Mayor Keith Gaskin on Saturday vetoed a council decision to cut ties with its consultant firm for American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The council voted 5-1 Tuesday to end its relationship with Waggoner Engineering after firm representatives asked for $122,000 for a study and preliminary engineering work on ditch cleanup near Columbus Brick Company — a project for which the actual cleaning is estimated to cost just more than $1 million.
Councilmen balked at the need for that study, citing that the Neel-Schaffer firm, which serves under contract for the city’s general engineering services, had already provided much of that information. They also chastised Waggoner for asking for more money for another study when the city had already paid the firm $180,000 for work that largely included studies.
Gaskin, speaking to The Dispatch on Saturday, said Waggoner’s ARPA work for the city has paid dividends, and he wants the council to reconsider cutting ties with the firm.
“Here’s where the rub has been, I think,” Gaskin said. “(The council) would like to see work happening right now. … I understand that. I think what we haven’t been able to communicate well is that there’s a lot of money out there for this infrastructure work right now, and we need someone with the expertise of Waggoner to help us find that money. To get that money, we have to do these needs assessments.”
Waggoner has helped secure more than $5 million for the city already, Gaskin argued, including $3 million in federal funds for blight removal and a “verbal commitment” from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to fund a “detailed needs assessment” for watershed/flooding projects.
“It looks like we’ll get that money,” Gaskin said. “… We don’t have that in writing yet.”
The firm also assisted the city’s request for $450,000 from Lowndes County’s ARPA, Gaskin said, to help with immediate flooding needs, to which the city has dedicated $3 million. Waggoner is leveraging that in an application for a state dollar-for-dollar match. The county has “set aside” but has not yet approved giving its portion, board of supervisors president Trip Hairston told The Dispatch.
Gaskin said he wants to call a special council meeting for this week to discuss the veto and provide more clarity on the work Waggoner is doing. He admitted Waggoner has been “poor communicators” through the process but added the “onus is on the mayor” to make sure everything is clear.
“But this is not easy stuff to follow if you’re not working with it,” he said.
Waggoner Engineering project manager Stephen Thompson said he didn’t think there was a basis to say his firm was not communicating well.
“I’ve been to press conferences, city council meetings, work sessions, and I’ve been consistent with what I’ve said,” he said. “I’ve communicated all along about what we were doing, and that it takes time for money (for grants) to get appropriated.”
It will take four council members to override the veto, one fewer than voted to ax Waggoner on Tuesday.
Waggoner vs. Neel-Schaffer
The council voted 4-2 in December 2021 to hire Waggoner as its ARPA consultant, even though Neel-Schaffer had also bid for that work.
Among Waggoner’s primary deliverables, Gaskin said, was a comprehensive assessment that identified $120 million in city needs, of which $55 million related specifically to Columbus Light and Water. The remainder addressed issues such as public transportation, blight, crime prevention and prisoner reentry, with $48 million identified in needed watershed and flood mitigation.
Gaskin said the city used that needs assessment to secure federal funds for blight and the NRCS money for a more detailed flooding needs assessment – something he said was necessary to get even more federal dollars.
The supposed $6.9 million the city will use for flooding mitigation (that includes the county and state match), Gaskin said, will attack immediate needs in two key areas of Northside in Wards 4 and 5 — areas he feels have been “underserved” in the past.
Waggoner’s ditch cleaning project proposed Tuesday would have covered engineering work, design and putting out bids for the work to clean out seven areas.
“We have to tell a contractor exactly what to do so they don’t tear up utilities,” Thompson said. “You can’t just start excavating in a drainage ditch. They also have to do cleaning and grubbing.”
Neel-Schaffer had presented something similar, he said.
“What we presented Tuesday night is the same thing Neel-Schaffer presented in March 2022,” Thompson said. “They had a $260,000 proposal to do ditch-cleaning work. The only difference in theirs and ours is that ours identifies the value of the ditch cleaning and what the cost of that would be.”
Neel-Schaffer’s proposal in March identified nine areas the public works department did not have the equipment to clean out and estimated it would cost $1.3 million to outsource that work, engineer Kevin Stafford, the firm’s North Mississippi manager, told The Dispatch.
The $260,000 fee was a separate project to GIS map the city’s entire drainage system, put together a bid package to have it all cleaned out, take bids and oversee the work, Stafford said. Comparing that to cleaning out nine areas’ worth of ditches, he said, is “apples and oranges.”
Gaskin wants the special-call to address the specifics of both proposals, calmly and clearly with all the necessary numbers, something he said the council, Waggoner, CFO James Brigham or him were prepared to do Tuesday night.
Stafford said he’s game.
“I’m interested in the conversation,” he said. “I’ll do whatever the city wants.”
Gaskin, however, expressed disappointment in how Waggoner and Neel-Schaffer had worked together throughout the process, even though the two firms had cooperated well in other cities.
He implied Neel-Schaffer’s established relationship with the city could be contributing to the council’s desire to move on from Waggoner.
“All these engineering firms rely heavily on resources they receive from municipalities and counties. Therefore they spend a lot of time … lobbying mayors and council members to use their services, which is understandable,” Gaskin said. “I’m not criticizing. I’ve gone out to eat with them and discussed things with them. Sometimes I’m afraid that has an impact on how someone is chosen, not necessarily for the right skill set.
“I don’t think that Neel-Schaffer has intentionally tried to do that,” he added. “But Neel-Schaffer has a longstanding relationship in the city. Neel-Schaffer competed for this work. So I know there was some disappointment from them on this.”
Gaskin emphasized that in any case he doesn’t believe either firm has done anything unethical or illegal.
When contacted by The Dispatch, Stafford categorically denied he had “lobbied” or reached out to councilmen about projects involving Waggoner.
Council reaction
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones — whose criticism of Waggoner Tuesday was pointed — told The Dispatch he thought the mayor’s veto would prove fruitless.
“I haven’t talked to anybody, so I don’t know if somebody changed their mind, but if not then it’s kind of pointless,” Jones said.
Jones was skeptical of the proposed joint meeting between the city and the two engineering firms.
“I’m open, but I’ve already looked at all the details,” he said. “That’s how we came up with our decision. Unless we get a third opinion, it doesn’t seem like much is going to change. We’ve had plenty of time to meet and discuss things. If that (meeting) is an option, it should have been done before we got to the point where we are.”
Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco, who cast the lone vote opposing the firing of Waggoner, said she supported Gaskin and the idea of a meeting.
“I think it was all a misunderstanding,” she said. “(The council) thought it was another study, and not a task order. I think a lot of clarification needs to be made.”
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens of Ward 2, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene and Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard all failed to return calls and messages for comment on the veto by press time.
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