Exception - thoughts about the City not getting
competitive bids from engineering and architectural firms
Eureka!!!
- I think I finally understand Donny's Dictionary on Emergency Legislation and
also on the City not getting bids on contracts! Thinking about the news article
below is what finally turned the light on for me:
|
City hires firm for railroad overpass study
Tuesday, April 24, 2001
By STEVE MULLETT
stevemullett@sanduskyregister.com
The Sandusky City Commission on Monday approved a $160,000
agreement with TranSystems Corporation of Columbus to study its alternatives
for a railroad grade separation on the west end of town.
The company will study at least four alternatives for the
exact location of an overpass or underpass in the area where the Norfolk
Southern tracks intersect Ohio 101 and U.S. 6, City Engineer Earl Wilkinson
said.
TranSystems, a national firm, specializes in
railroad-related projects, he said.
Commissioner Ed
Feick said he thought under state law, the city was required to get three bids
for the study, but Law Director Don Icsman said that's not the case because
it's a "peculiar and specific" contract.
"It's hard for me to see us ignore a statute that
definitely applies to engineers, and I believe there are no exceptions,"
Feick said.
"That's not
correct," Icsman shot back. "There are."
|
I read the
Charter of the City of Sandusky, then I pulled up Anderson's Ohio Revised Code.
I searched under "contract", "peculiar", "bid",
"bidding", "exception", "engineer", and
"specific." I couldn't find the exception that Icsman refers to.
But then I started thinking about it. Think about the words:
"peculiar" (1. of only one person, thing, etc.; exclusive 2.
particular; special 3. odd; strange) and "specific" (1.
definite; explicit 2. peculiar to or characteristic of
something. 3. of a particular sort or kind.)
If the City had a project and is was so strange
that there was only one firm that even did that sort of work, of course, they
couldn't get three bids for the project. It would only be reasonable for the
City to hire that one specific company. So it MIGHT be possible that there is an
exception as Icsman says. Let's assume that Icsman as right and there is such an
exception.
Icsman
pointed out to the Commissioners that THEY are the ones who decide what is an
"emergency". It only follows that the Commissioners are also the ones
who decide what is "peculiar and specific". If the Commissioners say
something is "an emergency" or that something is "peculiar and
specific" then the Courts will agree. The Courts assume that the Commission
is made up of reasonable people who understand "dictionary English".
And since the Courts cannot possible know all the details why a Commission made
up of reasonable people would pass things as "emergencies" or decide a
project is "peculiar and specific", the Courts would support the
Commission in their decision.
So, City Commission, get out YOUR DICTIONARIES
and START THINKING and TRUST YOUR OWN JUDGMENT!!!!!
If there are three engineering firms that do
railroad-related work from which the City could get bids for the study, then you
would have to ask yourself if the project was "peculiar and
specific". (Unfortunately, in the case of the above study, it does NOT
fit the test. There are many more than three engineering firms who could bid on
the work including some firms in Ohio. This work was NOT "peculiar and
specific.")
It is the same for emergency legislation. The
Commission members are the reasonable people who decide what is and what is not
an emergency.
2001
