PB: Consultant Selection – Hanky Panky or Coincidence?
by SDM
Welcome to 2013! SDM is tanned, rested and ready to get at it.
The January 7, 2013 Palmetto Bay Village Council agenda has been posted. For the uninitiated, this means you can read the agenda and its backup information only until a week or so after the meeting. Thereafter, the agenda will be taken down and hidden away in the Clerk’s filing cabinet only to be reviewed upon submission of a public records request. In Palmetto Bay, this is called “transparency.” But SDM digresses…
One interesting item on the agenda is a proposal to award to the Corradino Group, Inc. a contract in the amount of $19,749.40 for “engineering services to prepare construction plans, specifications, and contract documents for the safe routes to school application of Coral Reef Elementary School.”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Who could argue with safe routes to schools? Especially when the money being spent is state grant money, right?
Well, SDM is going to assume the project is worthwhile since SDM has no way to know otherwise. What is a little unsavory are some of the coincidences with this particular no-bid deal.
Let’s start with the amount of the award. SDM’s clever readers will note that the contract calls for just under $20,000 in spending. Coincidentally, section 287.15 Fla. Stat. (referencing s. 287.017) – which governs these kinds of contracts – sets the minimum threshold for competitive bidding at…you guessed it: $20,000! By not exceeding the $20,000 figure, the village did not invoke the requirement to competitively bid the contract. Hmmm…
In an another coincidence, the Corradino firm that was selected for this rigorous engineering contract is the same Corradino firm that was a sponsor of the Mayor Stanczyk’s prom last year. According to the village’s website, the Corradino Group purchased a block of 10 or more tickets to the 10th Anniversary private party where their principals could rub elbows with village brass. Hmmm…
SDM Codebreaker: Small contracts like this one go to the politically connected firms like the Corradino Group. The fact that the contract amount is just under the threshold for competitive selection is not a coincidence.
SDM Wonders: Are there any other firms in town who would have liked an opportunity to do some work in these tough times but who are not on the procurement director’s speed dial list?
SDM Says: Palmetto Bay likes to pretend that it is somehow different from the rest of the county’s municipalities. Contracts like this one just prove that our little village is just like everyone else’s.
There’s no plausible reason why a small municipality like PB with a hefty, well paid staff cannot competitively bid virtually all of its purchases except for the occasional true emergency. $20k might be a reasonable threshhold for Miami-Dade County in view of their massive budget, but not for PB. Hey, isn’t the Miami-Dade school system responsible for this kind of study anyway? PB does not receive school taxes.
Real question is whether this is a single contract or are they trying to divide them up to skirt the $20,000 rule. An interesting question should be posed by both misters Dubois and Fiore, is will there be more contacts? If so, will the Corradino firm be allowed to bid for more of this Safe Routes to schools money? Both Dubois and Fiore as well as Schaeffer, for that matter would be advised to really question this contract as they are now, all three, on the firing line and equally responsible for any contractual shenanigans that go on. By the way, Corradino has always been a good friend of madam mayor and in fact was the consultant that brought the Safe Routes to schools to the Council. It appears that they are allowing him to dip into the money that he brought to the Council. Interesting little self-make-work project for Mr. Corradino. Okay Schaeffer, Fiore and Dubois, are you really going to stand up for the people or is it really just more of the same?
The question needs to be asked; how much money has Mr. Corradino and his group made off this project already. How is this project being divided up so we can continue to Chip away in small increments at all the money?
That little prom was a great investment. Mr. Corradino is getting an 8 to 1 return on his dollar for the prom. It is all soft money as it is consultant fees. It’s a real shame that the sponsorships were not put out to bid. There are plenty of businesses that would have invested $2500 if they knew they could get a nearly $20,000 contract back in return. This Village Council can really take care of its friends, can’t they?
Look how nothing changes. The agenda is all about no-bid dealing by Mayor Stanczyk and friends. Come on John and Tim, you can do better. Patrick has gone along with the Stanczyk no-bid train for over two years.
Read the staff report for the Safe Routes to school item. Joe Corradino prepared the study. He has been paid previously for that work. This takes him to well over $20K in the aggregate for Safe Schools. They are merely cutting into small bites. This is appears to be a corporate piggy bank for the Corradino Group. Dubois should ask the question how much Joe Corradino has received to date. How much more is he expected to be hired for? He is drawing plans. Will he also get paid for supervising construction? What is the total to be received as a result of the entire Safe Streets project.
Another question is the traffic control. I smell sidewalks, and more than just what is listed on page 9 of 69. Council woman Lindsay wants everyone in the village to be advised by mail if the private school near her burps. Has she personally seen to it that everyone who is going to get a sidewalk is being notified in advance of that interesting little amenity soon to be tearing through their landscaping, sprinklers and stamped concrete driveways?
And most of all, why is Palmetto Bay paying for improvements to a County road, 152? I guess Commissioner Bell is delivering less than prior Commissioner Sorenson who used to maintain the County Roads. It appears mitigation is back, this time in the form of the County (under Bell) wont do it, so Patrick will charge the residents for it. Sorenson, by the way, had the crosswalk flashers installed on both 82nd and 168. Thank you Ma Bell: for nothing. Of course, if the County did it, Mr. Corradino might not get his cut.
You can bet that Mayor Stanczyk will not be putting the answers to the above questions in her happy news little e-mail.
How about the $65K no bid “piggy back” deal for turf maintenance equipment under item 10. A.
I expect better from the new vice mayor. You wanted the job. You got it. See if you can light a fire under Patrick and get some change going here. It is time to produce.
All I have to say is John, Patrick, Tim: WAKE UP! Be better than they are. Do not be part of the problem.
Corradino also does business next door in Cutler Bay. I wonder where he not to be a council member in Pinecrest if he would get his foot in the door here in the South.
Perhaps the money will actually be used to cover Eve Boutsis’ most recent invoice of $22,000, for doing nothing useful. No other municipality would pay it. Eve’s obviously got a giant milking machine attached to the teet of PB with the setting on high, because whatever bill she submits, Shelley and Joan approve it without question.
The staff report and Mayor Misinformation Stanczyk may crow that all these improvements are being paid for by a grant. That is true, but it is not the whole truth. I see no projections as to what the recurring yearly costs will be. All painting needs to be repainted periodicially. Sidewalks need repair. The village is slated to approve $50,000 just for sidewalks in this same agenda.
Maintanence is an issue. How fast will the repair company be when a flasher is damaged, needs maintanence or goes missing? How much will they charge? This current council has again failed to look forward to the yearly maintanence cost for future generations. Remember, last year’s council took over $800,000 out of the village reserves to balance their budget. Call it Pariser’s parting gift to the taxpayers.
Will the safety improvements become a reason for the school board to dump even more children into Coral Reef elementary? No one wants to attend an unsafe school. How will all this affect traffic? Will traffic start cutting through the neighborhoods to avoid all the new traffic calming. Then Perrine, Southwood and Howard Drive are next. Will Corradino be receiving more $20,000 contracts for each additional school?
Improvements, even those initally paid for by grants, cost money.
It looks like Patrick, John and Tim have their work cut out for them. It is time to stand and make a difference. I predict that they will be weak. That we are all in for more of the same.
Its only money. This 2013 council looks rested from the holidays and ready to embark on a new spending binge on our tax dollars.
$19,000.00 more down the WBAY rabbit hole. Who ever said that owing a boat is like having a hole to throw money into never owned a local TV (play) station. Another nugget in the agenda is the $19,000 more for the WBAY visual branding and promotion. When will Patrick and John expose this ongoing budget leakage? How much is this costing for the village council to satisfy their tremendous egos? The total money spent on this TV fiasco is horrendous. I suggest we rename WBAY W-EGO. Better yet, pull the plug.
I must have missed Mayor Stanczk’s foreshadowing of this need for this expense in the last State of the Village. Surprised as well that no one heard about the newest financial fiasco that I call:
The $74,300.00 photo opportunity for the village council. $74,300.00 for two new electric vehicles for the village? Will Mayor Stanczyk finally have a vehicle she can call her own and put her name on the side like the county commissioners? An electric car, really? Maybe John and Patrick can make the case as to how this will actually benefit the taxpayers by spending $74,300.00 on just two electric cars. The council really needs to admit what this truly is: a $74,300.00 taxpayer funded photo op so they all can look green.
Grow up council members. Quit playing with our money.