Every once in a while, Board of Alderman meetings literally puts the audience to sleep. The Special Meeting of May 14th started out that way, after all, one can only listen to financial reports for so long before you realize an hour had gone by and you have no memory of what was said. Sometimes a dysfunctional sound system can be a blessing in disguise.
I sat and listened to resolutions that dealt with contract approval of various companies who are involved with our park projects and found myself nodding off, until I sensed a divide in our board of aldermen. Since PDS (Planned Design Services) Company lost their contract and Gartenberg Construction Consulting, Inc. took over, a number of the subcontractors needed a re approval of their contracts. The divide came with a 4-2 vote on two of the three resolutions, Aldermen Sonya Shryock and Cheryl Kross voted "nay" twice, while the others passed the resolutions.
I listened to Alderman Cheryl Kross speak for what seemed like an hour on one of the resolutions and frankly, I was lost most of the time. Kross has a style of point presentation that delves into a minutia of detail before she gets to what she's really wanting to say. It wasn't until Shryock spoke that I saw the big picture. Kross had set the stage, and in my opinion, Shryock was about to deliver the knockout punch. Unfortunately, due to an odd set of circumstances, Alderman Chris Gard called the question before Shryock could finish her point and the resolutions passed 4-2.
What happened: Kross and Shryock were arguing against having open ended contracts which extend past the completion of the project. Shryock pointed out that a similar contract was awarded to one of the three companies being discussed. The amount of the prior contract was $40,000, but because there was a clause allowing for charges after completion of the project, it ended up costing the City $3,000,000. I remember the aldermen discussing that situation a year or so ago, and how angry they were that it had happened, vowing it would never happen again. Well, they just passed three more contracts Wednesday night just like that one.
I think what happened was that Gard was so bored listening to Kross, he called the question, closing the discussion. Shryock had her hand raised to finish her statement and rather than call on her, Mayor Nickolas Guccione cut her off and called on Gard.
I guess my problem with this entire situation is that I don't understand why any charges should be billed to the City after the completion of any project. Turning a 40 thousand dollar contract into three million dollars should have been a lesson, not to allow any charges to be made after the fact. Rick Stokes, President of the Board was fuming when they discovered the previous contract last year, yet he seconded Gard's call for the question and shut down Shryock. I have to stand with Kross and Shryock on this item. I believe they were mistreated and misunderstood regarding their protest, and the other four aldermen passed something that is not in the best interest of the City!
