Commissioner says Augusta procedure not followed on emergency bid

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – There is new decking, stairs, and wheelchair ramps at the Diamond Lakes Tennis Courts, and the $191,000 project was done under the city’s emergency bid procedure.

“It was an emergency when we first put it in. Any time there is a chance of somebody being injured, it’s an emergency. We would have hated for anyone to come and be injured,” said Katrina Pinkney, Mach Academy Tennis Academic Coordinator

The Diamond Lakes work is one of 8 emergency bids scheduled to go before commissioners on Tuesday, which include bids like the $120,000 roof replacement at the detention center.

In all, the 8 bids represent more than $760,000 dollars in worked deemed emergencies.

This shocked and surprised some commissioners.

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“You see, the entire commission was really like, when you started looking at some of these items that were dubbed emergencies, we had to do a little digging to see what was going on,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Brandon Garrett.

Last week, the interim Central Services Department Director who issued the emergency bids said they were by the book.

“I’m confident I followed the procedure that I’ve been following since I’ve been at Central Services, yes,” said Interim Director Ron Lampkin.

But a sit-down last week between commissioners and city officials reached a different conclusion.

“What we discovered in that meeting is that some of the procedures weren’t followed the way that they should have been by the Central Services Director,” said Garrett.

Garrett says the department will undergo training on the emergency bid procedure so the city  can benefit from the lowest bids and not emergency ones.

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