Hypothetically Speaking
Disclaimer: Please note: the purpose of this illustration is to show the flaws in the Council’s current practice of dealing with conflicts of interest. I believe that the use of the illustration is important to move beyond the debate beyond the philosophical to the potential. It is not meant to imply that any Council member has unduly benefitted from their elected position.
Let’s say, for illustration’s sake, that I am a Council member that owns utility relocation company. As a council member I openly advocated for extending the outer loop. As a Council member I participated in numerous Council discussions about paying for this extension. As a Council member I voted for a budget that included a $5M allocation for this project. The project proceeds to go to bid. The bids come in. The low bidder is selected. I abstain from the vote awarding the contract to the low bidder because I will be a sub-contractor on this job. I’m clean and legal. Good for me. Good for the City. I get the work and the City gets the lowest price. That’s what some call a win-win deal.
Did you know that I submitted a bid for the utility relocation work with all four of the Contractors that submitted bids? I do a lot of sub-contracting bids for City work. The reason being that I don’t have many competitors in Temple and it’s pretty expensive for out of towners to move their equipment down for a job of this size. I do a whole lot more sub-contracting work for the City than General Contracting work. Did you know that General Contractors can choose any sub regardless of whether they are low bid or not? The City plays no part in the selection of sub-contractors. Heck, the General Contractor can even fire his original sub and hire me if he so pleases. Did you know that there is no real mechanism in place for financial transparency after a contract is awarded? Not only is the contractor free to choose any sub he wants he is also free to pay them whatever he wants. It is completely within the purview of the General Contractor to give me (the sub) a $10K bonus for being a good guy. I am a good guy, you know.
It’s interesting to me that there are laws setup to monitor the bid process but there is nothing in place to monitor what happens to the dollars after a job is awarded. Don’t get me wrong the City won’t pay if the work does not meet City specs but the City has no idea what the contractor does with the money he paid. When you have Council members either doing the sub-contracting work or supplying the materials there should be a whole lot more transparency. It doesn’t matter what line of business they are in – it’s almost always going to be a conflict that is not addressed by just abstaining from the final vote. We’ve got to start at the beginning, not end, if we are going to truly mitigate the conflict of interest.
Tags: City Charter, Conflict of Interest, Ethics
July 17th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Why the hell should the city have anything to do with the money that is paid to the contractor for services performed?
July 18th, 2009 at 11:54 am
smiley,
i dont think you were smiling when you wrote that.
if a city council councilperson can possible effect the outcome of money spent by the city and then can possible profit from that money, do you not see a problem with that?
am i in the monority that i want to see my city councilperson or any city employee far above reproach? is it wrong to want our city councilperson, in a strong sense, to be SELFLESS, and have no notion of possible gain, but working toward a common goal of bettering our city, and in turn bettering the lives of those that live here? i want city leaders to look past their own interest and see the interest of the common good for ALL PEOPLE. how about a councilperson look for ways for you smiley, or me, or our neighbors to live better, healthier, stronger lives. what if that was their goal…how can i improve the social/economic lives of the people who put me here? that seems like a worthy calling of a public SERVANT. -jb
July 18th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
That same logic could be used bribes or gifts to public officials. Before, during and after matter when public officials receive taxpayer dollars in any capacity.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:34 am
You say here is nothing in place after a contract is paid by the City… The last time i checked bribes were illegal in the State of Texas.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Bribes are illegal in Texas. My question is this. If there is no transparency with how a contractor spends the dollars he receives form the City how does one know if public officials are receiving questionable payments? BTW, my question only pertains to public officials that are sub-contracting on City work. I am not advocating transparency in other instances.