Manchac Consulting Group may be awarded an extension for professional engineering services after Bossier City Council members voted 4-3 to consider granting the company four more years in a move that requires no competitive bids and will increase the total cost to the city.
While cost and term of contract were not mentioned during the council’s discussion, records show the new deal will increase Manchac’s fee by $26,000 per month. If approved, the ordinance adopting the new deal, which will come to a final vote at the council’s next meeting, would also extend the term of the contract through May, 2028.
That term could be in violation of the city charter which allows a three-year maximum for such contracts, opponents claimed.
Manchac has been involved in Bossier City projects since 2010, taking over the public works department through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) six years later. Manchac’s current contract with the city was scheduled to expire in June, 2024, and that was a cause of concern for one council member.
“This contract does not come up for renewal until June and here we are on January 2 and pushing a contract through,” Brian Hammons said during council discussion. “We need to do due diligence and go back to the drawing board to see if we’re doing the right thing for the city of Bossier citizens with their money we are spending.”
Hammons said another concern was the approximately 33 percent increase in the contract price “…when every city employee here has had minimal pay raises. We need raises to keep quality employees we have in every department.”
Bossier City spends money to train its police and fire department personnel only to have them leave for better paying jobs, Hammons added.
“A 50 percent increase is a gift to Manchac on the backs of every Bossier City employee and taxpayer unless you work in engineering,” Bossier City resident David Crockett said during public comments. “Bossier City will never know how much money can be saved because you’ve never competed this contract. Manchac isn’t the only company that can do this work. Competition drives prices down. What doesn’t work is crony capitalism.”
Crockett said he’d researched campaign contributions from Manchac and Manchac employee/acting city engineer Ben Rauschenbach to several city administrators. Donations included $14,475 to council member David Montgomery, $7,900 to former mayor Lo Walker and $2,500 to Mayor Tommy Chandler. Contributions also went to Scott Irwin and Pam Glorioso, he said.
Assistant City Attorney Richard Ray said earlier in the discussion that state law prohibits the use of Requests for Proposals (RFP) for bidding on professional services by professionals engineers.
“I don’t think we’re advocating for a proposal process. I’m not looking for the lowest bidder but overall for what would the company provide…what would they bring us of value,” council member Chris Smith said. “There’s a very real possibility another company might be interested and might give us a proposal as robust and cost less.”
Smith said if he is spending taxpayer money, he’s looking at “..how much am I getting for that dollar. Are we saving taxpayer money in the long run. When I advocate, I look for value we’re getting in return for that dollar.”
Council members Montgomery, Jeff Free, Vince Maggio and Don “Bubba” Williams voted to approve the ordinance extending Manchac’s contract. Voting no on the issue were Darby, Hammons and Smith.
Among other items approved Monday were $130,000 from the riverboat reserve fund to supplement construction of a maintenance building at Walbrook Park and approval of the amended 2023 sewer fund budget.