Council needed to reboot

The City Council’s decision to award the East Central Community Center contract to the MLK Center was another example of “action at all costs,” i.e., rocks under the bridge. The request–for-proposal (RFP) process was a complete mess. And despite telling us to our faces, sorry for messing up, they moved ahead and awarded the contract to the MLK center anyway.

This isn’t about either ECCO or MLK Center being better than one or the other. This is about the integrity of our City Council. They should have voted the contract down and started again. Would that have been painful for the Community Center? Yes. But would starting anew with collaboration from all the stakeholders toward a transparent and thorough vetting process, untainted by campaign contributions and conflicts of interest be better for our community? Definitely yes.

If we would have started over with a new RFP and had an open dialogue with our neighborhood, it would be much easier to accept the decision that came out of that process and kept the dignity of each organization intact. Now we are left with a torn community, and a great organization tainted with the stain of political maneuvering.

Randy McGlenn II

Spokane