{"id":5355,"date":"2013-08-27T12:35:42","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T16:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5355"},"modified":"2013-08-27T12:43:01","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T16:43:01","slug":"third-no-bid-contract-for-same-firm-proposed-this-month-lcc-2013-08-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/third-no-bid-contract-for-same-firm-proposed-this-month-lcc-2013-08-26.html","title":{"rendered":"Third no-bid contract for same firm proposed this month @ LCC 2013-08-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nThis time\r\nthe County Engineer said Lovell was the only qualified\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nconsultant for an ecological and environmental study\r\n(because of what requirement we don’t know),\r\nfor a land swap (for what we don’t know),\r\nnot funded by the county (funded by whom we don’t know).\r\nYou the taxpayers and people potentially affected by any\r\necological and environmental problems: do you think you might\r\nwant to know?\r\nThey vote tonight about what was proposed\r\nat the\r\n\r\n26 August 2013 Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n6.a.\r\n\r\nEnvironmental Engineering Services for GDOT Land Deed for Parks and Recreation<\/a>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nInvisible County Engineer Mike Fletcher said he had received a proposal\r\nfrom Lovell Engineering Services for the\r\n62.49 acre tract\r\njust north of the existing skate park Parks and Rec owns\r\nand just north of the old rest area.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe county Tax Assessors maps don’t show any tract of that size\r\nnear that location, but they do show\r\n\r\na 69 acre tract owned\r\nby “STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT”<\/a> on the west<\/em> side\r\nof I-75 (not on the east side as indicated on the map shown\r\nin the Commission meeting).\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe Invisible Engineer continued:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIn order to get a land swap, the county is going to have to do\r\nan environmental assessment with ecology study for GDOT.\r\nLovell Engineering is the only consultant in Lowndes County\r\nthat is pre-qualified by GDOT\r\nto do 106.f ecology and environmental studies.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSince it’s a land swap, maybe they’re swapping for\r\npart or all of\r\n\r\nthe Kritzer property east of I-75<\/a>.\r\nWe don’t know; he didn’t say.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHe didn’t say, but GDOT’s\r\nOnline Environmental Procedures Manual<\/a> mentions:\r\n

\r\n\r\nAssessment of Effects (AOE)\r\n<\/strong>\r\n—\r\nDocument prepared in compliance with Section 106 of the National\r\nHistoric Preservation Act (NHPA) and submitted to the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) of the\r\nGeorgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).\r\nIt discusses the effects of the implementation of the proposed project to hist\r\noric and archaeological\r\nresources that are listed in or determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NR).\r\nThis document requires concurrence of the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO).\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nSo maybe he was referring to Section 106 (16 U.S.C. 470f)\r\nof the \r\nNational Historic Preservation Act of 1966\r\nas amended through 1992<\/a>:\r\n
\r\n

\r\nThe head of any Federal agency having direct or indirect\r\njurisdiction over a proposed Federal or federally assisted\r\nundertaking in any State and the head of any Federal department or\r\nindependent agency having authority to license any undertaking\r\nshall, prior to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds\r\non the undertaking or prior to the issuance of any license, as the\r\ncase may be, take into account the effect of the undertaking on any\r\ndistrict, site, building, structure, or object that is included in\r\nor eligible for inclusion in the National Register. The head of any\r\nsuch Federal agency shall afford the Advisory Council on Historic\r\nPreservation established under Title II of this Act a reasonable\r\nopportunity to comment with regard to such undertaking.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThat doesn’t say anything about ecology or environmental studies,\r\nalthough other parts of the GDOT EPM do.\r\nI guess we can guess.\r\nBut why should we have to?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAlso, both the GDOT EPM and the NHPA seem to require public hearings.\r\nWill we get any?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCommissioner John Page wanted to know:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThis will come out of your department?\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnswer:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nNo sir. I don’t have $79,400.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nCommissioner Page then said he hadn’t read far enough.\r\nBut he didn’t tell us where the $79,400 would come from.\r\nBy his expression we can guess the document he was reading\r\nsaid, but we don’t get to see it.\r\nUnless somebody files an open records request, which won’t\r\nget satisfied until after<\/em>\r\nthey vote tonight.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOnly two weeks ago the county\r\n\r\nawarded two no-bid contracts to Lovell Engineering<\/a>.\r\nI know nothing bad about Lovell Engineering.\r\nWhat I wonder is why is the county awarding all these no-bid contracts\r\nto the same firm?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIf Lowndes County acted like it was in a real metro area and\r\n\r\npublished board packet items along with its agendas<\/a>,\r\nlike for example Augusta-Richmond County and Glynn County do,\r\nwe’d at least know what the Invisible Engineer was talking about.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\nthe video<\/a>:\r\n

\r\n