Me First

ME FIRST… Given that there’s a shade of beige named after Monterey, the word spicy is rarely used to describe anything in it. But for those paying attention – and Squid has been – Monterey City Council meetings have occasionally gotten pretty hot under the collar in recent weeks, and Sept. 16 was no different.

The council was considering whether to form an ad hoc committee to sign off on language in the recruiting brochure for a new city manager, which is being drafted by a recruiting firm hired by the city. Councilmember Jean Rasch was willing to move forward without an ad hoc committee – she was confident in the hired consultant, she said – but was adamant about serving on a committee if there was one. Staff reiterated it was the consultant who recommended the creation of the committee, and Mayor Tyller Williamson asked the council if they were open to having just one councilmember review the language, not a committee. “As long as it’s me,” Rasch said. But Williamson replied with his own one-person committee idea: “I think it is probably best suited for the role of the mayor to serve in that capacity.”

The council voted 3-1 to have Williamson work with the consultant as a committee of one, with Rasch dissenting.

BUILDING TRUST… Squid keeps on oozing over to Sherwood Recreation Center in Salinas, hoping to get some reps in. The facility is being remodeled from a municipal swimming pool into a rec center focused on youth sports. The current phase concentrates mainly on exterior upgrades. The city received three bids in July and Otto Construction, Inc. was the lowest bidder at $2.7 million ($88,000 below the engineer’s estimates and $180,000 below the next-highest bidder). According to the municipal code, the city must grant the contract to the lowest bidder. Simple enough.

But members of Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 104 expressed concerns due to previous wage theft violations by B&M Civil, an Otto subcontractor. City staff reviewed both contractors’ records at various agencies, including the Department of Industrial Relations and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, to check if they were on the blacklist, and they weren’t (if contractors rectify violations, they don’t appear on the list). But as the conversation lingered – first on an agenda for Aug. 26, then Sept. 9 – Councilmember Gloria De La Rosa moved to reject all bids and restart the process. “This is about public trust,” said Councilmember Jose Luis Barajas. “If we ignore clear violations, we weaken the integrity of our policies and erode the trust in city government.”

In the end, council voted 6-0 to start over, with a new bidding deadline of Oct. 14. Squid’s not sure that builds trust as much as it wastes time, not to mention money in bypassing the lowest bid.