While I am happy this is happening and glad to see the mayor didn’t put up a big fight over it I am a little skeptical about parts of the process.
Public Works director Mark Cotter dropped this on the council at the 4 PM informational out of the blue and they want to get the ball rolling right away on the RFP. I get the feeling that the Administration agreed to this AS LONG as they could control the process, which is unfortunate. I think the council should lead the way on this and NOT the administration which F’ckd up the siding to begin with, then lied to us while blowing thousands on legal counsel. Sorry, anything moving forward with the EC from now on should not have the administration’s hands on it.
Rex once again decided to be a big Jerk to Stehly after she voiced her concern that the ENTIRE council would not be involved in the RFP. She also reminded the council that other stuff surrounding this settlement wasn’t just ‘noise’ (a couple of councilors felt everything but the siding study was just ‘noise’). Rex told Stehly that he was disappointed in her ‘Distrust’ of the administration. Thank God I was at home when he said that because I was laughing so hard I think I sharted. Gee, Rex, I guess the multiple LIES from City Hall on the settlement wasn’t enough for us to ‘distrust’ them. What a sad case of denial.
But there are some good things –
- We are promised that this will be a complete study from an out-of-state firm.
- Two councilors and a local contractor/citizen will be on the RFP committee.
- It will be paid for out of the 2nd day fund from the EC.
- The entire study will be made public.
The one POSITIVE thing about this is, as Rolfing ironically pointed out, this will put this to rest. This of course is if they pick a firm that will really dig in and have no conflicts with Mortenson or the city, which I think they will, because I believe they really do want this to go away.
My opinion though is it really won’t put it to rest, because I do believe there are moisture issues with the building that will have to be fixed. I guess we will have to wait for the experts opinion, oh, and make sure it is NOT a ‘Draft’ report this time.