By Ray King
The Pine Bluff City Council voted Monday night to waive competitive bidding on two proposed ordinances, votes that did not make one member of the council happy.
While he did not vote against them, Council member Glen Brown Sr., said the city needed to be “more transparent.”
“Everything done has to be done in one night,” Brown said, adding that ordinances are supposed to be read three times at three different meetings.
One of the ordinances approved was designed to help Pine Bluff Transit and provided that the competitive bidding would be waived “in exceptional situations for emergency bus repair/diagnosis.”
In 1996, the council passed the original ordinance to waive competitive bidding when it came to bus repairs and the vote Monday night renewed the provisions of that ordinance.
The ordinance applies only to “rolling stock” and according transit officials, they have limited capability and anytime a bus breaks down, it limits “city residents from getting where they need to be.”
Additionally, getting three bids on repairs can be difficult since there are not a lot of companies in the area that can do the repairs.
The second ordinance waived competitive bidding so that the Mayor can contract with McClelland Consulting Engineers for engineering work on bridge repairs mandated by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
McClelland is currently under contract for engineering work on repairing the 28th Street Overpass bridge
And the ordinance said the company has “been engaged in multiple projects in the city in the past with satisfactory results, is currently engaged in ongoing city projects and has the expertise and capability to perform the needed services at a reasonable rate.”
Also Monday night, the council approved a resolution increasing the base salary of the director of the aquatic center. The current salary is set at $53,000 and Mayor Shirley Washington was seeking to raise it to $60,000. During discussion on the ordinance, Washington said a director is being hired from another city and who is currently making more than what the increased base salary would be but has agreed to come to Pine Bluff for that salary.
She said the person who is being hired “can grow programs” at the center and that there is money in the budget of the aquatic center to cover the increase.
