Personally, I would like to thank Kevin Zurschmeide for his time and Mr. Solomon's time in going through the EMC proposal and cutting around $300,000.00 from same. My issue, and Mr. Ledford and others was this proposal should have been first bid out under the Overton tenure. Like Mr. Ledford said, it's a good proposal -- compared to what?
Having received numerous and sundry calls from various individuals (some of them it's been a while), anyways, I asked my Council person (Mr. Price) to attend the Sewer Board meeting and ask Mayor Garner if he had or anyone who worked for him had solicited the bid from Aqua Utilities. Mayor Garner said no. Mr. Zurschmeide stated he refused the bid because RFPs had not been put out for a "bid process".
My only concern was to bid the durn thing out; not Aqua Utilities. Though, I have to admit, there is a concern on my part as to how the Aqua/Hughes Group was able to submit a bid based upon what specifications? My understanding is the EMC bid was used for their analysis. This would lead to the question as to how they received a copy of same to even come up with their numbers.
Another big question is -- what was the big hurry? EMC's contract had six more months to run; what another awful game being played on certain people's parts (and yes, I know who and what and why).
It's just a sad day when one of the players in this mess got drunk and told a Council member's grandchildren off while this party was drunk because Aqua didn't get the contract. Now, that really is unacceptable -- you know?
It's put to bed now. EMC has their contract and we -- THE PEOPLE -- are the eyes and ears of the EPA. We can only follow any progress that may continue.
Thank you Todd Solomon, for your service to our City. We know you will be at the Sewer Board meeting tomorrow but that Wednesday will be your last day. Good luck with GRW Engineers and the best to you and your family.
Yvonne & Susan
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2 comments:
What a mess.
I just want to add:
Does the new contract still state EMC will pay all the fines from the Department of Justice for violations?
How many staff members will ‘man’ the wastewater treatment plant on weekends (and all the other times)?
Will the answering service improve especially during rain events, when people call in with problems?
Todd, we definitely owe a whole lot of thanks to you. Attending many sewer board meetings, I was able to see first hand how you took that sewer board position to heart. You saved the city money by spending a lot of time calculating, pointing out problems, and caught things that just didn’t sound right. Many thanks also to your family for sharing you with the city for 3 ½ years. I know you will be glad to have that time back with them. I hope GRW knows how lucky they are to have you as an employee. Any chance New Albany would hire GRW to work on the sewers again, like they did in 1991? If so, we can only hope you would be there. Thanks again and take care.
Susan
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