March 2, 2017, by Huntsville United

A recent post by Larry Lee’s Education Matters will interest Huntsville City School stakeholders and brings up the question, is Huntsville City Schools Chief Financial Officer Jason Taylor leaving?

Lee calls attention in an article published Wednesday to a new contract being looked at by the Legislative Contract Review Committee.

Lee points to a contract on page 7 of the agenda – a contract for $762,000 to Northbay Strategic Partners LLC of Birmingham to provide “professional services regarding education intervention efforts.”

Lee point out the only intervention underway is in Montgomery County, so this contract obviously pertains to this effort. Sources told Lee the “service” concerns handling the system’s financial affairs.

Northbay Strategic Partners LLC was formed on January 26, 2017 – the registered agent for the corporation is Jason W. Taylor. Initially, the filing shows the corporation with just one member, Jason W. Taylor. You can review the corporate filing here.

Taylor appears to be the registered agent for another corporation with a North Bay reference, North Bay Investments, L.L.C.

North Bay is an area of Mobile, Alabama and is the hometown of Huntsville City Schools Chief Financial Officer, Jason W. Taylor

The domain northbaystrategicpartners.com was registered on February 1, 2017 – right after the corporate filing – domain privacy was enabled so the registrar is not published.

According the the Huntsville City Schools’ website … “In addition to his position as Chief Financial Officer, Taylor serves as Vice-President, Finance and Administration, and sits on the Board of Directors of the GreenpowerUSA Foundation, a non-profit organization missioned to enhance the delivery of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-based instruction through a design, build, race competition of student-driven electric vehicles.  The organization was founded in 2014 with substantial support from the Huntsville City Board of Education.”   

As part of his position with GreenpowerUSA. Taylor is the registrant of record for a number of domain assets associated with the district including variants of domains used for Greenpower along with domains for OmniFundK12.

greenpowerusa.biz
green-power-usa.com
greenpowerusafoundation.com
greenpowerusafoundation.info
greenpowerusafoundation.net
greenpowerusafoundation.org
greenpowerusa.info
greenpowerusa.mobi
green-power-usa.net
green-power-usa.org
greenpowerus.com
greenpowerus.org
hsvwifi.com
lydianpartners.com
lydianpartners.net
lydianstrategicpartners.com
lydianstrategicpartners.net
omnifundk12.com
omnifundk12.org

Notable are the similarity of the terms used in the Lydian Strategic Partners and the Northbay Strategic Partners names.

So, if this is the Huntsville City Schools’ Chief Financial Officer, Jason W. Taylor, what does that mean for the district? Is Taylor planning on juggling a sweet second job or is Taylor’s exit from the system imminent? If Taylor is leaving what kind of notice will be given? And how will this affect Dr. Akin’s transition to Huntsville?

Taylor’s experience and intricate knowledge of the district’s finances along with the experience of other members of the district’s administration was noted by city leaders during the recent superintendent search and selection process.

We’ve reached out to Mr. Taylor and will let you know of any response.

Update: 3/2/17 at 3:50pm –

On Thursday, March 2, the contract was delayed after a request by Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery. According to a story by the Decatur Daily 

Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, said he was concerned the company (Northbay Strategic Partners), established in late January according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s website, was “virtually created” for this contract.

According to a copy of the contract submitted to the committee, it was not competitively bid. Under state code, contracts with consultants do not have to be advertised.

ALSDE issued a statement this afternoon about the contract. “The costs of these services (by Taylor) is commensurate with market value expectations for someone with Mr. Taylor’s professional experience and capabilities,” ALSDE spokesman Michael Sibley said. “MPS is in need of strong fiscal management. We believe Mr. Taylor can provide the oversight necessary to help MPS meet its full potential.”

The contract is for, but not limited to “oversight of the ALSDE intervention in the Montgomery County Public Schools with specific concentration on review, analysis, and change implementation relevant to general administration, finance and business administration, operations and maintenance, information technology, child nutrition programs, other auxiliary within MPS.”