Corcoran calls UCF out over misused $38M
Outgoing Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran on Friday called for closer scrutiny of University of Central Florida spending and said the misuse of $38 million in state funding on a new academic building has “tarnished the reputation” of the institution.
He reacted the day after President Dale Whittaker admitted to the state’s Board of Governors that UCF had used money intended for operating expenses on the new Trevor Colbourn Hall.
Whittaker said Chief Financial Officer Bill Merck, who resigned Thursday, took “full and immediate responsibility” for the decision to misuse funds. But Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, was skeptical Merck was the only one who knew of the offense.
“I am baffled by how the actions of one irresponsible officer’s effort at flouting the Legislature’s and State University System’s budget controls could result in a four-year-long unauthorized endeavor of this magnitude,” he wrote to Whit-
taker on Friday. “There are only two possibilities: That others within UCF were aware of and conspired in this misuse of public funds, or your administration lacks the necessary internal controls to manage its fiscal responsibilities.”
This fiasco marks the first major challenge for Whittaker, who became the university’s president July 1, succeeding John Hitt, who had been in that post for 26 years. Whittaker had been at UCF as the provost, an academics-focused role, since 2014.
The university responded Friday to Corcoran’s letter, saying Whittaker and Board of Trustees Chairman Marcos Marchena acted swiftly after learning about the problem from the auditor general’s office last month.
“Speaker Corcoran is correct that UCF and the state need to get to the bottom of this,” Whittaker said in a statement. “We’ve taken immediate, aggressive action to thoroughly and transparently investigate this matter, how it happened and who was involved.”
The university will make several changes to ensure that type of misuse doesn’t happen again, he told the board, which oversees the state university system.
He outlined several measures UCF plans to take, including hiring Atlanta law firm Bryan Cave to conduct an investigation, which will include inquiries about whether other employees besides Merck were involved. The Board of Trustees will meet with the firm Thursday to discuss the investigation.
But Corcoran, whose tenure as speaker is ending, said he wanted more. He appointed his expected successor, Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, as chairman of the Public Integrity and Ethics committee, where he will investigate the misuse of funds at UCF. Corcoran also is asking incoming lawmakers to “address this situation” in the university’s 2019-20 budget and to require the auditor general to conduct more frequent reviews of the institution’s spending.
“Unfortunately, this occurrence is one more example of mismanagement of taxpayer funds by public entities, and it has tarnished the reputation of UCF,” he wrote.
Marchena said when he and his colleagues approved the new building in 2014, they were misled about the source of the funding.
Besides the law firm’s investigation, Whittaker said he’ll split the responsibilities for overseeing facilities planning and university finances. And several university leaders, including the president, will have to review the funding sources for large construction projects.
The Board of Governors lambasted Whittaker and Marchena during a meeting Thursday at New College of Florida in Sarasota. Several members said they worried the misuse of state money would hamper their ability to work with lawmakers on funding matters.
Corcoran’s letter implies that their fears might be founded.
“The Legislature provides for broad discretion in university budgeting,” he wrote. “Perhaps this latitude should be revisited in light of this occurrence.”
Trevor Colbourn Hall, near the center of campus, opened last month. Construction on the 136,786square-foot building started in May 2017.
The facility houses 10 classrooms, 19 study rooms and 343 offices. Named for the university’s second president, it replaces a building also known as Colbourn Hall, which is one of the oldest structures on campus and is set to be razed.