Harlandale to settle lawsuit with firm
Harlandale Independent School District trustees voted to settle a lawsuit with the district’s former engineering contractor, agreeing to bury the bitter remains of a decade-long business relationship that became the central focus of a Texas Education Agency investigation.
The TEA probe resulted in a scathing report about the district’s procurement practices that placed much of the blame on board members and almost resulted in a state takeover of the district.
After emerging from a four-hour meeting in closed session Thursday, trustees voted 6-1 to approve the settlement, but did not disclose its terms. Board President Norma Cavazaos said she could not discuss the details until the agreement was filed in court, which she believed might happen in the first week of December.
Comments from four board members as the vote was taken indicated they considered the agreement less than ideal.
“I’m not happy about this, but I’m going to vote yes,” Christine Carrillo said.
“Begrudgingly, yes,” Ricardo
Moreno said.
“The hardest ‘yes’ I’ve ever had
to say,” Juan Mancha said.
“With all due respect to all my colleagues, it’s a no,” Zeke Mendoza said. Reached after the meeting, Mendoza declined to elaborate on his reasons for dissenting.
Cavazos, Liz Limon and Elaine Anaya-Ortiz joined the board in 2019, after the lawsuit began. The engineering firm’s CEO, Jasmine Azima, sued the district in response to a board decision in 2018 to cancel its longrunning contract, a decision that came while the TEA investigation was underway.
The agency found the contract, signed in 2007 and extended several times over the next eight years despite occasional efforts by some board members to seek proposals from other firms, skirted bidding requirements in state law.
Investigators identified other misconduct by the board and its then-superintendent. The lawsuit hovered over the board’s subsequent attempts to convince Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath not to replace trustees with an appointed board of managers, which investigators recommended.
A state district judge has twice ruled against Harlandale ISD on pre-trial motions attempting to have the lawsuit dismissed and the trustees have appealed. In March, the state’s 4th Court of Appeals once again sent the case back to the trial court.
Earlier this year, trustees voted to admit the board had violated state law by repeatedly handing lucrative work to its former engineering firm for years under a single professional services agreement. It seemed to be a legal maneuver, coming soon after a panel of appellate judges noted the district couldn’t argue the contract with Jasmine was invalid until trustees accepted the TEA’s findings. And it signaled that the district would continue to fight the lawsuit.
Harlandale underwent a significant shakeup after the results of the TEA report were published last year. Trustees parted ways with Superintendent Rey Madrigal, and longtime trustee David Abundis resigned.
The TEA appointed a conservator, Judy Castleberry, to oversee the board and she initiated a change of attorneys. The firm Sanchez and Wilson was representing the district in the lawsuit until August. It was replaced by the law firm Walsh Gallegos.
Moreno, who in 2015 voted against terminating Jasmine, said he would not recommend the firm again. Mancha, who voted alongside Moreno in 2015, also changed his tune.
“Sometimes we get fooled into believing somebody is going to do great for our district and then they end up separating our district,” Mancha said.
A spokesperson for Azima did not return a request for comment. Her position has been that her firm saved the district money — “a million dollars” in savings, according to some residents who spoke up for her at board meetings through the years; “millions of dollars,” according to her spokesman when discussing the lawsuit at one point; “tens of millions of dollars,” according to her lawyer last year.
Trustees defended the arrangement with Jasmine Engineering for years, saying the company completed projects on time and under budget. The few who spoke against it said the district allowed the company to overstate the expected cost of projects to create the illusion of cost savings.
Mancha, who has been on the board eight years, said the decision was difficult but signaled a new, harmonious board relationship.
“I am so happy to be on this board with you guys now because I see the unity, I see the commitment,” Mancha said before the vote.