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Wilkes-Barre Area School District

October 17, 2009

Two firms get paid for paint work

King Glass was given money to supervise work by Postupak at Meyers school.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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A review of Wilkes-Barre Area School Board meetings provides no explanation why Richard Emanski’s company was paid $21,677 to supervise and inspect painting at Meyers High School in 2005 and 2006.

Another contractor – Postupak Painting Co. – was paid more than $480,000 for the actual painting and some patchwork, raising questions about why another paid overseer was necessary.

Emanski, who is listed as president of King Glass & Paint, has agreed to plead guilty to supplying and installing free carpeting in the home of a Wilkes-Barre Area School Board member in exchange for a contract benefiting his business, federal authorities announced Thursday.

Wilkes-Barre Area paid King Glass $953,713 from August 2004 through April 2009, mostly for carpet installation.

The school board approved the first Meyers High School painting supervision payment to King Glass in December 2005, and the minutes contained no discussion on the decision to hire the company for supervision work.

The board agreed at the same meeting to hire Postupak Painting for $411,000, though the contract was later increased for additional patching and some work involving light fixtures in the auditorium.

This first $8,300 payment to King Glass for “coatings/paint inspection” covered 78 hours of work, or $106.41 per hour, according to the invoice.

King Glass was paid another $6,900 for painting supervision in January, again with no explanation in the meeting minutes. That covered 65 hours of work, the invoice said.

Another $8,300 painting supervision payment was on the Feb. 8 meeting agenda for approval, along with three payments totaling $39,427 for “Meyers tiling.”

The $8,300 paint supervision and three tiling payments were tabled after board member Brian Dunn questioned whether the paint supervision payment was a “duplicate invoice,” the minutes say.

On March 18, the board voted to pay the three tabled tiling bills, but one of the invoices for $6,477 was now described as paint supervision instead of tiling.

The invoice says the $6,477 was for supervision and inspection of painting at Meyers, but it contained no documentation of the hours of work involved.

No additional paint supervision payments for King Glass could be located after that, though the board started paying Apollo Group Inc., the project’s construction manager, for painting supervision.

Apollo received $15,855 from March through September 2005 for work described as “Meyers painting.” An Apollo representative could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Emanski, 65, of Harveys Lake, has refused to respond to numerous messages left over the past few months.

Carl Postupak, president of Postupak Painting, was out of town and not available for comment Friday, an office representative said.

The federal charges do not name the school board member but say the board member was charged by the U.S. Attorney earlier this year, which leaves Dunn, Jim Height and Frank Pizzella.

However, Pizzella was not on the school board during the period in which the carpet was offered, which leaves Height and Dunn.

Height and Dunn have been accused of corruption. Height agreed to plead guilty and resigned from the board. Dunn awaits a hearing and has kept his seat on the board but has not attended any meetings. Neither could be reached for comment Friday.

In addition to Dunn and Height, the following board members served when the King Glass supervision payments were made: John Corcoran, Lynn Evans, James Fisher, Teresa McGuire, Brian O’Donnell, James Susek and Maryanne Toole.

Evans said she had literally just started serving on the board and did not know the background on how the painting was selected. Evans said she vaguely recalls someone questioning why King Glass was being paid for painting supervision instead of the project construction manager.

Corcoran said he does not recall any discussion about the painting supervision, though he said he would have challenged payments to King Glass for supervision if he had realized the company was being paid for that work.

The others who served at that time could not be reached for comment Friday.

Emanski was charged with corrupt payment of a reward for official action.

According to the federal charges, Emanski “knowingly, intentionally and corruptly” offered to give the school board member carpeting and installation services worth $1,000 to $5,000 between Nov. 1, 2004 and Jan. 1, 2005.

The offer was intended to influence and reward the board member in the awarding of a school district carpeting contract benefiting Emanski’s business, authorities say.

Sentencing guidelines call for eight to 14 months in prison, though a judge may sentence Emanski to up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

Much of the carpet installed by King Glass at Wilkes-Barre Area was purchased from Shaw Industries through a state bidding program called the Pennsylvania Education Joint Purchasing Council.

Several school officials have said the board did not seek bids or quotes from several businesses for the carpet installation to ensure that others had a shot at the work or that the district received the best price.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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