Local & State Headlines

City rejects contractor ‘second chance’

• Albany commissioners reject a staff recommendation and give a local contractor a second chance at a city project.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — City Attorney Nathan Davis relegated the move to the “first-time club.” Many observers shook their head in fascination. Others wondered if repurcussions might follow.

Call it the vote that wasn’t a vote.

At the Albany City Commission’s business meeting Tuesday night, commissioners voted 5-2 to officially approve the $132,348 bid of Vantage Management of Fyffe, Ala., to serve as manager of rental property owned by the city.

Two items later in the busy agenda, Commissioner Tommie Postell interrupted a vote to proclaim that he wanted to vote against approving Vantage. Davis said that Roberts’ Rules of Order allow for such a change if it is approved by the board.

Commissioners agreed, and the vote became 4-3 in favor of approving Vantage. However, Postell wasn’t through.

“We have a gentleman here who made a bid on that project who needs to be heard,” the Ward 6 commissioner, who is seeking re-elction in the city’s Nov. 6 municipal elections, said. “I’d like for him to tell his side of this story.”

Harry James of James Unlimited General Construction, which currently has a maintenance contract on the property in question, came forward and made an appeal to the commission. Mayor Willie Adams asked for an assessment from Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Director Pinky Modeste, who indicated she had hoped to speak with Vantage officials about allowing James’ company to retain its maintenance contract.

“I thought this was a perfect opportunity to develop a mentor relationship between the companies,” Modeste said.

Adams then indicated he, as one of the majority in the vote, wanted to call for a vote to readdress the issue.

“Roberts’ Rules provides for revisiting an issue if the person calling for it is on the prevailing side,” Davis said Wednesday. “It’s unusual, but it was certainly a kosher action.”

After receiving a 4-3 vote — with Postell and Commissioners Dorothy Hubbard and Jon Howard joining Adams — to readdress the issue, the mayor then made a motion to table the issue “for a maximum of two weeks” to look into the possibility of including James in the project.

Commissioner Bo Dorough warned that the city might be opening itself up to a challenge from Vantage.

“Mr. James is a nice guy, and I’d hate to see him lose the maintenance contract,” the current Ward 4 commissioner and mayoral candidate said Wednesday. “But we put an RFP (request for proposal) out, and Vantage did their paperwork based on those specifications. Now, we’ve changed the rules.

“That’s certainly a concern.”

Adams, however, said the vote merely delayed the process.

“I mostly go with staff recommendations in matters like this, but there was additional information presented that I didn’t have access to,” the mayor said. “Ms. Modeste made a good suggestion that we look into a mentoring procedure that would allow Mr. James to participate.

“If Vantage doesn’t go along with that plan, it’s something we can revisit. I certainly don’t see the harm in exploring the possibility.”

Davis said Vantage could not challenge the legality of the process utilized by the commission in its vote, but the company might complain about the change in the RFP.

“They bid on what we sent them; now that’s changed from an apple to an orange,” he said. “This whole thing could go back to square one if we don’t work this out.”

James said he has been hired twice by the city to do maintenance work on the property in question, both times after other companies had failed to deliver on contractual obligations. He said the unusual move by the city might open door to other small contractors like himself.

“If nothing else, it shows that our commission is willing to think outside the box on what true scope of services are,” the contractor said Wednesday. “I don’t think I got a fair opportunity with the bid process, but they were looking at me as a small general contractor as opposed to a management company. They were comparing apples and oranges.

“The question should have been, ‘Can he do the work?’ I think I’ve proved that I can; they’ve called me not once, but twice. I’m very appreciative to Mayor Adams and the rest of the commission for giving this issue another look.”

Commissioners also tabled a vote Tuesday to approve Jorden Burt Government Relations as its federal lobbyist when Postell questioned why the current lobbyist, The Ferguson Group, was being rejected. Dorough also asked about relationships between Jorden Burt and personnel in U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s office.

“I had some concerns, and I expressed them,” Dorough said. “My point was to get clarification on the relationships that exist. I’m not saying they’re necessarily bad; they could benefit the city. I just think that’s a matter that should be clarified.”

Adams said he’d heard of no improper relationships.

“That was new to me,” he said. “We all have some type of relationships with people in businesses along the way, but I don’t think it’s fair to assume that these relationships are improper. That’s an issue we’ll discuss further.”

In a rather subdued matter, especially when compared to recent actions taken by the Dougherty County Commission and the Dougherty School Board, the city commission voted 6-1 to approve lowering the city’s millage rate from 10.777 to 9.159 to offset any tax gains that might be realized through the county’s controversial tax revaluation.

Dorough opposed the move because it requires a $1.8 million infusion of reserve funds to make up for budget shortages.

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