No Bids On Fairgrounds Work County Accused Of Violating Law In Hiring Contractor For $134,000 Job

Spokane County violated state law by not seeking competitive bids before hiring a contractor for a $134,000 project at the fairgrounds, officials say.

The work - building an elaborate electrical system in a failed attempt to lure a motor-home convention - was called “ordinary maintenance,” a designation that eliminated the need for bidding.

The details were worked out during an informal meeting last winter in a hospital cafeteria. County Commissioner Phil Harris participated in the meeting.

The project should have been designated “public works,” which would have prompted bids, officials now say.

“A mistake was made regarding it (not) going out to bid. No doubt in my mind,” said Jim Lindow, the county’s chief administrative officer.

Bidding allows any qualified company to try for a job. It sparks competition and often leads to a lower price for the county.

When the project started earlier this spring, Canter Electric Inc. of Spokane paid its electricians less than the wage set by state law. That’s OK under certain conditions if the work is maintenance, but never if it’s classified as public works.

D.L. “Augy” Augustine, Canter general manager, said the company started paying prevailing wages about six weeks ago, when the county notified him that the project was reclassified.

The change came after Dick Harmon, of the Seattle-based labor watchdog group Rebound, told the county he thought the project was illegal. Harmon’s letter was sent in April.

Workers will get checks for retroactive pay as soon as the county pays Canter, Augustine said. Boosting workers’ pay added about $17,000 to the cost of the project, he said.

The project sprang from a January meeting between Augustine and three county officials: Harris; Fran Boxer, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer; and fairgrounds operations manager Jim Cotter, who resigned in February amid allegations of mismanagement.

The county officials were anxious for more electrical outlets and higher amperage to attract the regional conference of the Family Motor Coach Association.

The conference would have been a big moneymaker for the county, which charges for fairgrounds use. It went elsewhere, although a smaller group of about 150 association members did come to the fairgrounds over Memorial Day weekend.

Harris, an RV buff and association member, said the group contacted Cotter’s predecessor, Paul Gillingham, last year and said it was interested in holding the 1997 conference in Spokane.

Gillingham attended the 1996 conference in Billings, Mont., to learn what the group needed, Harris said. He concluded that the fairgrounds’ electrical system was inadequate to provide power to 750 motor homes.

As Boxer listened, Harris, Augustine and Cotter worked out details for providing electrical connections. They talked in the cafeteria of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where Harris had a doctor’s appointment later that morning.

Canter has a standing contract to perform electrical maintenance at the fairgrounds. Boxer, who had little to do with the project, said county officials assumed the work could be done under that contract.

Exactly who approved the work is unclear. It never came before the board of county commissioners. And since Canter was under contract, no documents were signed authorizing this particular project.

Augustine said he got approval from Cotter, and assumed Cotter had received it from his superiors. Harris said that’s not the case, adding that his own involvement in the project ended with the January meeting.

Cotter has an unlisted telephone number and couldn’t be reached for comment.

On Tuesday, Harris said if he’d been more involved in the project, he would have recognized that it should have gone to bid. He blamed Augustine for not telling the county to seek competitive bids - a move that could have cost Canter the contract.

“I hate to see it in print, but I think Augy’s covering his butt,” said Harris. “He should have known enough to say, ‘Hey, guys, this is getting big enough that it ought to go out to bid.”’

Augustine wouldn’t comment on Harris’ remark, but said the county “didn’t have its ducks in a row” when the project started.

Harmon said the county reacted promptly when he told them he thought the project violated state law. And, he said, Canter did nothing wrong by not providing prevailing wages for a job the county listed as maintenance.

The underground electrical system will not go to waste, fairgrounds boosters said. It is far safer, and more versatile and efficient than the jury-rigged wiring it replaced - an above-ground system that often failed during the fair and other shows.

The project cost $134,902. Of that, $116,186 went to Canter. The rest went to other companies that dug trenches and performed other tasks, some of which went to bid.

“We didn’t just throw the money away,” said Boxer. “We have something we can market.”

In fact, Harris said the improvements could help lure the Family Motor Coach Association’s national rally in the year 2000. That conference would bring about 14,000 people and 2,000 RVs to Spokane, he said.

The violations surrounding the electrical project are the latest in a long string of management problems at the fairgrounds.

Earlier this year, county commissioners hired a private investigator, who concluded the fairgrounds was rife with cronyism, unsafe working conditions and mismanagement. Cotter resigned shortly after commissioners ordered him to respond to the investigator’s findings.

Cotter had replaced Gillingham, who was forced to resign last November for mismanagement and “careless spending” that left the fairgrounds $200,000 over-budget. Gillingham had replaced Sam Angove, who retired in 1995 after 11 of his employees complained that he verbally abused them.

, DataTimes