In late May, 21 News aired a Watchdog Report on former Girard City School District treasurer Mark Bello being paid half a million dollars in one fiscal year. Now the district is alleging that this all happened due to deception.

According to a press release from the district, the district's Board of Education launched an internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bello's excessive compensation pursuant to the September 5, 2022 to June 30, 2024 contact.

The Board found that former Board President and current Mayor of Girard Mark Zuppo negotiated the contract with Bello, but did not know about the 1% of revenue stipend because it was not part of their verbal agreement.

According to the release, Zuppo never reviewed the written contract before recommending it to be approved and the details were never discussed with other board members.

The Board found that Bello made the changes to the stipend provision and revised the contract to the Board's agenda packet under a non-descriptive name and then renamed the file to "Treasurers Contract" just hours prior to the June 23, 2022 Board meeting.

The Board was not provided a redline version of the contract showing changes from the previous one nor were they provided a copy of the Bello's contract, so the Board was not able to make a side-by-side comparison to the proposed contract, which contained the revised language.

Neither Bello nor any other administrator explained the financial impacts of the proposed contract.

In the release, the Board said Bello's failure to explain the revised language or the financial impacts of the proposed contract was a breach of his employment contract, as well as a breach of the Ohio Board of Education's standards for school treasurers and a breach of his fiduciary duty to the district.

"It is the Board's opinion that the former Treasurer failed to inform the Board of the revisions to the stipend provision in his 2022 employment contract and the fiscal impact of the revisions to the District. That information would have had a material effect on the Board's decision whether to approve the contract," the release reads.

To prevent anything like this from happening again, the Board will take future steps to require the following things:

- A written summary of the purpose and effect of a proposed contract and an estimate of the anticipated annual cost to the district for each year of the contract.

- For any proposed contract that renews or extends an existing one, the superintendent must provide Board members a redline version of the proposed contract showing revisions or a copy of the existing contract to make side-by-side comparisons.

- The superintendent or treasurer must provide the Board with the summary and the redline version or existing contract at least one week before the meeting where the contract will be considered for approval.

Bello has since resigned from his position as treasurer in June of 2024. 21 News is working to learn if the district plans to take any legal action against Bello.

In the meantime, you can read and watch our full Watchdog Report by checking out the related coverage below.

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