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Friday, August 15, 2008

Ind. Gov't. - No bid sewer contract ruling affirmed [Updated]

For background on this controversy, for which the ILB has had a number of entires, begin with this from April 8th.

Today Dick Kaukas of the Louisville Courier Journal reports:

Floyd Circuit Judge J. Terrence Cody has reaffirmed a March ruling that the New Albany sewer board acted lawfully last year when it awarded a $3.3 million annual contract for operation of the city sewer system without competitive bidding.

Cody said the agreement between the board and Environmental Management Corp, or EMC, was for "professional and technical services," not for a public work, so no bidding was required.

In an order issued last week, the judge rejected a motion from the New Albany City Council that he "correct errors" in the prior ruling when he dismissed the council's lawsuit challenging the contract. * * *

The council had filed suit challenging the sewer board-EMC agreement as well as a separate, $507,000 no-bid contract awarded to EMC last year by the city storm water board.

In his latest ruling, Cody also said no bidding was required for the storm water board contract.

But Cody did grant two other parts of the council's motion to correct errors in his earlier ruling.

In them, Ulrich argued that the storm water contract was void because it hadn't been signed by then-Mayor James Garner and because it obligated the city to payments beyond what was appropriated for the storm water board. Cody said further proceedings on those issues would be conducted when requested by lawyers for the council or the board. * * *

The council, meantime, addressed the no-bid issue by an ordinance in May, adopting a measure that requires bids for contracts between city boards and companies, as outlined in state law.

[Updated 8/16/08] See also this story in the Jeffersonville News & Tribune.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 15, 2008 09:04 AM
Posted to Indiana Government