Well, Well,
Someone has sicked the Two Harbors Superintendent after me and he’s threatening legal action because he’s been told I wrote terrible things about JCI and Two Harbors. Well you can see what I wrote about them on this post. And this is my slanderous comment:
“A number of stories are starting to circulate about Johnson Controls unsavory business practices. I don’t know what to make of them. Last night at our meeting one person said that JC had been kicked out of the Two Harbors District. Two Harbors is having serious problems with its new High School. It too seems to have been an over ambitious project. What part JC had in its planning I have no idea. Its something to research.”
Golly! I think Mr. Minnikken should have read my post first before threatening me. I don’t think I will be removing any reference to Two Harbors from the blog. In fact, it looks like I just doubled them.
Dear Mr. Welty:
I have been contacted by a few people about a statement that you placed on your website concerning the contractual agreement between the Lake Superior School District and Johnson Controls. Apparently your statement claims that Johnson Controls was fired by the District as a result of their business practices. You also claimed that Johnson Controls was responsible for serious design issues in the construction of the new Two Harbors High School. Each of these statements are false, misleading and rather slanderous.
To set the record straight, Johnson Controls had a contract for facility management with the Lake Superior School District for several years. This contract was terminated as a result of the severe budget difficulties the District was experiencing and not as a result of any performance deficiencies as you have stated. While the District may have saved some money upfront, long-term losses in operating costs may outweigh any savings that the District has saved. As you well know from your years as a school board member in Duluth, decisions are made to save money in areas that least disrupt the classroom function of a school. This was precisely what the situation was at Lake Superior School District. As for your claims that Johnson Controls was responsible for the serious problems that are present in our high school in Two Harbors, you need to be aware of a few things. First, the issues that arose in this building were not serious, we have no design flaws that were not corrected at little or no cost to taxpayers or the District; your claims to these serious problems are totally false. Second, Johnson Controls was not involved in the design work for the mechanical systems in this building; therefore, even those minor difficulties that were experienced could not have been the result of their work.
It is not my interest to get involved in the debate relative to the proposed facility plans of the Duluth Public Schools. I am only asking two things of you; first, remove any mention of the Two Harbors High School project from your website and second, make a correction on your website saying that the issues you “heard” relative to our school building were found to be false. If you cannot accomplish these two things, I will be seeking legal advice as your false and unfounded statements seem to be causing our District discredit and harm in our communities.
Sincerely,
Philip Minkkinen
