WEST COUNTY TIMES

Thursday, July 11, 1996
Section: news
Page: A04
EMILY GURNON

RICHMOND In an effort to retrieve the grant funds suspended by the federal government for Point Molate planning, the city has drawn new guidelines on consultant selection and protest procedures.

The City Council voted Tuesday to submit the guidelines to the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA).

Supporting the new guidelines were Mayor Rosemary Corbin, Vice Mayor Richard Griffin, and council members Lesa McIntosh, Alex Evans, Irma Anderson and Nat Bates. Council members John Marquez, Donna Powers and Tom Butt abstained. City Manager Floyd Johnson said he had talked with an OEA official who, while not guaranteeing approval, gave him an indication the guidelines would meet federal rules.

Johnson added Wednesday that he is cautiously optimistic the city will not have to go through the selection process again.

The new guidelines state that the selection of a consultant shall be based on "demonstrated competence and professional qualifications."

After staff evaluations of up to five consultants, the council will evaluate the candidates and "may conduct interviews of each consultant and rank them or may base its decision upon the documents submitted by the consultant and the city staff evaluation, or both," the new guidelines state.

If the council finds that procedure impractical, it may use an alternate method for selecting a consultant, but that method must be outlined in the request for proposals. The guidelines accepted by the council Tuesday also outline a protest procedure. Any consultant unhappy with the council's decision may file a request for a protest hearing, to be held within 30 days. "I'm not going to oppose this, but I want to say in all candor that I don't think this will pass muster with the OEA," Butt said. "I think we're just going to waste time by sending this up to Washington." The OEA, an arm of the Defense Department, had told Richmond the city had not complied with federal requirements because it had no guidelines for choosing an outside consultant and for handling any protests. It suspended a $150,000 grant, part of which Richmond was going to use to pay Dan Peterson & Associates to come up with an architectural re-design for the former naval fuels depot.

Federal authorities took the action after Butt complained to the OEA that the council's selection of Peterson was based not on merit.