An independent audit of Montebello Unified — posted online Monday afternoon — called on City of Industry-based Del Terra Group to either prove it provided real services to the district or refund the money as part of an in-depth look at how MUSD manages its multimillion-dollar bond program.
In a statement, Luis Rojas, Del Terra’s chief executive officer, said Tuesday that auditors never consulted his firm despite his offers to assist, and that “we intend to vigorously and publicly defend our billing protocols, bond management program and reputation.”
But it’s not the first time aspersions have been cast against the contractor.
The company, which provides planning, program, project, construction management and consulting services to the K-14 educational market and municipalities, has been in the news for the last two decades. A timeline follows:
1994: Rojas founds the Industry-based Del Terra Group.
1999: The Santa Ana Unified School District approves Del Terra as a bond program consultant, although the company had only one school construction client, the Montebello Unified School District.
1999: The Santa Ana school board votes 4-1 to expand Del Terra’s duties to include setting school design standards and overseeing budgets.
2001: Hacienda La Puente Unified School District hires Del Terra to manage construction projects.
May 2002: Santa Ana Unified school board approves a contract with Del Terra Real Estate Services to manage the bond program in return for for 2.5 percent of the construction program.
January 2003: Del Terra comes under fire for alleged miscalculations of building costs, unreliable budgets and near-constant bickering between Del Terra and the Orange County district’s construction experts.
February 2003: Santa Ana Unified fires Del Terra.
April 2004: Santa Ana Unified agrees to pay $600,000 to Del Terra to settle a $17 million lawsuit.
2005: Montebello Unified terminates its contract with Del Terra; the stated reason is cost savings, but in a 2018 audit, district staff cited performance problems as the real reason.
May 2006: City of Whittier awards $7.5 million contract to Del Terra to build 4.5-mile Greenway Trail despite concerns that it involved in projects experiencing problems in the Montebello and Santa Ana unified school districts.
November 2009: Del Terra files $1.8 million claim against the city, alleging it lost time and about $770,000 from delays because the design for the Greenway Trail was defective.
September 2010: As Hacienda La Puente Unified completes the last projects under its 10-year-old bond, a program managed by Del Terra since 2001, a report on the program shows that costs increased by $10.8 million, and the schedule for completion increased by 43 percent.
September 2011: Whittier City Council agrees to pay Del Terra $850,000 to settle a claim the company filed against the city.
2013: Alum Rock Union Elementary School District in San Jose hires Del Terra to perform program and constructionmanagement services.
August 2016: Montebello Unified awards a new contract to Del Terra to perform program management for its $300 million bond voters approved two months before.
April 2017: California’s education auditor is investigating allegations that the Alum Rock Union and its trustees paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Del Terra for work that was never performed.
June 2017: A report from the independent Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team shows that Alum Rock Union paid $3.25 million to Del Terra to manage construction in the district but scant documentation exists to chart the progress of its work, track payments or enforce contract terms.
June 2017: Rojas says his firm provided documentation to the Santa Clara County-based district but it wasn’t conveyed to the state auditor.
October 2017: Alum Rock’s attorney alleges in a confidential report that the district’s facilities director made a side deal with Del Terra for a middle school renovation that would have cost taxpayers an extra $2.5 million and netted extra revenue for Del Terra Real Estate, a division of Del Terra Group.
October 2017: A former Montebello Unified administrator sues the district, seeking to stop payments to Del Terra.
April 2018: The Securities and Exchange Commission seeks documents from Montebello Unified connected to the selection of Del Terra as its bond construction manager.
May 2018: Alum Rock’s school board terminates its program management contracts with Del Terra Real Estate. However, the board kept intact the firm’s construction management contracts.
August 2018: Lawmakers in Sacramento authorized a review by the California State Auditor of the Alum Rock Union School District.
August 2018: Montebello Unified chooses ot to renew contract with Del Terra.
October 2018: A state audit asks that Del Terra prove it provided services to Montebello Unified School District or pay money back.
Sources: Articles in the Whittier Daily News, San Jose Mercury-News and audits by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.
