The records sent to the Ohio Office of the Inspector General include information about Coventry Lane lease payments, structural problems with 29 Park Place and payments for the McDavis’ stay at the Ohio University Inn in March.
Despite missing the original deadline, Ohio University complied with the Ohio Office of the Inspector General’s request Friday by sending records related to the university’s decision to move the presidential residence to 31 Coventry Lane in March.
The request, sent to OU’s Office of Legal Affairs on Aug. 3, mandated that the university provide numerous records related to the residence's move from 29 Park Place to 31 Coventry Lane and OU’s relationship with Athens realtor John Wharton.
The university provided The Post with copies of the records sent to the Ohio Inspector General’s office as part of a public records request.
The records included information about Coventry Lane lease payments, structural problems with 29 Park Place and payments for the McDavis’ stay at the Ohio University Inn in March.
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Requests from the Ohio Inspector General’s Office
Ohio Deputy Inspector General Rebekeh L. Wolcott had asked that the university send the documents by Sept. 4. Even though OU sent the documents past the original deadline, the university received no repercussions for sending the documents late.
“Ohio University’s Legal Affairs office had been in contact with the Inspector General’s office and was not in violation of any deadline pertaining to the request of these documents,” OU spokeswoman Bethany Venable said in an email.
Venable said the university will not make any further comment on the documents.
The Inspector General’s Office had also requested similar records April 27, but the August request “far exceeded the initial scope” of the original request.
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Background on the presidential residence
On March 19, the Ohio University Foundation entered into a $1.2 million lease-purchase agreement for a new presidential home at 31 Coventry Lane.
The decision came after a bat infestation in the president’s residence at 29 Park Place caused McDavis’ wife, Deborah, to break her foot.
Wharton, the owner of the Coventry Lane property, verbally agreed with the Director of Athletics, Jim Schaus, that — as part of the lease-purchase agreement — he would pay the remaining money he pledged to the Walter Fieldhouse and donate an additional $100,000.
Then, Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding said on April 13 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 about Wharton was not shared with those tasked to find a new home for McDavis and his wife before they signed the lease-to-buy contract, Golding said.
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Records related to 31 Coventry Lane
The McDavises still live at 31 Coventry Lane. Since the lease-purchase agreement was made in March, the university has paid a rent of $4,318 each month, according to a previous Post report.
Included in the records requested by the state were a list of invoices for lease payments to Wharton for 31 Coventry Lane until June 1, 2016.
The lease for 31 Coventry Lane is set to expire June 30, 2017, according to the original lease-purchase agreement.
“There is still a significant amount of time left on the lease, and the university won’t speculate about future presidential living arrangements,” Venable said in an email.
The records also included documentation of the $75,000 in furniture the university purchased for the home.
The university paid about $3,280 for the couple's nine-day stay at the Ohio University Inn in March before moving to 31 Coventry Lane, according to the records.
The records also included a list of other properties the university considered before choosing 31 Coventry Lane. Several of the properties had a cheaper property value than 31 Coventry Lane, according to a previous Post report.
Records related to 29 Park Place
The records included documentation of “environmental issues and structural repairs” for 29 Park Place, the original presidential residence.
According to a Feb. 9 inspection report, 12 bats were found in the home in the past six years, and the home’s terra cotta roof, known to be “very problematic with allowing bats entry into structures,” was partially responsible.
The inspection report also indicated the interior of 29 Park Place was in “poor condition” because of the age of the structure, the number of past renovations and “improperly performed” repair work.
The report suggested the university screen the flues in the chimneys “ASAP,” roof the home with better materials by May 7 and perform general maintenance on the outside of the house.
In May, the local architecture firm RVC Architects performed a facilities assessment on 29 Park Place.
On June 30, Golding sent a memo to Board of Trustees Chair Sandra Anderson outlining three potential options for using the Park Place building:
Continuing to use 29 Park Place as a residence
Creating a multi-use office and conference facility for the house’s first and second floors
“Adaptive reuse” of the whole building for a multi-use office and conference facility
The projected cost for the second and third options is estimated to be between $1.8 million and $2.1 million, according to a previous Post report.
The Board of Trustees publicly discussed the future of 29 Park Place at its August meetings at OU's Dublin campus.
The minutes of the Real Estate Planning Committee were sent to the Inspector General’s Office, but not given to The Post because the agendas “contain information that constitutes trade secrets and should be considered confidential,” Venable said in an email.
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