Council to consider added oversight of professional services contracts

The Metro Council will increase its oversight role in the awarding of contracts for professional services if it approves an ordinance Tuesday being brought forth by District 1 Councilman Trae Welch. The added oversight is necessary, Welch says, because the council has been concerned about receiving higher bids since it raised its spending authority from $17,500 to $50,000—a move he says was taken in anticipation of federal stimulus money. “We were supposed to get all this American Recovery and Reinvestment money from Washington, and we needed to be ready to go,” Welch says. “Well, we never got any money … but the contracts went up for doing the same work.” Welch says the council wants to ensure contractors are asking for appropriate amounts for their professional services, and not just beefing up their bids because the council has the authority to spend the money. The council had been receiving bare-bones information on the contracts, and eventually “stopped getting that little bit,” he says. “So we thought it was time to look at it again.” The council meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday in its third-floor chambers at the Governmental Building, 222 St. Louis St. —Ian McGibboney