Right _________ __ Issue 74 • June 17, 2024

CABOC – The Path Forward
From Carolyn Castillo, CABOC President

Over the last several months, CABOC’s Management Team, Chairman, and Directors have been working on several critical items. The primary organizational challenges have been its financial stability and the interest of CBOC members in CABOC services. The primary funding to keep CABOC operational has been donations and sponsorships. CABOC has been relying heavily on contributions from our volunteer directors. 

CABOC, a beacon of respect throughout the state, is driven by a team of passionate volunteers. Two new committees have been approved to revise our mission statement and develop a membership fee schedule. We believe that our focus, which has primarily been on educating CBOC members, should now extend to include school district personnel and school boards. Currently, we have 23 CBOC training videos ready, with additional advanced training modules in the pipeline. We are also planning outreach efforts to school districts and school board members to share our mission and invite them to join us. In terms of membership fees, we are in the process of determining the most suitable levels and fees. Our next steps include expanding our readership by adding more case studies, initiating a speaker series, and continuing with our annual conference.

As a valued member of our community, we are reaching out to you for your help and support. Your donation, no matter the amount, will play a crucial role in enabling us to continue serving you and our community. We are also actively seeking volunteers who are willing to fill vacancies on our various committees, as your unique skills and perspectives are vital to our success. 

Please provide feedback on what efforts CABOC should focus on in this short survey:

To Donate Visit:
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CABOC is exempt from Federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), identification number 84-3416221. Donors can deduct contributions they make to CABOC 
under IRS Section 170 to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Seeking Volunteers for the CABOC Finance Committee
Please contact: info.caboc@gmail.com
How the Promise of Big Energy Savings in One Bay Area School District Led to a $50 Million Controversy?

Concerns were forwarded to the D.A. in Contra Costa County
EXCERPT: For the past decade, Schneider Electric has wooed educators across the country with promises of green, cost-cutting energy solutions to help improve learning conditions inside school halls and classrooms. ...
_ But several watchdogs responsible for ensuring effective spending of taxpayers’ dollars are now ringing alarm bells over one multi-million-dollar Schneider Electric project in Contra Costa County. Complaints have snowballed into questions about whether the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) illegally allowed Schneider to scope, design and construct energy-efficient improvements to buildings district-wide, ultimately doubling their cost to $50 million.
_ What’s more, an oversight committee is claiming that the district is stonewalling its attempts to investigate this contract, perhaps in violation of California law.
_ The school district’s Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) on Thursday discussed sending a formal letter in June to the county’s civil grand jury about its concerns, shortly after sharing the same grievances with District Attorney Diana Becton’s office.
_ Committee members — who are appointed by MDUSD’s governing board — are looking into allegations related to Schneider Electric’s “energy savings performance” contract with the district. Similar contracts at the crux of Schneider’s pitch to educators have been clouded by allegations of malfeasance, including criminal forfeiture of $1.7 million and a $9.3 million settlement in Dec. 2020 involving at least eight projects with the federal government. ...
_ Concerns that the school board has not properly handled these allegations have gotten so serious that the oversight committee has tentatively suggested starting a campaign to recall MDUSD’s board trustees, who approved the contract and subsequent revisions with Schneider.
_ Jack Weir, a member of the oversight committee, has spent two decades doing similar work on over $1 billion in school bonds for six different oversight committees. He said at a March 7 committee meeting that, “we would prefer the district to clean this up if there is a problem. But from my perspective, we aren’t getting any cooperation back from the (school) board, and this has gone on for months, and months, and months.” ...
_ Potential trouble began brewing in March 2023, when the total project cost swelled to $49.4 million after the school board unanimously approved an amendment to Schneider’s May 2022 contract to replace lighting fixtures and ceiling tiles district-wide. The expanded scope included nearly $25.1 million of additional work on heating and cooling systems, which was not separately put out to bid. ...
_ But state officials have advised other government officials for years that this no-bid-extension process may violate state laws regarding conflicts of interest. ...

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