Emotions and tempers ran high Oct. 27 during a contract debate that split the Española City Council and led to the Council overruling the city’s procurement process.
City staff had recommended awarding a design contract estimated at $1.2 million to Albuquerque-based engineering firm Molzen-Corbin and Associates over three competing firms based on a seven-category assessment (click here to see the city’s assessment of the firms).
After an emotionally-charged discussion, the Council instead awarded the contract to second-choice Wilson and Company, also out of Albuquerque, in a five to three vote with Mayor Pro Tem and mayoral candidate Alice Lucero leading the majority.
“In my opinion we’ve had several problems with (Molzen-Corbin’s) work performance,” Lucero said, citing problems with the firm’s past design projects like the city’s renovated sewer treatment plant.
Lucero also expressed concern over Molzen-Corbin’s history of submitting changes on projects that increased their cost, calling the practice something for which the firm is “notorious.” She then made a motion to overrule the staff’s recommendation and give the contract to Wilson and Company after only a few minutes of discussion.
Lucero’s stance against Molzen-Corbin was consistent with her long-standing opposition to the firm, including allegations that Acting City Manager Veronica Albin, whose husband Doug Albin is a Molzen-Corbin engineer, gives them preference on city water and sewer projects.
Opposing councilors called Lucero’s tactics “inappropriate” and unfair to both the staff selection committee and Molzen-Corbin staff members, three of whom came to the meeting to defend their company.
At stake was a contract to design a long-planned expansion of the water and sewer system to include dozens of streets in city limits that are not currently served by city utilities. Including construction, the project is set to cost $7 million for around the first 229 homes. As far as the two engineering firms were concerned, an estimated $1.2 million in design fees that are included in a city funding plan passed in September by the Council were on the line. The actual details of the contract will be negotiated in the coming months, including the final cost.
The same two companies — Molzen-Corbin and Wilson and Company — were at the center of a similar debate in February when the latter firm was awarded an approximately $600,000 blanket contract for several city water and wastewater projects. That time, Molzen-Corbin was the second-place finisher, and Lucero spoke against a motion made by District 2 Councilor and mayoral candidate Alfred Herrera to go against the staff’s recommendation, according to Council minutes. Wilson and Company was awarded the contract in a six to two vote, with only Herrera and District 1 Councilor Danielle Duran voting to award the contract to Molzen-Corbin. Those same two Councilors were on the opposite side of the debate this time around, arguing that Lucero was perpetrating a double-standard with her actions.
“I think if it was inappropriate for me to second-guess staff and discuss the second choice st that point, I don’t see why it’s appropriate now with this project,” Duran said. “I’m very disappointed in some of my fellow councilors tonight.”
Herrera, who took the lead in the most recent debate, echoed Duran’s frustration.
“I feel we are being very unfair to this company,” he said. “I don’t like or approve of the precedent we’re embarking on right now (with this double standard).”
Also voting against an award to Wilson and Company was District 4 Councilor Eddie Maestas, who said he did so because of a belief in the selection process.
Among the councilors who sided with Lucero were all three of those who are supporting her in the upcoming mayoral election and her nephew, District 1 Councilor Dennis Tim Salazar, who called his vote “a very tough decision.”
Several echoed Lucero’s concerns on Molzen-Corbin’s past performances, and District 3 Councilor Cecilia Lujan also expressed concern over the public’s perception of a conflict of interest over using the firm.
However, Doug Albin would not be involved in the project at all, said Ron Mosher, vice president of the company’s water resources division. Also present at the meeting was Michelle Salas, a water resources engineer who introduced herself as the potential project manager for the contract, the position Doug Albin would ordinarily have assumed.
Molzen-Corbin took exception to Lucero’s accusations of faulty work as well as the city’s abuse of the selection process, Chief Operating Officer Robert Robeda said.
“We are the highest-rated firm on this project,” Robeda said. “We would ask that the Council consider keeping the process, as you have set it in place, sacred.”
At the same meeting, the Council unanimously approved awarding a contract for road improvements on North McCurdy Road to Bohannan Houston. The same process as was used to select Molzen-Corbin was used in selecting Bohannan Houston, but no objections were raised by any councilors.