Commissioner Murman quoted in this Joe Henderson column on Go Hillsborough:
JOE HENDERSON COLUMNS
COLUMN
Henderson: Latest controversy could lead to stop sign for Go Hillsborough
By Joe Henderson | Tribune Staff
Published: September 18, 2015
The plan by Hillsborough County commissioners to seek a sales tax hike that would generate billions for transportation needs looks about as well-oiled as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pass defense.
Or offensive game plan.
Or … oh, you get the idea.
That became clear Wednesday when commissioners unanimously decided to have an official review of how an engineering firm got a $1.3 million contract to lead the Go Hillsborough effort. This became an issue after a WTSP 10 News television report that focused on alleged cronyism in the process, and it’s likely this will end in one of two ways.
If the review finds the charge is correct, the county will have a mess. The company, Parsons Brinckerhoff, has already been paid. It could wind up in court. Given the time it would take to sort out all those issues, any attempt to place the referendum on the ballot for November 2016 could be moot.
“It’s very clear there is an effort to derail Go Hillsborough,” said Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who made the motion for the review. “If there are any questions about the process, they need to be answered. I want to clear up the cloud over Go Hillsborough and I think we can.
“But if we start this with the conclusion that the process was bad and Go Hillsborough is bad, then we have a problem.”
The opponents Beckner referred to are making much of the way Parsons Brinckerhoff got the job. Rather than going through the standard bid process, the company was chosen from a group of 10 engineering companies through a process known as “direct select.” According to an October 2014 memo from County Administrator Mike Merrill, the companies were on a county list to “provide services when needed.”
Merrill said this is in accordance with the Consultants Competitive Negotiations Act. That allows for qualified firms to be chosen for specific jobs.
That leads to the second point. If the review finds no violations occurred, as Merrill has insisted is the case, opponents will scream it’s a whitewash and business as usual. Even if commissioners went ahead with the referendum, imagine trying to convince a skeptical public that this isn’t an inside job where taxpayers get handed the bill.
I thought from the beginning that asking voters to approve any sales tax hike was risky business, even if everything worked perfectly. It has not. Something like this could spell doom.
“I’d rather know this now than in November (2016) when people have soundly defeated it,” Commission Chair Sandy Murman said. “These revelations are distracting. We have to be held accountable. We have to be transparent.
“And we have to solve the transportation problem. Our economic future depends on it. We can’t attract the kind of corporate headquarters we need unless we solve this.”
That’s the big thing that gets lost in the intrigue. Fixing the county’s inadequate transportation system will remain a top priority whether Go Hillsborough succeeds or not.
Murman said voters tell her they’re confused about how it would work — and that’s before this controversy.
Leaders have been going back and forth whether to ask for a half-cent or full penny increase from voters. What would they do with all that money, voters ask? Well, that’s where Parsons Brinckerhoff comes in. The firm is identifying projects and, for now at least, will make recommendations.
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Go Hillsborough backers have insisted the public will know exactly where the money is going.
Critics say it’s fishy.
The county has a lot invested in Go Hillsborough. Officials have been attending transportation workshops all around the county for months, and more are planned.
They put large amounts of political and emotional capital in the project. The future of the county is at stake. Pulling the plug would be extraordinarily difficult.
They may have to do it anyway.
Officials may have done everything by the book, but a lot of times that doesn’t matter. When this much money is involved and people start screaming foul play, things tend to end badly.
