A unanimous Cameron County Commissioners Court rejected two proposals totaling $1.22 million for one vendor without going through the competitive bidding process and ordered that the department head submitting the requests follow the county's purchasing policies.
The items tabled included awarding repairs to the Carlos Tapia Adult Probation Building for $69,126 and a proposal to repairs on the cell doors at the old jail for $1,153,416, both to Hunt and Associates.In neither case had the county officials making the recommendations – Asst. County Administrator David Garcia and his underling Human Resources Director Arnold Flores – processed the proposed projects through the county's competitive bidding process.
In the case of the repairs to the probation building, there was no money in the budget but instead was recommended that lapsed salaries from count departments be used to pay for the repairs.
In the case of the replacement of the cell doors at the old county jail and installation of surveillance cameras and monitors, the money was contained in the department budget.
County Judge Carlos Cascos and the rest of the commissioners questioned Flores and his boss Garcia why only one vendor had been allowed to inspect the proposed work and submit a proposal.Sources close to the commissioners court say that after learning that both projects were about to be let out without any other contractors being informed the work was available, many called their respective commissioners and Cascos to inquire why.
Some commenters in local blogs asked whether an officer in the Sheriff's Department who allegedly had been in the employ as a consultant to Hunt and Associates may have tried to steer the contracts to his former (and some say, current, employer).
"Major Garcia worked for Hunt before going back to work for the county and now Hunt gets a big contract. Well played, Mr. Hunt well played."
He worked at the county jail, then Hunt and right back to county as a supervisor. Even as a current supervisor, he still works part time for Hunt as a consultant....and we wonder why Hunt is getting all the business! How in the heck is this legal? How many more employees are getting their backs scratched by Hunt?
Lie always, this expenditure will be rubber stamped and business will continue as usual. Sickening!!!!"
With this vote to table and open both projects to competitive bidding, a unanimous court may be sending county officials a strong message that the good old days of favoritism and circumventing the process may be over.
16 comments:
Thank goodness someone is paying attention and this "special" contracting was stopped. We need to have open bidding for public projects to give all vendors an opportunity to bid and participate in these projects. It is true that many vendors are not bonded and can't participate...but perhaps doing away with "special" projects like this will give vendors an incentive to get bonded and make bids. Shows that special interests continue to influence county decisions....Garcia and Flores need to be supervised. Hey, isn't that Joe Rivera's job and isn't he running for office?
On another subject; we have seen Mayor Tony Martinez crawl out from his hole recently to comment on purely Democratic Party issues that don't relate to his job...but support his kiss-ass of the Obama administration. Tony has never said anything before about the border; illegals/crime/security...but now that the Republicans in Congress are making noise about an immigration bill....Little Tony crawls out of his hole and address the national political move. Tony Martines has made excuses for immigration, for security on the border....for several years, but has never spoken out before. Tony is a pawn to Obama and to United Brownsville and nothing he says should be considered.
On another subject that isn't on your current agenda....UTB. I have talked to several UTB professors in the last week and they believe that things are worse now than last year after the "separation". Most of the faculty member I have talked to think Julieta bailed on them and only she is going to have a better job. Professors loyal to Julieta for years are now aware that Julieta cares only for herself and not for those who have be loyal to her for years. It is a shame that Julieta can be so greedy as to leave those loyal to her in a lurch, while she moves on to "greener pastures".
IT'S ABOUT TIME THE COMMISSIONERS COURT...DID SOMETHING RIGHT. THEY GREW SOME BALLS...!!!!!!
Thanks JMON for for publicizing or putting the spotlight on what was being proposed!
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and in REPLY to: "Anonymous said...
Quit blogging on county time.....we know they don't follow policy.
July 30, 2014 at 5:03 PM"
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I personally don't work for the county. I was just reinforcing the msg or point JMON was asserting.
Actually, the county is supposed to work for me and you, AKA "the taxpayers"!
County employees, County Commissioners, and all elected officials need to be held accountable for their actions.
619 S.W. 2d 224 (1981)Cameron County Good Government League et al. vs Ray Ramon et al. been here before nothing changes.
There hands were caught in the cookie jar !!!
Assumption is the muther of all screwups...thanks JM for staying on top of this matter...and where was the Herald??
Typical Dumbokrat move by Asst. County Administrator David Garcia.
He must of had a flashback moment and believed he was back in Washington sniffing King Solomon's old bunghole!
Know how you stop this shit? Start firing these bastards that can't/don't/won't follow rules. Replace them with people who will. CLEAN UP THE CORRUPTION IN THIS COUNTY!!!
Re: County bid. Les arrimaron el acero Caliente. The hot iron was too close for comfort!!
Juan, while you are it, it would wise if you do some research on Bmetro. This private company has two contracts with the city, one to manage the transit system and the other one to perform bus maintenance. The problem is that Bmetro management cannot supervise the fleet maintenance operations that is the main reason there so many break downs and missed trips. Ain't this conflict of interest? Also, drivers are required to wear a safety vest with First Transit logo, even though bus drivers are city employees. They are getting free advertising at city expense. Something worth looking into, too much tax payer funds being wasted.
COUNTY Administov and employees.Need to be Accountable.Garcia and Flores
COUNTY Administov and employees.Need to be Accountable.Garcia and Flores
juan as you know Garcia worked in solomamons ortiz office in wash dc for many years so it does not surprise me that he would try to get this contract over to his buddies at hunt and ass so he could get his bribe money. hey 10 percent of 1.22 million is pretty good. right david? cca
Well it's too bad that the court is now going to hold up these needed repairs to go through the process of screening and background checking a whole new boatload of workers (did I mention they all have to be legal and non-ex-convicts? Yeeeeeah.) That's assuming that someone can beat Hunt and Associates price. Go ahead and try. The county wanted fancy touch-screen jail doors now. I'm sure that won't cost another cool million. Mr. Hunt was going to have the old ones refurbished? Is that right? Hmmm. Seems like to the most cost effective way to go for the tax payers.
Oh, and yeah… since they're already working there they KNOW what needs to get done and can get it done efficiently. But that just doesn't make sense in Cameron County.
Mr. Hunt submitted his proposal, what the county chooses to do after that is out of his hands.
But I do hope that after months of fighting and bickering and mud-slinging, the job finally gets done, because it needs to get done.
Mr. Hunt has the best proposal. Simple. Try. Waste time.
What's that saying? "The best man for the job…"???
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