The Ohio Inspector General asked Ohio University for all records related to the McDavis' new residence at 31 Coventry Lane and asked the university to retain the records.
The Ohio Inspector General’s Office requested all records from Ohio University related to the lease-purchase agreement the university made for a new residence for OU President Roderick McDavis.
The request, sent in a letter from Inspector General Randall Meyer, is dated April 27 and was received by John Biancamano, OU’s general counsel, on May 4.
The office requested all records provided to local news outlets or another requesting party “in response to public records requests regarding 31 Coventry Lane and/or donations and pledges made by John and/or Joyce Wharton (the home’s owners).”
The Ohio University Foundation entered into a $1.2 million lease-purchase agreement on March 19 for a new presidential home at 31 Coventry Lane.
The property is owned by Athens realtor John Wharton, who verbally agreed with Director of Athletics Jim Schaus that – as part of the lease-purchase agreement – he would pay the rest of the money he pledged to the Walter Fieldhouse and donate an additional $100,000.
On April 13, Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding said he wouldn’t ask OU’s Board of Trustees or the OU Foundation to buy the property because Wharton’s agreement created a “problematic” situation for the university. The information regarding Wharton was not shared with those tasked with finding a new home for McDavis before they signed the lease-to-buy contract, Golding said.
The McDavises still reside at 31 Coventry Lane, and as of now it is unclear whether or not the university will purchase the property.
In the letter, the Ohio Inspector General’s Office also requested that the University preserve records dating from Jan. 1, 2014 that relate to:
- 31 Coventry Lane, including emails, appraisal records, assessments, inspections, negotiation records and lease agreements.
- Any other property considered for presidential housing.
- Any pledges or donations made by the Whartons.
- All financial records involving the lease and/or purchase of 31 Coventry Lane and any pledges and donations made by the Whartons.
- All moving records involving 31 Coventry Lane including moving negotiation records, agreements and contracts.
In the letter, the Inspector General requested OU not to dispose of any records related to this matter and asked the university to stop any automatic disposal of records pertaining to the request.
“If your document retention policy previously resulted in the destruction of electronically stored information that can still be reasonably recovered, please recover this information immediately,” Meyer said in the letter.
OU spokeswoman Bethany Venable confirmed that the Inspector General requested the university’s records and said the university has complied with the request.
“The Ohio Inspector General requested records that Ohio University had previously disclosed to the media regarding 31 Coventry Lane,” Venable said. “The request also asked that Ohio University retain all records related to the issue.”
The main job of The Office of the Inspector General is to “investigate allegations of wrongful acts by individuals employed in the executive branch of state agencies,” said Carl Enslen, state deputy inspector general.
Enslen could not comment on whether or not the office has opened an investigation into the university or is looking into opening an investigation.
“It is the policy of the Office of the Ohio Inspector General to neither discuss open investigations nor confirm or deny whether an open investigation exists,” Enslen said in an email. “We can discuss any of our actions after an investigation is complete and a report of investigation is issued.”
According to the Office of the Inspector General's 2014 Annual Report, anyone can file a complaint with the Inspector General’s Office and it can be done anonymously. Complaints that are received are reviewed by the intake committee, which consists of the inspector general, chief legal counsel, first assistant deputy inspector general and case manager.
If the complaint has credible allegations of wrongdoing that are within the inspector general’s jurisdiction, the matter is assigned to a deputy inspector general for investigation.
“There is not a codified group of steps that we would take per se in any investigation that we have set forth because every investigation, of course, can be different,” Enslen said.
–Alex Meyer contributed to this report.
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