AARK/James Andrews conflict of interest and City Council remarks and 75k contract

AARK/James Andrews conflict of interest and City Council remarks and 75k contract

This post is for those concerned about the conflict of interest with James Andrews and AARK engineering and the City of Bellaire.

These are my interpretations of last nights city council meeting comments. I spoke before council and these are the bullet points of my statement.

The report states- James Andrews and ARKK are the logical and appropriate choice to perform this type of design work because of their familiarity with Bellaire water and wastewater infrastructure. Has the city allowed anyone else to look at the infrastructure? Has the city interviewed any other firms? Has any analysis been done for services rendered from AARK from 2012? Is AARK worth the money the city pays them? Is the city getting value from this contract or is it renewed yearly because it is easy/ DO you think it’s odd that the city pays AARK to be the city engineer and then they are also hired for all the jobs done in the city? Is it the case of the wolf guarding the hen house?

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During the city managers report Councilperson Pollard asked him if there was any truth to my statement of the wolf guarding the hen house. Mr. Hoffman replied not anymore, but it used to be! What ensued the rest of the evening was Council member Pappas and Mayor Friedberg spending considerable time trying to convince the public there was no current conflict of interest. When discussion came up for the vote to reward 75k to AARK engineering Councilman MacLaughlan said he will not vote on this because James needs to be on his own and not connected to AARK.

In a long winded round about, which is the standard for CM Pappas, Pappas got James Andrews to say that for some streets that were fixed he wasn’t involved. Over and over Pappas tried to find ways to tell the public AARK did not have anything to do with the 6 streets that were just repaired. Pappas tried hard to give Andrews softball questions to get the point out he wasn’t involved in some street projects and there could not be a conflict of interest. Pappas worked very hard to make Andrews look good.

Councilmember Montague asked how Andrew’s was going to add 5 new services to the current contract then previous year for the same price. Andrews stated — efficiency 75k has been price for last 6 years. Seems like low price so AARK keeps a foot in the door and gets all the other projects.

Friedberg asked why we don’t just hire our own city engineer. Mr. Hoffman says we have looked at it from time to time. Says current model works well. Says replacing Andrews would be hard since he is so knowledgeable It seems to me that since we hired him it was the city that paid for him to gain the knowledge creating this circle of we hire him for his info, but he only gains the info because we keep hiring him.

Mr. Hoffman says If we keep spending 8-9 mill on streets then hiring an full time city engineer is a subject for future consideration. Hoffman says he doesn’t understand when people ask about this conflict of interest and nothing inappropriate. He went on to say it is brought up just for people to spin things up. Hoffman then moved back to praising Mr. Andrews and how great he is for Bellaire and stating for now the model works. Mayor Friedberg said misinformation is false. AARK/Andrews doesn’t bid and receive the contract.

Mayor Friedberg worked hard to convey there is no conflict stating again Andrews can not give himself bids and there is no conflict. The new contract passed 6-1 Every meeting I speak and the council always defends what issues I bring up. I can honestly say that I would push and demand answers if I was on City Council. I would not sit there quiet and I for sure will not just take their word for things. I am still amazed by the laziness of the City and how they always take the easy path at the expense of taxpayers. We need more people to stand up to the city manager and demand the facts and truth. The City Manager said NOT ANYMORE, BUT IT USED TO BE. The council glossed over that and beat a dead horse how great AARK and Andrews was and how there is no conflict on the new street construction. They skipped over the Used to be conflict altogether. Please go vote.

Here is a link to the contract info= https://bellairetx.civicweb.net/document/13751#page=9&zoom=100,0,0

Here is link to watch the council meeting = https://www.facebook.com/bellairetx.gov/videos/393289368280757/