http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/oct/...

Lee schools purchasing director suddenly resigns as investigation announced
By MATT CLARK
NAPLES DAILY NEWS


FORT MYERS — The Lee County School District’s purchasing director has resigned amid allegations the district was overcharged by hundreds of thousands of dollars by Office Depot.

Robert George, 44, submitted his resignation to Lee schools Superintendent James Browder. He had been with the district for seven years.

In an interview at his home Saturday, George said he resigned for personal reasons.

“I’ve got two kids and I just want to spend more time with them right now,” George said.

District records put George’s salary in 2008 at $96,369.60.

Browder said Saturday he felt the same about George’s resignation as he would about any of the others he receives in a given year.

“I didn’t feel any different about Robert than I would about anybody else resigning,” Browder said. “They’re going to do what they’re going to do. God, I have people resign all the time.”

These were the events leading up to and following George’s resignation on Wednesday:

On Oct. 16, after a year and half of the district failing to compare the two pricing options and a refusal by Browder to conduct an audit offered by Short, Sherwin said he would petition a statewide grand jury that Gov. Charlie Crist was attempting to have seated. Sherwin estimated the district is eligible for more than $240,000 in a refund.

On Oct. 21, Browder said district Internal Auditor Bob Brown would take another look at the purchases. When the Daily News asked Brown if he would be comparing the two pricing options, he said ‘no’ because he thought the district had only purchased from the second pricing option.

On Tuesday, Brown met with Browder. A day later, George, who is in charge of the district’s purchasing contracts and their pricing, resigned.

On Friday, Browder announced a full investigation into anything relating to the contract, and didn’t rule out district officials may have acted inappropriately. Browder said he launched the investigation after conversing with Short.

At least seven other agencies in Southwest Florida have purchased from the contract in question. Edison State College and the city of Cape Coral received refunds in relation to the pricing options of $24,234 and $51,603, respectively, after simply contacting Office Depot. The Collier County School District, the city of Naples, the Lee County Port Authority and the city of Fort Myers also purchased from the contract.




On Jan. 2, 2006, Office Depot introduced a new, second pricing option for customers using a contract it has with Los Angeles County. More than 10,000 government agencies and nonprofits have signed onto the contract in an effort to increase buying power and get lower prices.

On April 23, 2008, Fort Myers resident David Sherwin, after being terminated for workplace misconduct in his job as the Office Depot account manager that sold the contract to Southwest Florida governments, began publicly airing allegations of overcharging. He began calling, e-mailing and faxing officials at some 700 government agencies in and outside of Southwest Florida.

Among the allegations Sherwin leveled was that the second pricing option was more expensive, but that he was told to sell it as a cost savings, something he asserts was fraudulent.

Office Depot says the contract was only sold as a simpler way to check prices and denies its pricing practices are fraudulent or in violation of any contract.