September
17, 2014
Imperial
Valley Press
By Krista Day, Staff Writer
The El
Centro City Council has drafted a response to the Imperial County Civil grand
jury’s report, which concluded the city’s Public Works Department used bid
documents that appear to have been written so only one contractor can meet the
requirements for certain road rehabilitation projects.
The city
states that it disagrees with the report, and that any contractor can win a bid
for Asphalt-Rubber Aggregate Membrane types of projects as long as they have
the experience requirements. However, city staff has also agreed to review the
language in the forms to ensure the bidding is more competitive without
compromising the quality of the material being used.
Mayor Cheryl
Viegas-Walker said she recognizes that the grand jury serves a role and a
purpose. However, she was disappointed in how the report was conducted,
because, she said, jurors looked at things that were unrelated to the initial
complaint and overall were lacking in professionalism.
“Any time
and document contains snippy little comments, it detracts from the message,”
she said. “Somebody needs to provide guidance to the grand jury.”
Most
importantly, Viegas-Walker said it is important to convey right at the start of
the city’s response letter the fact that the Public Works Department was
aligned with state requirements in regard to bidding out projects.
“I want to
make a point that the taxpayers were well-served by a superior product
developed by an entrepreneur, and it brings 95 percent of the roads up to
really good conditions in large part because we made roads a priority,” she
said.
Councilman
Efrain Silva said his initial reading of the report sounded like the city was
uncooperative and unresponsive, but he said he knows that not be true.
As for the
city’s response, he said he was satisfied with the answers given, but asked
that the letter be more clear in a couple of lines. For example, he said the
letter should have a clear list of requested documents from the grand jury
during various interview portions of the investigation.
Staff Writer
Krista Daly can be reached at 760-337-3445 or kdaly@ivpressonline.com
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