By Juan Montoya
Way back on May 17 this blogspot ran an article detailing how Wayne Moore, the UTB-TSC vice-president for Partnership Affairs was pressuring a TSC finance Department employee because she questioned the transfer of funds to cover up for construction costs overruns on several of the $68 million bond projects approved by the district voters.
Even back then, before the results of the management audit by the Spire Group out of Austin was known, some local observers noted that indications existed that something was not going well at the district when when Melba Sanchez resigned from the college's finance department.Sanchez apparently had been reluctant to move funds from a TSC account to another to conceal the fact that there had been more than $1 million in cost overruns in a construction project.
When Moore ordered her to do it, and instead, she was given the opportunity to resign. She now works in Harlingen.
This set off alarms on the board given the fact that her husband, is none other than 444th District Judge David Sanchez, who was chosen by TSC board chairman Kiko Rendon to administered his oath of office.
"Why was Moore so intent on moving funds around and mixing accounts to cover up the overruns on that project?" asked a source at the time. "If that happened, could there have been more of this stuff going on out at the college? We want to find out."Well, now we know.
Not only were there costs overruns in several projects financed by the bond issue, the total in cost overruns totaled some $42 million and the final report isn't even done yet. The possibility exists that even more money may have been involved in covering up the gross mismanagement of the bond-financed projects.
"I personally know that Judge Sanchez and his wife met with some trustees and with (UTB-TSC President) Juliet Garcia to discuss the matter," said a source close to the board. "In the end Sanchez decided not to pursue the matter legally. He probably didn't want to make matters worse."
Why was Moore so adamant in the transfer of the funds?
We understand that UTB-TSC administration named Veronica Mendez as vice-president for Planning and Construction, to whom the PM reported.
She was formerly Moore's secretary. Moore was vice-president for Administration, and later vice-president for Partnership Affairs. Mendez's qualifications for the overseeing of the multi-million dollar projects appears to have been her holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Sciences.
As his secretary, Mendez had intimate knowledge of the goings-on at the "community university" and Moore could count on her undying loyalty to carry out his plans. When they went awry, Sanchez, sensing something was not right, didn't play along and the screws were tightened to hasten her departure.
And that, as Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story.
7 comments:
Wayne Moore was a mediocre, moody, miserable excuse for an English teacher.
Wayne Moore, to avoid teaching, attached himself to Juliet Garcia and was a willing leprechan for her ventures. Wayne Moore is a tiny creature, but he used his boss' (Juliet) name to gain his power. Juliet in return, allowed Wayne the Leprechan to spend a year in Ireland...as a reward for his loyalty. Wayne Moore was not well liked at UTB, because he wore Juliet's power on his sleeve and couldn't be trusted.
Here we go again. Teachers thinking they can run a business without any financial background.
How does someone with an English Degree become Vice President for Administration or Partnership Affairs? With the help of a communications major (Dr. J. Garcia).
I guess you must be well versed and articulate to con a whole city and the State for that matter to reap the financial rewards they seeked.
Can they all go to jail, please?
Moore is an old dinosaur and she retire already like his moronic wife at BISD.
He taught? Could have fooled me!!
The faculty on campus have a healthy dislike for Moore, a man known as an incompetent bully much given to sulking when he doesn't (rarely) get his way. He used to be fond of pooh, poohing parking issues on campus by noting that faculty and students were just lazy, and parking spaces really abound around campus. Had he treated friends and colleagues as well as he has served his "empress", he would not now find himself in such a place as this.
For the record, the notion that some special, magical degree is required to run a successful business is hogwash. Academic degrees, particularly those in fundamental skillets, will do just fine. However, integrity and character are also required, that is where Moore and his ilk fall apart.
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