Vexed NLR council waives bids for parks job already completed
With some displeasure evident, North Little Rock aldermen agreed Monday to waive bids for a Parks and Recreation Department renovation project already completed, the second time this summer that the City Council has needed to fix such an error by a city department.
The City Council agreed to waive formal bidding and approve a $45,642.04 payment to a company for renovating a meeting room and bathrooms at the North Little Rock Community Center, 2700 Willow St. The work was completed in June.
Six aldermen voted yes. Alderman Beth White voted no, Alderman Debi Ross passed and Alderman Bruce Fouth voted “a reluctant yes,” he said, to approve correcting the mistake.
Purchases by the city of more than $20,000 require City Council approval beforehand. Bids must also be sought or the bid requirement formally waived by the council.
Parks Director Terry Hartwick said last week that because the work was done in sections with different invoices submitted by the contractor, each for less than $20,000, the staff didn’t realize the $20,000 limit would apply.
In July, the City Council voted to retroactively approve $67,737.64 for the March purchase of equipment by the Fire Department, after proper purchase procedures weren’t followed.
“I’m struggling with my vote because our policy was not followed,” White said, before voting against the ordinance Monday to authorize the parks expenditure. “This is still a concern to me.”
Mayor Joe Smith said that the mistakes “concern all of us,” but the company that did the work, American Structure Repair of North Little Rock, needed to be paid. The best way for the city to deal with such a mistake is to do so directly and with complete transparency, the mayor said.
“When we make a mistake, I want everybody to know about it and we’ll fix it,” Smith said. The mayor added that the purchasing policy is being simplified to help avoid future misunderstandings.
“Our intent is to train and retrain and then train some more,” Smith said.