The head of the Highland Heights Service Department has a unique relationship with the mayor.Unlike other appointed city officials, local law (Ordinance § 127.02(b)) specifies that the Service Director is directly accountable to the mayor—and only the mayor---for his work.
Not surprisingly, this means that Service Director Thom Evans ends up doing a lot more than just picking up leaves, keeping the streets clean and open to traffic, and overseeing the service department. Evans is the “go to” guy that Mayor Scott Coleman turns to when he wants things done in the city.
For example, the service department ended up stuffing envelopes and providing delivery service when the mayor decided to send a letter to residents after the city was inundated by “storm chasers” following a hail storm last year.
Significantly, Evans’ mayoral assignments frequently involve doling out taxpayer-financed contracts.
Money is power, and the ability to hand-select contractors to perform work for the city makes Evans a very powerful man indeed.
Under state law, contracts worth $25,000 or more are subject to public bidding requirements, which means that they have to be publicly advertised, anyone can bid on them, and the city doesn’t have a lot of discretion in awarding them---the contracts must go to the best and lowest bidder.
Public bidding promotes open and fair competition and works as a defense against insider dealing and public corruption---intangible benefits in addition to the financial savings that frequently result. But---as Evans is always quick to point out---it is also slower. It can take a month to complete the public bidding process.
I’ve written before about Service Director Thom Evans’ seeming aversion to public bidding. For example, Evans was quite frank in telling Council last year that he intended to keep a contract for miscellaneous concrete repairs under $25,000 so he could use an “informal” bidding process and avoid public bidding. The “informal” process in that case boiled down to Evans speaking to a couple of contractors of his own choosing and deciding which one would get the work.
More recently, Evans suggested fast-tracking Park & Recreation Director Dave Ianiro’s proposed $200,000 “Park Barn Pavillion” project by subdividing it into smaller pieces---thereby avoiding public bidding requirements.
The issue of doling out public contracts came up again on Tuesday night.
Mayor Coleman earmarked $20,000 in the 2011 capital improvements budget for upgrading the electrical service in the Community Park, primarily to meet the electrical needs of the city’s one day “Community Day” celebration.
On Tuesday night, Evans recommended awarding contracts for that work. When questioned by Council members, Evans admitted that he spoke with only one electrician about the project. He didn’t engage in even an “informal” bidding process before deciding to award the contract to the one electrician he talked to.
Thom Evans is a very experienced Service Director. He is effective and efficient in accomplishing his assigned tasks. It makes sense that Evans would prefer to avoid public bidding because it is quicker and easier for him to personally pre-select and choose the contractors he works with. But avoiding public bidding also gives Evans a tremendous amount of power and clout, and it opens the door to favoritism and inside dealing—things public bidding is designed to avoid.
So the question boils down to this:
Does it really serve the city’s (and therefore taxpayers’) best interest to allow the Service Director to wield such unbridled contracting power?
Given that the Service Director is accountable to only one person---the mayor---the question is rhetorical for everyone except Mayor Scott Coleman.
When asked on Tuesday night if he was comfortable with awarding the electrical contract as recommended by Thom Evans, the mayor replied with a simple: “Yes”.
There you have it.
City Updates
And the (November 2011 Election ) Race Is On
According to the Board of Elections' website, the following individuals have taken out nominating petitions so far:
Scott Coleman and
Scott Mills (mayor);
Chuck Brunello, Ron Fornaro, Frank Legan and
Ed Hargate (Council-at-large); and
Cathy Murphy (Ward 1),
Leo Lombardo (Ward 2),
Bob Mastrangelo (Ward 3) and
Ted Anderson (Ward 4).
Nominating petitions don’t have to be turned in until August 10th, so there’s plenty of time left for others to throw their hats in the ring.
Park Upgrades
I was out of town and missed the
May 24th Council meeting. I understand, however, that Council decided to get quotes on the cost of fixing/restoring the entryway and Woodside access roads in the Municipal Park.
Council also approved Service
Director Thom Evans’ pick of an architect to provide drawings for
Park & Recreation Director Dave Ianiro’s proposed “
Park Barn Pavillion” project.
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
The sign for
Crostatas Pizzeria---which stood for several months at the corner of Highland and Bishop Roads---has disappeared. Rumor has it that a dispute over payment resulted in the sign’s removal.
No doubt
former Councilman Jamie Pilla would be concerned if the restaurant (which serves high quality, pricey pizza) is experiencing any financial troubles.
After all, Pilla holds a mortgage for the place----a fact that came to light when
Crostatas representatives appeared before the city’s
Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) a couple of years ago.
Pilla, who served on
P&Z, had to disclose his financial interest in the restaurant and “recuse” himself (i.e., step away and not participate in the discussion or deliberations).
Passive/Aggressive?
It took a lot of wrangling by Council to get
Mayor Scott Coleman to adopt a formal, written policy governing the marking and use of city-owned vehicles. Coleman initially insisted that the city didn't need a written policy. He finally changed his position after the city’s auditor weighed in on the issue.
Service Director Thom Evans is responsible for making sure that all city-owned cars (except exempt police vehicles) are properly marked and identified, as required by the new policy.
Most of the vehicles that the city owned or bought while Council and the mayor were wrestling over the use/marking policy were light-colored---white or light grey.
I was amused to see one of the city’s most recent vehicle purchases---a new car that the
Building Commissioner Dale Grabfelder uses while on the job (it remains parked at City Hall at night and on the weekends).
The color of
Grabfelder’s new car?
Dark Maroon.
The color of the markings that
Evans used to show that it is a city-owned vehicle?
Dark Blue.
You have to look
really, really closely to even notice the city logo.
Did
Evans follow the letter of the new policy when marking Grabfelder's car? You bet.
Did he follow the spirit of that policy?
Well, maybe not so much.
Going over budget
Service Director Thom Evans’s 2011
"201" budget reflects a whopping
35.3% increase in expenditures over what the Service Department spent last year. Included in that figure is a $35,000 appropriation for the purchase of a backhoe. According to
Evans the backhoe would serve as an addition and/or backup to other equipment that the Service Department currently uses to dig ditches, to load salt, and to remove snow from cul de sacs in the winter.
During the budgeting process,
Evans expressed great confidence that he could buy a second-hand backhoe for $35,000.
He was wrong.
On Tuesday night,
Evans told Council that the backhoe he wanted to buy would actually cost
$41,700--- or 19.14% over the budgeted amount.
Councilman Ed Hargate, who heads Council’s
Safety Services Committee, had no problem approving
Evans’ request. Hargate went so far as to opine that he didn’t think it would be necessary for the
Legislative & Finance Committee (L&F) to review the proposed purchase---even though the purchase price is way over budget and the extra $6,700 would further inflate the Service Department’s already significantly inflated "201" budget.
The rest of Council saw things differently. They promptly referred the matter to
L&F.
When asked whether he felt comfortable going over budget to buy
Evans a
$41,7000 secondhand backhoe,
Mayor Scott Coleman equivocated.
He replied that he would, “sit in on (the) L&F (meeting) and see how it goes.”
