Conflicts of Interest with Public Works
It is not a secret at City hall that Ch2M Hill has a generous contract. It has never been sent out for competitive bidding. We have previously written about Ch2:
Ch2M Hill is contracted to manage Public Works & Community Development. Both are departments that benefit from development and construction.
Tom Udell, Traffic Control Operator
Ch2 also controls the traffic lights.
Is it a conflict of interest that the same company that benefits from construction & TSPLOST, also manages the traffic lights?
At the Town Hall meeting Wednesday night, Public Works Director Tom Black insisted the traffic lights are synced perfectly and cannot be improved.
Do you think the Traffic Lights can be improved?
City Council has recently discussed Ch2's contract. Instead of sending the contract out to bid, for many companies to competitively bid in a free market approach and lower the costs for taxpayers, Mayor Bodker insisted on renegotiating the contract with Ch2. As usual, Mayor Bodker had his votes lined up on the City Council to do just that.
For the Ch2 contract, Mayor Bodker tapped Councilman Jay Lin to oversee the renegotiations.
Ch2 donated $1000 to Mike Bodker's Committee for Johns Creek, Inc and has donated significantly to the GA Republican Party, which is known to funnel donations to candidates to remove the direct accountability.
It is also rumored that Ch2M Hill sponsored Bodker's GMA inauguration in 2015.
Do you think there are Conflicts of Interest with Public Works?
Source: City of Johns Creek; Image Source: GDP
I remember reading about this company last year. I recall their contract's anniversary date comes up later this year, but there's an extremely narrow notification window to rebid this contract or it automatically renews. This is a self-serving gotcha clause that favors the contractor and Ch2m hill probably pushed it hard. Government staff gets tied down with day to day activities and will often times forget a narrow notification window. I hope they don't forget this year so we can make sure our City has a good deal.