The use of school credit cards to buy building materials and tools for a $218,000 concession stand at Horace O'Bryant Middle School, and time sheets showing school employees working at the site, have fueled an internal investigation at the school district headquarters.

"If you have a school system employee who is hired to do work and they dedicate their time to that job, then they can't do another job and be paid for it," Burke said. "I have asked School Board attorney Richard Collins to interview employees to find out what was going on," he said Thursday.

A Florida Auditor General's Office report in February cited the district for a "verbal agreement" between former Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson and ousted Superintendent Randy Acevedo for the construction of a $218,000 concession stand. The city provided $120,000 because young residents use adjacent fields for American Youth Soccer games. However, McPherson said last week he had nothing to do with the concession stand and that it originated with City Commissioner Teri Johnston.

The audit also criticized the district for failing to get time cards from subcontractors showing which employees of those subcontractors worked at the site, how much they were paid and when. Auditors said the agreement was not sufficiently documented to collect money owed by the city. The city has paid the $120,000 to the district, records show.

Dori Collins, the district's Transportation Director, is among employees who likely will be questioned, Burke said. Collins signed off on time sheets for employees who worked at the concession stand site.

Time sheets obtained by The Citizen on Friday show that Collins approved at least 34 eight-hour shifts for school employees at the job site. Chuck Sellers, for instance, spent three days doing electrical work at the site; another installed pipe, another school employee installed stainless steel railings, another installed drywall. Time sheets of other employees did not provide the nature of the work they performed.

District policy prohibits school employees in most cases from earning money from vendors doing business with the district. School officials hope to determine whether that policy was violated -- a task made difficult by a lack of contracts and work authorization documents.

Records show the district paid Charley Toppino Sons Inc. a series of checks totaling $183,204 for labor and equipment between October 2008 and early 2009.

"Does anyone know what was happening with the taxpayers' money? Because the school employees were doing the work," said School Board member John Dick. "If we paid another contractor nearly $200,000 and our employees were doing work, that bothers me."

District records obtained by The Citizen Friday also show that Collins, former Facilities Director Chuck Freeman, and other school construction employees used school credit cards to purchase $34,940 in concrete, lumber, nails, roofing, plumbing, electric and other materials for the job.

It remains unclear why the district used credit cards to purchase the additional material. Dick said some district purchases are for less than $20, which shows "our employees running to the store to buy material for the Toppino crew."

"The problem becomes that our men, our employees, all these different employees are purchasing these things," Dick said. "Why are our men doing it? Who paid for our time? We had plumbers, electricians, carpenters on the site and we're having our facilities employees run as gofers for Toppino?"

There was nothing in the records obtained by The Citizen to indicate the district paid Toppino for any items that also were charged to district credit cards.

Despite repeated requests, neither Toppino & Sons nor the district have provided information on which subcontractors performed specific types of work, and who authorized that work. The district on Friday released invoices, credit card purchases and time sheets, but no contracts or work authorization documents.

Invoices and payment records indicate Toppino & Sons is the primary contractor, but Sims said Friday the district was the contractor and Chuck Freeman was the project manager.

If that was the case, it would be appropriate for district employees to perform work on the project, Sims said.

However, the statement conflicts with earlier statements by Sims that referred to Toppino as the prime contractor. Frank Toppino Sr., president of Toppino & Sons, said March 10 that Freeman had been a subcontractor. Follow-up calls to Toppino since that day have not been returned.

"We're trying to figure out the scope of the work Toppino did," Sims said Friday. "We're still trying to figure it out."

Cheryl Allen, the district's human resources director, said Toppino is not an approved school district vendor and that its employees had not been cleared to work on school property under the Jessica Lundsford Act that requires background checks of adults working on school property.

"I do not see Charley Toppino & Sons or Toppino & Sons on the approved vendor list," she told The Citizen.

A printout of payments by the district indicates that work was performed by Toppino & Sons, Atlantic Plumbing, B&W Enterprises, Blue Water Renovations, and others.

"I believe if suspicion of wrongdoing is present, we need to do everything possible to flush out the truth," said School Board Chairman Andy Griffiths in an e-mail Friday. "It is also important to have all the facts before creating suspicion. Fortunately for newspapers and unfortunately for us, all the facts are not necessary for a good story."

Burke said he hopes to have answers to the questions and contradictions in the next few weeks.

jguerra@keysnews.com