In the fallout of a Mississippi grand jury's indictment of three top executives of Smyrna-based The Facility Group on federal felony charges of conspiracy and "frauds and swindles," a Cobb school board member is calling for an outside audit of that firm's relationship with the county school district.

The Facility Group has managed Cobb's publicly tax-funded $1.16 billion school building program for the past 10 years.

Now, school officials are preparing to ask voters to renew the penny sales tax for another five years of school construction and technology upgrades.

School board member John Abraham called for a third party audit to look at all the work that has been done by The Facility Group for the school district "to make sure we're in compliance and that there are no improprieties."

Board member Teresa Plenge said the indictment "could have grave potential in shaking voter confidence."

"I'm willing for the board to discuss how we want to proceed to regain the confidence of our citizens," she said.

Plenge and fellow board members Johnny Johnson and Betty Gray pointed out that the district has safeguards and oversights in place to monitor how SPLOST dollars are being spent, including an annual independent audit.

The Facility Group has managed Cobb's current $637 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax II school construction program for the past four years, under a $12.8 million contract, said Jay Dillon, school district spokesperson. The firm also managed SPLOST I, earning $9.1 million during the district's first five-year sales-tax funded building program. That's a total of $21.9 million for 10 years.

At the time of the first sales tax referendum, four firms interviewed for the job. They were: O'Brian Kreitzbert, Heery International, Inc., The Facility Group and Beers Construction Co. The district hired The Facility Group to manage SPLOST I, which ran from 1999 to 2003.

On the second go-around, The Facility Group's contract was extended by the board for SPLOST II (2004-2008) without issuing a request for proposal for other bidders, school board minutes show.

The school system plans to ask voters this fall to renew the penny sales tax for school building and technology improvements for 2009-2013. If approved, revenues are expected to reach $797 million over the next five years for the 107,000-student school system.

Robert L. Moultrie, 67, CEO of the construction and engineering company, and two of the Smyrna-based firm's top executives pled not guilty last week in federal court in Oxford for their alleged part in a beef processing plant that failed in 2004 in north Mississippi.

Others charged in the indictment which was unsealed last week are The Facility Group's chief operating officer Nixon Cawood, 58, of Woodstock, and Charles K. Morehead, 57, of Lilburn, executive vice president for The Facility Group.

Each of the men was indicted on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The other counts for each are on "frauds and swindles, " according to court records. The indictment accuses Moultrie and Cawood of a scheme to give more than $5,000 in campaign contributions to the re-election campaign of a Mississippi official. Corporate campaign contributions are capped at $1,000 in Mississippi.

The indictment says the campaign money in 2003 was intended "to influence and reward the public official" for the state's selection of The Facility Group to manage the completion and design of Mississippi Beef Processors, a meat processing plant in northern Mississippi.

Moultrie's attorney Tom Freeland of Oxford said in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this week that Moultrie denies all of the charges and "looks forward to proving his complete innocence at trial." Trial date is set for May 19. Deadline for a plea agreement is May 5, according to court documents.

Some Cobb school board members are supportive of the work The Facility Group has done for the district.

"I find it hard to believe The Facility Group or Robert Moultrie would have would have done anything he's accused of. We've never had the problem with what is said to have happened there [in Mississippi]," said board member Holli Cash who represents Smyrna. "The Facility Group has done a fabulous job for us coming in on time and under budget allowing us to do more projects."

Board member Lindsey Tippins said it would be premature to comment. "These are just charges at this point."

Gray said she and district administrators "are verifying and going over our past experience with SPLOST I and SPLOST II and checking. They're only a management company with us."

"We approve every contract for design and construction that comes through. We get the last say," Gray said.