Española City Manager James Lujan played a central role in the city breaking its own procurement policy to re-stucco the exterior of City Hall earlier this year, city records show.
Española based-Lebo Concrete performed the work for $14,257, vendor files show. But a letter to Lujan from then-administrative services director Ron Archuleta dated April 7 states Lebo was hand-picked by Lujan.
“As you requested, Lebo Concrete is the contractor you selected to complete the plastering on the west side of City Hall,” Archuleta wrote.
Archuleta goes on to describe the bidding process and states the city’s General Services Division obtained three bids for the work on April 1, as per city policy.
“Lebo Conrete submitted their original bid on April 1, 2011, but was asked to resubmit a second bid that was obtained on April 7, 2011,” Archuleta wrote. “Lebo’s bid did not change and indicated not being the lowest bid.”
The letter states Lujan had Lebo Concrete do the work on the south side of the building, for which it was the lowest bidder, and that Lujan preferred Lebo Concrete to continue with plastering the west side of City Hall.
“Your decision overruled purchase policy even though Lebo’s bid for the west side was not the lowest bid and this was not considered a critical project,” Archuleta wrote. “The lowest bid obtained from Castillo Construction and verified by Castillo, via telephone, represented using the same synthetic material used by Lebo in plastering City Hall.”
Luis Ochoa, who owns Lebo Concrete, said he was not aware that his bid for the west side of the building was not the lowest. He also said he was in contact with Public Works Department Director Marvin Martinez throughout the project. Ochoa also said he has never done any personal work for Lujan.
City vendor files show the project was split into five parts between two phases. The first leg included painting the interior of the portal at the east side of building, which cost $1,300; painting the south side of the building to match the existing paint, which cost $1,100; and re-plasterng the front entry of the building, which cost $1,500.
The second leg included re-plastering the south- and west-side exteriors of the building, which cost $10,357, records show.
The city’s procurement policy requires three vendor quotes for any purchases between $1,500 and $4,999, but the first leg of the work didn’t include quotes from any vendors other than Lebo. The work must also be approved by a department head, but Martinez’s signature was nowhere on any of the purchase documents, mislabeled as “requistion(s).”
The city gathered vendor quotes for the second phase of the work which included the south-side re-plastering. Lebo Concrete was the lowest bidder for that leg of the work at $4,941, documents show.
Vendor files also show quotes were also gathered for the west side re-plastering. Lebo estimated the cost would be $5,416. Meanwhile, Ohkay Owingeh-based Black Ridge Construction estimated $8,477 and Española-based Castillo Construction submitted the lowest quote at $4,100.
City General Services Department employee Andres Vigil, who received the quotes, selected Castillo Construction for the west side work. He specified his justification for the selection was “low bidder.”
Yet, Lebo was awarded the contract for the entire second phase.
A local public body can procure services up to $10,000 by issuing a direct purchase order to a contractor based upon the best obtainable price, according to state law. The law, like the city’s procurement policy, also states projects shouldn’t be artificially divided in order to constitute a small purchase.
City policy also states that purchase requisitions from $5,000 to $25,000 must include three written quotes for the service or goods, and the requisition must be approved by the department head, city manager, purchasing officer and the finance director.
But Martinez’s signature was not on any of the purchase requisitions for the second phase of the work, either; instead his former administrative assistant Stephanie Romero, who is now the city’s procurement officer, signed on Martinez’s behalf.
Romero said she signed the documents because she has the authority to do so, and she did so before becoming the city’s procurement officer.
The purchase requisition also states, contrary to Archuleta’s letter, that the west-side plastering by Lebo was an emergency, “needed for broken gas lines and meters associated to the (February) Gas Outage.”
Damage to City Hall was not included in a list the city has compiled to receive federal assistance funds from the gas outage.
Martinez said he was out of the office for a reason he could not recall when Romero signed the requisition for the second phase of work. He refused to comment further.
Despite the letter, Lujan denied having any hand in hiring Lebo Concrete. He said it was his staff who must have requested Lebo finish the job.
“The west side needed plastering and I told them to get it done,” he said.
Before coming to the city, Lujan was fired from Santa Fe County amid an investigation into allegations that he helped defraud the County via several projects involving Advantage Asphalt. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department handed over its investigation into the matter to the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office more than six months ago, and no charges have ever been filed.
District 4 Councilor Cory Lewis said the city needs to follow proper procurement code.
“That’s a must,” he said.