The watchdog group, Citizens For Good Government (CFGG), is
once again shining a light on yet another Jefferson Parish contract that was
awarded to the lowest-scoring bidder. The Jefferson Parish Council can ignore recommendations
from an Evaluation Committee designed to rank bidders in an attempt at
transparency and award contracts at their discretion.
At the August 14th JP council meeting, the council
voted to select the firm Burglass & Tankersley for legal work despite the
fact that the company’s score of 299 was lower than Gaudry, Ranson, Higgins
& Gremillion (327) and Jones Walker (314).
Equally interesting is the fact that 3 Jefferson Parish
Councilmembers, District 1 Councilman Ricky Templet, District 3 Councilman Mark
Spears, and Councilman-At-Large Elton Lagasse, comprise the Legal Evaluation
Committee.
If judged just on their perception of the company’s past
performance on parish contracts, all three Councilmen scored Burglass &
Tankersley below the perfect 10 scores that they gave Gaudry and Jones Walker.
What’s frustrating to CFGG is that Councilman Lagasse was
the Councilman who offered the legislation awarding the contract to Burglass
& Tankersley.
“This
is just further confirmation that the “unfettered discretion” of the council in
selecting the winners of non-bid contracts needs to be reformed,” CFGG Vice
Chairman Margie Seemann wrote in an email. “As things currently stand, the
Evaluation Committees are apparently a waste of time, since the councilmen are
free to ignore their evaluations and pick any firm that they desire for any
reason that they desire.”
CFGG
also pointed out the fact that Burglass and Tankersley was the largest
political contributor to members of the Jefferson Parish Council giving the
members of the Council $10,400 in the past 4 years. Guadry, Ranson contributed
$9,000 while Jones Walker gave councilmembers $5,650.
ClickJefferson.com
agrees with CFGG that the ethics reforms promised to Jefferson Parish residents
after the Aaron Broussard scandal have been weak or nonexistent. How can an
Evaluation Committee be independent and transparent when it is composed of
Councilmen who receive contributions from the contractors that they are
evaluating?
On Nola.com, Council President Chris Roberts claimed that the reason Burglass & Tankersley
was awarded the contract was because the other two firms had conflicts of
interest.
We’re
not buying that excuse.
If
there truly is a “conflict of interest” why were the two firms allowed to be
evaluated for this contract on August 1st by the Legal Evaluation Committee
in the first place? The evaluation wasn’t done months ago – it was completed 13
days before the Council voted to approve the contract. Surely, since the
members of the Legal Evaluation Committee ranked the firms based upon their
past work with Parish contract, they were aware of the contracts that these
firms had and continue to have with the Parish.
Sorry
Councilman, when 1 firm contributes to all 7 councilmembers, receives the
lowest score by an “evaluation committee” comprised of 3 councilmembers, yet
still receives a Parish contract there is a “conflict of interest” but not with
the companies involved, the "conflict" is with the Council.
The
only reason for the JP Council to ignore the recommendation of an Evaluation
Committee and assert its discretion over the bidders is purely political and
something that Jefferson Parish residents can afford no longer.
What
is the point of having an “Evaluation Committee” if the Council ignores it even
when the Committee is stacked with its own members?
So
much for an open and transparent Jefferson Parish Council.
