Picking a needless fight over a salutary public bid law isn’t something on which the Monroe City Council should waste its time.
Earlier this month, the Council put up for consideration essentially a repeal of Ordinance 12,225 enacted only three months ago. This changed the city public works contracting process by raising the dollar amount for Council approval of these to $250,000 and for associated materials and supplies to $60,000, in line with Louisiana’s Public Bid Law.
Less than a month later, two new Democrats joined the Council, with one replacing a defeated incumbent who had voted with the Council’s two Republicans to pass the ordinance favored by independent Mayor Friday Ellis. Both with the holdover Democrat last month passed an ordinance to reverse the ordinance, but Ellis vetoed that and with the two Republicans could sustain that.
The Democrats are trying again, arguing that sending the public works level down to $30,000 would make it more difficult for a mayor to use contracting as a way to create campaign support and to shut out supporters of opponents. Ellis argued that a lower level impedes city responsiveness on relatively small matters.
It’s a tradeoff, but with the balance clearly favoring Ellis’ position given the nature of the ordinance. Following recommendations by the Attorney General and Legislative Auditor, it attempts to mitigate the chances that a chief executive could use public works contracting to play political favorites.
The city must take as a first option doing the job itself if it reasonably can be forecast to do the job adequately at less cost than contracting it out. If not, then for any project over $50,000 it must use a licensed contractor.
It also says the city should use a request for proposal procedure to solicit bids and select the most advantageous to the City considering price, project budget, completion timeline, reputation of the supplier or manufacturer of supplies or materials, and the experience/qualifications of the contractor. If it determines given these factors that direct negotiations with one or more vendors would result in an even better deal along these criteria, it has that option as well.
And, if over $100,000 the process must include disadvantaged business enterprise considerations. That amount includes materials and supplies, which often comprise the bulk of a contract and have to meet exacting standards for contract awarding when above $60,000 that follows similar advertising and bid solicitation as for a public works contract above $250,000. For amounts there down to $30,000 it must solicit and obtain at least three quotes, and may do the same down to $1,000 or could negotiate with vendors.
A nefarious mayor still could find ways to reward allies and punish enemies within these rules, but it wouldn’t be easy. Consider as well even for those contracts above $250,000, where these must be advertised for bid and let for contract with the lowest responsible and responsive bidder, it’s still possible to manipulate these, such as writing specifications in a manner where only one contractor feasibly could do the job.
Finally, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. At the low $30,000 limit, a Council majority could insert itself into the process for its own political reason, such as sending business they way of favored contractors even if not the lowest or best quality bid. Mayors in response to bypass could complicate matters further by breaking potentially large contracts into many.
The current ordinance strikes a good balance in promoting wise stewardship of public funds with efficiency and responsiveness in conducting public business. Further conflict over this is counterproductive.
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