When the Glove Fits

I would love to know how much money Mock Roos & Associates has made off the City of Lake Worth over the last 50 years. This in no way implies that they have not done superior work or have given us bad service. However, when you waive a bid, you have no idea whether or not you are getting the best price for the job. How can you analyze anything without cost comparisons? This is the ONLY way that the public interest is served. Even an elementary school kid knows that. Why does the City continue to do this and especially with Mock Roos? The City Manager even admitted at Wednesday's meeting that the city had a credibility problem with the public.

We have talked and talked about this at City hall. Even when Ms. Stanton first came on the job she said that she was opposed to waiving bids. It has happened with present and past city managers…the excuse?...time has run out. In fact, all of the plans Mock Roos has designed belong to THEM, not to the City of Lake Worth. In a lot of cases, we are locked into this engineering firm because of past contracts that do not protect our rights. I had a dentist at one time who would not give me my x'rays...said they belonged to him, not to me although I had paid for them. Same premise.

The truth of the matter is Mock Roos is like a comfortable glove. They are so entrenched here. As stated on the Internet Radio Show of Bill Coakley’s last night, they are members of the local Chamber of Commerce, are politically connected and hold a lot of the cards.

Our City attorney needs to go over all contracts to ensure that our rights are always protected.

Over the last 3 months, contracts awarded to them with NO bids are as follows:

9-23-09 Construction engineering services on our Reverse Osmosis System…$2,280,100

9-23-09 Design & permitting services for deep well…$482,000 This is the one they squeezed from Arcadis.

9-15-09 Engineering services for construction phase of replacement lift station…$46,500

9-01-09 Engineering services for structural improvements on existing lime softening water treatment plant building…$64,500

7-07-09 Revision of original RO plans…$236,556

7-07-09 Application services for State Revolving Fund loan…$39,900

GRAND TOTAL: $3,149,556 FOR 3 MONTHS

You can well understand why Mock Roos wants that glove not to shrink.