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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016 ODOT: Craig’s bid was $104,000 more than the only other bid for the project Continued from Page 1A package. He also denied sug- gestions that his relationship with the department would bias his review. “I think all of that enhances my ability to see what is good and bad and what needs to be improved,” Craig said. “I think that is why they hired me. It has never occurred to me that somehow this would be connected to pursuing more work.” Craig has published arti- cles praising the Department of Transportation’s past work, bearing titles such as “Deliv- ering Remarkable Results in a Changing Marketplace: Ore- gon’s State Bridge Delivery Program.” Susan Morgan, a member of the Oregon Transportation Commission, defended Craig as independent, and said she is conident that the over- sight committee “will hold Mr. Craig’s team to high stan- dards leading to an indepen- dent review of ODOT.” “Given the short time frame to completion, a con- sultant who is somewhat familiar with the organiza- tional structure of ODOT may be an opportunity,” Mor- gan said. While the Department of Administrative Services ulti- mately was responsible for issuing a request for proposals and choosing Craig to do the review, Department of Trans- portation employees already had recruited potential con- sultants. Those employees also asked several irms to give input on what the review should include, according to previous reports by the Pam- plin Media Group/EO Media Group Capital Bureau. Two bidders Only two companies bid for the project: Craig’s irm and Pennsylvania-based Pub- lic Works. The Department of Administrative Services formed a procurement team of three of its employees to score the proposals based on the quality of the exec- utive summary, the irm’s experience and approach to the audit, the consultants’ resumes and pricing. Barry Pack, former chief adminis- trative oficer of the Depart- ment of Administrative Ser- vices whom Brown recently named interim director of the Oregon Lottery, made the inal call on the selection, said spokesman Matt Shelby. Pack also served as a longtime aide to Brown when she was sec- retary of state. Brown’s ofice reiter- ated that she has entrusted the oversight committee and Department of Administrative Services to select an “experi- enced, independent consult- ing irm.” “This review will contrib- ute to a stronger and better ODOT to serve the people of Oregon,” said Bryan Hocka- day, Brown’s press secretary. Craig’s proposal scored 10 points higher than Pub- lic Works’ in all areas except for price. Public Works bid $246,600, while Craig offered to do the work for $350,000. Craig directed the Nebraska Department of Transportation for 10 years before becoming a consul- tant. Since then, he has done management reviews of “best practices” for programs administered by departments of transportation in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Washington state, according to his proposal. Public Works also has evaluated several departments of transportation, including those in Louisiana, West Virginia, Iowa, Colo- rado and New Mexico. The request for pro- posal “clearly stated that we wanted someone with prior experience working with departments of transporta- tion,” Shelby said. “John has worked with ODOT and other states. We see this as a beneit.” Stakeholders expressed concerns back in January about whether a Department of Transportation audit over- seen by transportation ofi- cials could be impartial. ‘Truly independent’ review Several advocates with environmental and alterna- tive transportation groups in a January letter asked Brown to hand over oversight of the audit to the Secretary of State’s Ofice. That ofice already conducts perfor- mance audits for other state agencies. “To ensure a rigorous and unbiased review, the audit must be truly indepen- dent,” the letter stated. “With all due respect to the Ore- gon Transportation Commis- sion, we believe the audit will be perceived as in-house if it is overseen by the Oregon Transportation Commission and if ODOT staff is engaged in scoping the audit and in hiring the consulting irm that performs the audit. An audit overseen by the Secretary of State would alleviate con- cerns about bias.” The state’s choice of Craig to do the review deepened those concerns, said Chris Hagerbaumer, deputy direc- tor of the Oregon Environ- mental Council, who signed the letter. “The more in-house the audit is, the less the people will trust that it is actually impartial, and what is the purpose of an audit that peo- ple don’t see as being impar- tial? It isn’t going to actually serve the state well,” Hager- baumer said. Pamplin Media Group reporter Nick Budnick con- tributed to this report. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Arch Cape: Plans to dissolve advisory group had been in the works for a while Continued from Page 1A However, county counsel Chris Crean said bylaws do not prevail over the county’s abil- ity to create or disband a com- mittee whenever it is appropri- ate. Crean said an issue for the county is the Arch Cape com- mittee is a quasi-judicial com- mittee that requires extra staff time to keep minutes and send notices for each meeting. “It’s the quasi-judicial func- tion that they are conduct- ing that is creating most of the dificulty and liability for the county,” Crean said. In addition to continuing the discussion, the Planning Com- mission directed county staff to research alternatives to resolve concerns without disbanding the group. Various options will be presented at the September meeting. Losing history The 39-year-old commit- tee is the last active citizens advisory committee in Clatsop County. It is becoming com- monplace in the region for such groups to be dissolved. Last week, Paciic County Commissioners in Washington state voted to end Oysterville’s Design Review Board. The Oysterville board had existed for four decades. When the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners unan- imously voted in February to dissolve Arch Cape’s com- mittee, it offered to recognize neighborhood associations instead. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian The Clatsop County Planning Commission listens to Arch Cape resident Michael Manzulli speak during a public hearing on the Arch Cape Design Review Committee Tuesday in Astoria. Residents are not ready to entertain such an idea, as they continue to protect the current committee. “Any ad hoc committee that is appointed for an individual issue, wouldn’t necessarily be the same people that would be appointed for another issue,” Gordon Church, of Arch Cape, said. “We lose all the history and structure of Arch Cape’s involvement with the county.” Virginia Murphy, a com- mittee member, took it one step further by suggesting the county reintroduce other citizen advisory committees around the county. “In my eyes, the current Board of Commissioners and staff would better serve the cit- izens by instituting advisory committees in the other areas to decentralize government and build grassroots involvement.” Why now? Each of the residents who spoke Tuesday in some way asked why the county was tak- ing action now. Committee chairman Theo- dore Lundy wanted to contest the image of the group as an unnecessary bureaucratic layer. He also challenged the for- mer interim county manager’s assertion that the group created a hostile work environment. “We serve the community,” Lundy said. “We are there to help people work their way through the process.” County counsel explained how plans to dissolve the group had been in the works for a while. What Mays witnessed at a committee meeting in January accelerated the process. “This creates a huge liabil- ity for the county,” Crean said. Overall, the Planning Com- mission showed its support and understanding to the residents. “It seems like a greatly valu- able committee, and I was real disturbed that this whole thing would go this way,” Commis- sioner Christopher Farrar said. “To me, the idea of rewrit- ing the ordinances so the com- mittee doesn’t exist seems like some kind of a fairy tale, frankly.” Port: Commissioners expressed some buyer’s remorse Continued from Page 1A nearly 54 percent of the loan. The agency has included options to amortize the loan amount over 10 to 25 years. “I think we’re demonstrat- ing successfully here that we’re able to get a commitment on 95 percent of this project through Key Bank,” said Jim Knight, the Port’s executive direc- tor. “The only thing we need is an agreement from the Port Commission.” Commissioners expressed some buyer’s remorse, dis- cussing other funding options and whether the entire central waterfront should share in the cost of a stormwater system ultimately meant to serve all of them. But commissioners, under pressure from the state to make progress, voted unan- imously to move forward with the loan. The Port was lagged by the state Department of Envi- ronmental Quality in August 2014 after tests over two years showed elevated levels of cop- per entering the Columbia River. The metal can damage the olfactory and navigational abilities of salmon and other marine life. The state required the agency to have a stormwa- ter treatment system that lowers the level of copper below fed- eral benchmarks. The agency is already a month behind the June deadline to complete the system, but is getting leniency in exchange for progress. Stormwater will be col- lected from all of Pier 3 and the upland portions of the central waterfront excluding piers 1 and 2, and pumped to a central- ized system of settling ponds and biowswales on Pier 3. Asto- ria Forest Products leases much of Pier 3 for its timber-sorting and processing yard, one-ifth of the affected land and possi- bly 20 percent of the loan. “I think it’s probably a fair thing that the leaseholders help pay for it,” said Robert Moon, acting manager for Astoria For- est Products, adding the pay- ments should be tied to the life of the stormwater system. Bornstein Seafoods, Englund Marine & Industrial Supply, Bergerson Construc- tion and River Land Co. LLC each lease between 6 and 7 per- cent of the affected area. The Port has met with tenants about the proposal and is planning further meetings to iron out the details. “Overall, Englund is not happy about the additional costs, nor the Tier II situa- tion,” Jeremy Davis, the chief inancial oficer for Englund Marine, said of the state des- ignation. “However, we realize that water standards are becom- ing more strict, that treatment is inevitable and that someone has to pay for it.” People-Centered, Quality Driven & Service Focused. Expert Surgical Care Close to Home Classified/Inside Sales The Daily Astorian is looking for an individual with excellent customer service skills, both in person and over the phone. Someone who brings an upbeat and “go get ‘em” attitude to the table, works well with a team as well as alone. 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