WEST COUNTY TIMES

RICHMOND MAKING EFFORT TO CONFORM TO U.S. REQUIREMENTS

Thursday, September 5, 1996
Section: news
Page: A03
EMILY GURNON

RICHMOND The city of Richmond will try once again to satisfy federal requirements for a $150,000 Point Molate planning grant.

The federal Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) suspended the grant in June, saying that Richmond had not followed federal rules regarding the selection of the project consultant, Dan Peterson and Associates.

But new rules drawn up by city staff are likely to meet the approval of the OEA, project director Pat Jones told the council Tuesday.

"This language has been given tentative approval by the OEA," Jones said. She and City Attorney Malcolm Hunter talked with federal officials three times last week, she said.

The guidelines, if approved by the council Tuesday, would require the nine-member group to select the applicant who received the highest collective score in the council members' rating.

Jones said she will recommend the council watch the taped interviews again and fill out new score sheets.

The first time around, the council rated Peterson fourth out of six firms, giving him an average of 75 points on a scale of 100.

But five council members subsequently voted to hire Peterson.

A suspicion that lobbyist Darrell Reese was involved in the process led Councilman Tom Butt to complain to the OEA, which in turn led to the current investigation.

The five members who voted for Peterson Irma Anderson, Nat Bates, Alex Evans, Richard Griffin and Lesa McIntosh all said they chose him because they believed he is the best person for the job.

Federal rules require that the hiring of consultants with grant funds be free of "any arbitrary action." The rules also say that written procedures for selecting consultants include a description of the technical requirements for the job and "all other factors to be used in evaluating bids or proposals."

The city had no such guidelines.