Lawsuit: State St Garage Bid Scores Changed Without Notice

A new lawsuit against the City of Sarasota claims that a change in bidding scores for the State Street parking garage constitutes an open meetings violation. 

Citizens for Sunshine filed the complaint March 11 in Circuit Court against both the city and its Evaluation Committee overseeing the request for proposals for the garage. Citizens for Sunshine is also seeking a temporary injunction to prevent the city from continuing work on the State Street garage under the current bid approval.

The lawsuit claims that the Evaluation Committee changed the scores of the bidders during the procurement process, failing to explain in a public meeting why A.D. Morgan jumped from fifth place to first place. Morgan was not on the initial short list of top bidders discussed at a public meeting on Nov. 27, 2012, according to the lawsuit. A.D. Morgan was awarded the bid for Phase I of the garage on Feb. 19.

“This week should be a celebration of the annual Sunshine Law Week. Instead, we are required to go to court to ensure that public business is transacted in the open and not behind closed doors,” said Andrea Mogensen, attorney for Citizens for Sunshine in a news release. 

The cost of the garage is estimated to be $7.2 million if built with 400 parking spaces and 10,000 to 14,000 square feet of retail/commercial space. The city is obligated to complete the garage by February 2015, according to a contractual agreement with IGH, formerly known as Pineapple Square.

Committees can award minority-owned businesses five points as part of the city's Minority Business Enterprise Utilization Plan. Initially, none of the businesses received points when the scores were revealed on Nov. 12, 2012, according to the lawsuit.

A.D. Morgan, which has an office on West Manatee Avenue in Bradenton, was later considered a minority firm, and received five additional points for that distinction, said Mary Tucker, purchasing manager for the city of Sarasota during the Feb. 19 Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. The commission approved the agreement with A.D. Morgan 3-2, with commissioners Paul Caragiulo and Shannon Snyder dissenting.

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After that first ranking, Halfacre Construction was in first place and Core Construction Services and Manhattan Construction tied for second place, according to city documents, and the top three are required to appear on a short list as part of the Competitive Consultants Negotiating Act, but more could be included.

The bids were tabulated by Assistant Purchasing Manager David Boswell.

"At some point following the meeting of the Evaluation Committee on November 12, 2012, it came to Mr. Boswell's attention that A.D. Morgan qualified for extra points under the City's MDE regulations," the lawsuit states. "Mr. Boswell subsequently telephoned each member of the Evaluation Committee and advised them of the error in failing to award MBE points to A.D. Morgan."

Boswell's phone calls and polling of each committee member resulted in a non-public meeting and violated the Sunshine Act, according to the lawsuit, as no advertising or notice of the meeting was posted.

The evaluation committee includes Mark Lyons, parking services manager; Glenn Bliss, building manager; Eric Patro, facilities maintenance manager; Mike DelRossi, engineer; and Clifford Smith, senior planner.  

The Redevelopment Agency, made up of the City Commission, had questioned why the committee was entirely made of city employees, but Tucker explained that either applicants from the community either had conflicts of interest to serve, had health issues or could not commit the time, preventing them from serving.