Cape Denial
To the editor:
Thank you and congratulations to the four council members who overcame staff and contractor pressure and sided with the beleaguered homeowners in SW6/7, especially Councilman Grill who was torn between moving forward with the UEP which he believes in, or stopping the UEP (for now) and possibly saving some homeowners from losing their homes in these troubled times.
I believe just about everyone in this city would agree the UEP project has been a burr under the saddle for many years. I also believe just about everyone in this city believes the UEP is a good and necessary project if only the cost was brought down in line with most of the other communities around us.
The staff of this city has chosen the most expensive way to proceed with the UEP/FEP and just about any other project that Cape Coral does and this is outsourcing all projects to the manager-at-risk method.
The taxpayers of Cape Coral pay the salaries of enough people on staff to oversee these projects and yet the city elects to outsource these tasks to companies such as MWH which means taxpayers pay at least twice as much for the management of just about any project the city does. But that is just scratching the surface of why everything the city of Cape Coral does cost more than just about any other city around us.
Just take a few minutes to think about it. No one would sign a commitment to a not-to-exceed price without enough fat in the price to cover all contingencies.
Recently, a newspaper article was published which called Cape Coral a “wasteland” and there was an outpouring of rage from City Hall, yet one does not have to travel too far from one’s home to see the numerous houses in varying stages of foreclosure, one of the highest rates in the nation. The abundance of newly built strip malls and office buildings around town lacking tenants are not hard to miss.
Perhaps a more appropriate name for our city would be “Cape Denial.” Consider the facts, three independent audits of the UEP revealed concerns about record keeping, possible bid rigging, the piecemeal way the UEP was being done, etc., brought a response of denial from city staff. In fact, following the last audit at a cost of $130,000 an additional $20,000 of taxpayer money was spent on a mass mailing to city residences denying the findings of the audit and calling the auditor a hoax. Makes one wonder if the auditor was a hoax. Who investigated the credentials and authorized the hiring of this auditor and does this person still work for this city?
Then there was the non-binding negative opinion of the way contracts were awarded by the city. This opinion came from the Attorney General of Florida. The response from the city, you guessed it, denial and just for safe measure, the city petitioned to have a state statute changed. Within a few months, it was changed to allow Cape Coral (Denial) to continue doing business as usual only now it was within the law.
Another recent newspaper article featured a welder welding two pieces of pipe together for the A/C system of the new police headquarters. The article went on to say some more features were added to the building, such as a clock and some decorative columns, at no extra charge. This is due to the fact $180,000 was saved because the city purchased some of the building’s material which should be the rule rather than the exception.
If the city council is serious about lowering the UEP/FEP costs and just about any other project cost, the council should insist the city staff abandon their present practice of using manager-at-risk and start doing that activity called “management” in house. By cutting out the middleman (manager-at-risk), this council can save the taxpayers of Cape Coral a considerable amount of money.
Rick Sadlowski
Cape Coral