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Political decisions undermine projects
Most military
personnel and veterans are familiar with an acronym applied when a
person or group who dramatically overestimates their aptitude makes a
disastrous mess of a situation. The acronym is FUBAR (pronounced foo'-bar),
and the polite interpretation is "fouled up beyond all recognition."
It is a term that has
been aptly applied to Monroe County's handling of a wastewater
collection project on Stock Island. That comedy (in the Greek sense) of
errors, which has drawn comment in this space on more than one occasion,
involved a $4.6 million contract to the employer of a former county
mayor, an apparent eleventh-hour switch of design plans minutes before
the contract was signed, and the likelihood that taxpayers will now be
tapped for another $2 million or so to finish the job.
To the extent that
misery loves company, Stock Island property owners may be encouraged to
hear that Monroe County government is not the only entity in the Florida
Keys capable of FOOBARing a wastewater project.
The Key Largo
Wastewater Board has embarked on a similar course by ignoring the advice
of consulting engineers and voting to give a $900,000 contract to a
well-connected equipment vendor, Nocif Espat of Randazza Enterprises.
This, despite the fact that Randazza's "upflow sludge blanket filter"
treatment system apparently cannot meet the Keys' rigid 2010 effluent
standards. Oh, and did we mention that Randazza was the high bidder?
Apparently, a majority
of "local" board members feels their brief experience has enlightened
them beyond the college degrees and real-world experiences of those
whose advice they purchased for tens of thousands of dollars.
The board's in-house
engineering company, Weiler Engineering Corp., and the board's
managerial firm, Government Services Group, and The Haskell Company --
the firm under contract to construct the system -- all agreed that
another technology proven to meet the rigorous state standards would be
the best selection.
But three members of
the five-person board opted for Randazza anyway.
"My reason for picking
it is, that it is the best of the two and I have enough experience
behind me being involved on this since '97," board member Charles Brooks
said. "First, [consultants] did not have a full understanding of the [Randazza
treatment] system because it is relatively new."
County and FKAA
officials expressed surprise at the board's vote. We, too, can't help
but wonder what tipped the scales toward Randazza?
Apparently, Randazza
president Nocif Espat's years of lobbying in the Keys is beginning to
pay off. Espat has been county Mayor Murray Nelson's shadow for several
years now, and Nelson has pushed for USBF technology -- Randazza is the
sole provider of the technology in Florida -- for Conch Key and other
county projects.
In fact, at one point
Nelson, apparently unaware that public projects must go out to
competitive bids, proposed to the commission that the county use Espat's
treatment systems in all of its sewer projects. More recently, Nelson
lobbied the Key Largo board to select Espat's system.
Politically motivated
decisions, which appear to have played a role in the Stock Island
fiasco, appear to be steering Key Largo -- and taxpayers' dollars --
toward another wastewater FUBAR.
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