Broward County Public Schools Construction chief Tom Linder agreed to resign from his post Monday after Schools Supt. Robert Runcie moved to have him fired, reports Bob Norman.
Runcie accused Linder of "rouge activities" and alleges that the construction chief refurbished his office, failed to clean up his department, and did not communicate properly, according to an administrative complaint filed by the superintendent.
Norman also reports that Lindner put together more than $1 million in payouts to Royal Concrete Concepts for a maintenance building project that never happened and didn't have a valid contract.
As part of a grand jury corruption probe, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the defunct construction project last year. The investigation found that there was no valid contract and that the invoicing of the Royal Concrete constitutes "an alleged fraud."
Runcie put the kibosh on the project in January, but Lidner went ahead with it in May anyway, submitting invoices to pay Royal Concrete Concepts more than $1 million.
Runcie tells Norman that money was paid to Royal Concrete anyway, even after he canceled the contracts. These payments were made without Runcie's knowledge, he says.
"It's under review," he said.
School Board members, who along with Runcie called for a halt in the project and payments, are now calling for answers.
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