April 13, 2008
Dominic J. Scaglione, Inspector General
County of Essex
Hall of Records
465 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Rm. 519
Newark, NJ, 07102
Re: Investigation of Shauger Group
Dear Mr. Scaglione:
Attached, please find the missive of February 10, 2008 CWA Local 1081 wrote Essex County Administrator Joyce Wilson Harley, Esq. in which our Union noted, and asked, the following:
In October, 2007, it was reported in The Star Ledger that “The Essex County Inspector General is investigating the county vocational school district’s overpayment of $360,000 to a pair of vendors without the school board’s consent”. “The first contract being examined is a one-year agreement for $320,000 with the East Orange-based Shauger Group for building maintenance, landscaping and snow removal”, with Inspector General Dominick Scaglione quoted as asserting that “nine months and $250,000 were added to that contract without board approval”. What was the outcome of Inspector General Scaglione’s investigation?
When our Union met with Ms. Wilson Harley on March 10, 2008 to discuss twenty-one (21) for the most part unrequited epistles our Union had written the Administration regarding County expenditures, she stated she was unaware of the outcome of your above cited investigation. Please provide our Union a memorialized recounting of your investigation’s conclusion.
Sincerely
David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081
February 10, 2008
Joyce Wilson Harley, Esq., Administrator
County of Essex
Hall of Records
465 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd , Rm. 510
Newark , NJ , 07102
Re: Resolution #14
Dear Ms. Wilson Harley:
CWA Local 1081 respectfully submits the following observations and questions regarding Resolution #14, which includes a contract proposed by the Administration to be awarded to Shauger Property Services, Inc., in the amount of $1,173,000.50, “for the construction of a bird aviary at Turtle Back Zoo”:
- Inasmuch as there exists a mere $317.50 difference between Shauger’s bid and that of the next lowest bidder, Sita Construction, and considering the next lowest bid amount differential after Sita’s consists of $173,082 from the number three bidder Navka Construction Company, why is Shauger’s winning bid qualified by the Administration as “calculated” when none of the other bids are so cited?
- Shauger was awarded the bid on a number of other construction projects involving the Essex County parks, as well as for the County’s zoo:
a) $700,000, in July 2007, to for improvements to Verona Park, including a five-station fitness center.
b) $780,00,0 in July 2007, for upgrades to the Branch Brook Park welcome center.
c) $353,510, in November 2007, to reconstruct the Octagon Shelter within Branch Brook Park.
d) According to an article within the July 24, 2007 edition of The Star Ledger, Donald Shauger “has worked on a handful of county park projects, including completing improvements at Branch Brook Park, Grover Cleveland Park and Orange Park.”
- In October, 2007, it was reported in The Star Ledger that “The Essex County Inspector General is investigating the county vocational school district’s overpayment of $360,000 to a pair of vendors without the school board’s consent”. “The first contract being examined is a one-year agreement for $320,000 with the East Orange-based Shauger Group for building maintenance, landscaping and snow removal”, with Inspector General Dominick Scaglione quoted as asserting that “nine months and $250,000 were added to that contract without board approval”. What was the outcome of Inspector General Scaglione’s investigation?
- It was reported in the October 22, 1993 edition of The Star Ledger that during a Verona Investigatory Committee meeting to “probe ‘illegal’ dumping at the county-owned Hilltop property”, “Donald Shauger, the sole owner of D&D Asphalt of Wayne and president of the West Orange Planning Board, estimated that 50 to 80 truckloads of fill had been brought to the Hilltop by his company at the request of Essex County. He said his company pleaded guilty to federal Environmental Protection Agency violations and paid an $8,000 fine”. It was also reported in the November 24, 1992 edition of The Star Ledger that “Essex County spent $2 million to clean up the 11,670 tons of soil and concrete dumped on the Verona site”. Is Donald Shauger of D&D Asphalt the same Donald Shauger of Shauger Property Services, Inc.?
Sincerely,
David H. Weiner, President, CWA Local 1081