Statement from the Mansfield Town Council about the
State’s Office of School Construction Controversy
In recent months there has been increasing reports about allegations that Konstantinos Diamantis, formerly the Director of Connecticut’s Office of School Construction Grants and Review, worked to influence local municipalities to hire certain contractors for state-finance school projects. Mr. Diamantis, who was put on administrative leave by Governor Lamont in October, has allegedly pressured some communities to step out of the normal bidding process and appoint construction companies that had pre-existing relationships with the state.
The Town Council, in cooperation with the School Building Committee and the Board of Education, has investigated whether Mansfield’s dealings with the Office of School Construction resulted in any such influence, or whether our community might be involved with this investigation
On behalf of Mansfield’s elected officials, we want to assure the taxpayers of Mansfield that at this time there does not appear to be any link between our Mansfield Elementary School Project and the ongoing investigations into the actions of state officials. No influence was exerted on Mansfield school building officials or our owner’s project management firm, Colliers Project Leaders, by Mr. Diamantis or any other party within the Office of School Construction to alter procurement or construction practices at our new Mansfield Elementary School. It should also be noted that the Town selected an architect and owner’s project management firm without any influence or involvement from officials in the Office of School Construction Grants and Review.
- Many of the improprieties associated with the investigation include specific contractors and pressure imposed on municipalities by certain state officials to use those specific contractors. Mansfield was not pressured into selecting a state-preferred contractor, and the town followed the regular required public bidding procedures for contractor bidding for the new elementary school.
- The process was an open, public, competitive bidding from multiple general contractors. The town ultimately selected the lowest responsible bidder, Newfield Construction.
- The Town of Mansfield has not received any indication from the state that the project's grants or reimbursement would be affected in any way by the contractor selection for the school project.
- We will cooperate with the State of Connecticut if any investigation of our project should be undertaken. However, we want to underscore that the Town has no reason to believe that the reimbursement rate of our new Mansfield Elementary School will be impacted by the Office of School Grants and Review controversy.