Dec 6, 2018 5 min read

The director of support services for the Canon-McMillan School District has been cited by the state’s ethics commission for mingling district business with a private company he and his wife operate.

According to a consent agreement, Matthew Harding, who has been employed by the district since 2005, did not disclose that he operated an outside company on annual statements of financial interests in 2012 and 2013; approved district purchases from a company with whom he had a private contractual relationship; conducted business for his company while on the clock for the district; and used district equipment and facilities to repair his own vehicles.

Harding was ordered to pay the state $9,650. He also was ordered to update his financial interest statements for 2012 and 2013 to note his involvement with Computec Technical Solutions, Inc., the Eighty Four-based company he owns with his wife, Melissa Harding.

Jocelyn Kramer, the solicitor for the district released a statement on behalf of Superintendent Michael Daniels, stating that the district cooperated with the investigation, and addressed the allegations “as a personnel matter.”

It continued, “The violations identified … occurred many years ago when Mr. Harding first became a supervisor subject to the Ethics Act. Although we will not comment on specifics of the internal personnel matter, the district is confident that Mr. Harding’s omissions were not intentional, the district suffered no financial harm, and the vendor identified as the basis of the conflict of interest was a district vendor for many years prior to Mr. Harding’s appointment as a supervisor.”

The 32-page final adjudication by the State Ethics Commission, which was mailed at the end of October, states that Harding approved district payment invoices to Tyco SimplexGrinnell in Cranberry Township, while Computec, which handles, among other things, security camera systems, audio and video installation and cabling infrastructure, was a subcontractor for that company on a project at the Washington County Health Center.

At one point, according to the report, Ben Wise, a sales representative for Tyco SimplexGrinnell, urged Harding to issue a purchase order for the district to purchase DVR equipment before the end of June 2012 because “this has been a slow month for me and I can use the order if it is possible.” The equipment was not purchased, however, since the district’s purchase system was closed until July 1, 2012.

Around the same time, Tyco SimplexGrinnell was not paying Computec for work it had carried out on the health center project because of its poor quality. The day after Wise notified Computec about the problems it had with its work on the health center, Harding ordered five DVRs from Wise.

After holding off on making the payment, Tyco SimplexGrinnell ultimately agreed to pay Harding’s company because Wise believed that Tyco SimplexGrinnell would be able to maintain a business relationship with the Canon-McMillan School District if the payment was made.

According to the report, Wise said in an email message to David Zimmerman, the electronics operation manager at Tyco SimplexGrinnell, “All I know is that if they don’t get paid, we have no choice on any of the work in the future … Like I have told you in the past, this is the largest school district in my area. They have 11 buildings with security and fire in all of them. 4K seems like a very small sacrifice for the potential work we would be giving up.”

While conceding that the purchases from Tyco SimplexGrinnell were used by the district, the report states that Harding “utilized the authority of his public employment … to initiate and authorize (school district) purchases from Simplex … in an effort to secure payment from Simplex to (Computec).”

The ethics commission also found that Harding used district facilities to repair his vehicles, even though the financial benefit to Harding was minimal. The report says that prior to 2017, personnel with the district would use the mechanics bay to repair their personal vehicles after their regularly scheduled shifts and that no specific policy was in place prohibiting it.

Harding also gave out his phone number and email address with the district to employees of his computer company, and communicated with employees while he was on the clock for the district through email, text messages, over the phone and in person. On Jan. 27, 2016, for instance, Harding and one of his employees exchanged 84 messages in a 75-minute span while Harding was attending a district meeting.

Harding became the district’s director of support services in 2011. He was first employed in the district as a network administrator, and was promoted to technology coordinator in 2009. The director of support services oversees Canon-Mac’s transportation, technology and facilities departments.

Canon-Mac employees are allowed to have outside employment as long as those jobs don’t conflict with their duties in the district. Daniels said in his statement, “The district does not condone or tolerate any actions contrary to the strict mandates of the Ethics Act. Mr. Harding acknowledged and resolved the noted concerns, and the district suffered no loss.”

He also said that Harding could continue in his job “without conflict or concern.”