So much for the Times-Picayune’s effort to revirginate Jefferson Parish Council President John Young. Good Government’s Margie Seemann took the gloss off the T-P’ attempt to paint the Parish Council out of the picture of corruption framing the River Birch contract with her response to Parish Attorney Peggy Barton’s that-law-is-just-a-suggestion-letter.
After reviewing the provisions of Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances Section 2-895, the evaluation committee for RFP 176 should have included a representative from the Purchasing Department. However, the fact that there was no such representative on the committee would not in and of itself be grounds to make the subsequent contract, which resulted from the RFP process, illegal or invalid.
I call bullshit. Ms. Seemann, on the other hand, simply called Barton out point-by-point in her September 15th reply to Barton:
In your response to me, you said, “It should be noted that the evaluation committee does not award any contracts; it merely advises the Jefferson Parish Council, which is then free to award as it deems best for Jefferson Parish, regardless of what the committee recommends.”
Since the evaluation committee did not have the members required by the Code of Ordinances, the Jefferson Parish Council did not receive the advice which is legally required in order for them to make a decision on the award of the River Birch landfill contract. Continue reading “JP Parish Attorney takes the gloss off the Times-Picayune paint job on River Birch”