Shouldn't There Be Competitive Bidding?

[pj bennett]

The Committee of the Whole will meet Monday, October 28, 2019, at 7:00 PM in the Auditorium of Lakewood City Hall, 12650 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio. The agenda is as follows:

Approval of the minutes from the September 30, 2019 Committee of the Whole meeting.

RESOLUTION 9097-19 – A RESOLUTION to take effect immediately provided it receives the vote of at least two thirds of the members of Council, or otherwise to take effect at the earliest period allowed by law, authorizing the Mayor (Director of Public Safety), the Director of Public Works, the Director of Law, the Director of Finance, and /or the Purchasing Manager to establish procedures for and engage in the process of letting of one or more contracts with one or more qualified entities for design and construction for the repurposing of Cove Church without the necessity of competitive bidding; and exempting the City from certain provisions within the Ohio Revised Code related to design-build contracting for the purposes of this project. (Referred to COW 10/7/19)

Sam O’Leary, Chair
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

Why does city hall want to avoid competitive bidding? What happened to transparency?

[Bridget Conant]

Sam O Leary


Same old.

Same old.

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[pj bennett]

Well, word has it, that council voted unanimously to approve the proposal on Nov. 4th.

I don’t get it.

From my point of view, this project is set to go the same way as One Lakewood Place.
There will be 2 or 3 contractors submitting their proposals, and then…. the firm that has in-house connections with city hall, will be the ‘chosen one’.

Lakewood is in desperate need of clean air.

[Pam Wetula]

I am disappointed that ALL voted for this.

I expected this from the old regime but am disappointed in Tristan Radar and Meghan George.

Ugh!

[Pam Wetula]

I have heard that the lowest bid doesn't always get the best results.

I would want to have the "procedures...etc" spelled out carefully in writing for all to review ( including the public) before this vote was taken. The risk of special friends getting the bid remains a staple in Lakewood if the procedure for variation of the standard practice of competitive bidding is allowed.

[Dan Alaimo]

These unanimous votes have always rankled me. They don't reflect Lakewood's diverse population.

[pj bennett]

I have heard that the lowest bid doesn't always get the best results.

I would want to have the "procedures...etc" spelled out carefully in writing for all to review ( including the public) before this vote was taken. The risk of special friends getting the bid remains a staple in Lakewood if the procedure for variation of the standard practice of competitive bidding is allowed.

That's how I see it.

But what if, the lowest bidder has had experience in building such a facility? As in, actually knew what and how to do it?

Carnegie Development has never worked on a mixed-use project; and yet, it was chosen to cut its baby teeth on building One Lakewood Place.

(Well, we're pretty sure we know why it was chosen.)

in one of Sam O'Leary's mailer's (sent by the Akron Cleveland Association of REALTORS), it states that he supports 'creating a world-class community center for our seniors and families '.

World-class.

Gosh, where have I heard those words before?
Where do you suppose, that he got that verbiage from? I

What does that even mean?
Does SOL know what that means?

[Mark Kindt]

Time To Get Smart

Every time that we learn that the city administration is avoiding competitive bidding we need to get smart and recognize that this is exactly how politicians facilitate "pay to play" politics in their community.

How'd that work on Lakewood Hospital? My best guess is that hole in the ground cost the public about $250,000,000.

Who got the hospital for $1.00? --the developer client of the former mayor? How bad does that still smell?

If you don't have competitive bidding, guess what? It's easier to steer the bid to the preferred "crony" contractor.

When you have competitive bidding you have the contractors policing each other to avoid jail time.