City attorney: Council acted properly

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Sept. 20, 2002
Meridian city attorney Bill Hammack said Thursday the city council was right when it chose the same engineering firm that an evaluation team recommended to design a new interstate exit.
Councilmen selected Engineering Associates on Tuesday to head the design of the Interstate 20/59 interchange at the Meridian-Lauderdale County Industrial Park.
The vote followed Mayor John Robert Smith's veto of the council's original choice of Neel-Schaffer Inc. Smith said he vetoed that choice because the city is required to follow state and federal guidelines.
Hammack agreed, saying the council's original choice went against the city's evaluation team selection. He said it would have delayed the process and threaten the availability of grant money.
Hammack also said he understood that Mississippi Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration officials "have raised issues on the selection of the committee's No. 1 selection."
Officials with MDOT and the FHA could not be reached for comment.
Evaluation team
The evaluation team's pick came under city council scrutiny after it was discovered that one of the committee members was directed to change her score on her evaluation of Engineering Associates.
Meridian Public Works Director Monty Jackson, who was a member of the selection committee, told employee Audra Buckley to raise her scores for Engineering Associates.
Ward 5 Councilman Bobby Smith said the changes were made to give Engineering Associates a higher score. Engineering Associates ultimately scored three points higher than Neel-Schaffer Inc.
Despite the score and recommendation, the council voted to hire Neel-Schaffer. Then the mayor vetoed the choice Tuesday, followed by the council's approval of Engineering Associates.
Smith said his veto was necessary because the city had to follow state and federal guidelines since it was receiving state and federal money to fund the project.
Attorney's memo
In a memo to city leaders dated Monday, the day before Smith issued his veto Hammack referenced the "Brooks Act" and MDOT's standard operating procedures.
The "Brooks Act" states that design firms should be selected through a "formal selection and ranking process." It says that the top-rated firm is then invited for contract negotiations.
Hammack said in his memo that the mayor's action was appropriate and "that selection of the firm recommended by the committee is necessary to avoid delays which would cause loss of federal funding for the project, at least for this year."
The memo also spoke to the evaluation process.
He said four of the five committee members "stated to the council that they did not believe an effort was made to sway them toward one firm or the other and that each exercised his own judgment."