Inquiry Re: Bidding on Rehabilitation Project for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Housing Partnership
Staff Resource:
DeWitt F. McCarley, 704-336-4112 - dmccarley@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Mayor and Council Members recently received faxed material from Charles E. and Maxie S. Granger, principals with C&M Heating & Air Conditioning, asserting bid irregularities in connection with the award of a contract for the HVAC portion of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership project to renovate rental units on Rachel and Olando Avenues. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership, Inc. (CMHP) is a private, nonprofit housing development and financial corporation that seeks to provide and expand affordable housing for low and moderate-income families in the City and County. Council members Susan Burgess and Patrick Mumford are on the Board of Directors. While the CMHP collaborated with the City on the Statesville Avenue Corridor Plan and with the County to acquire land for a neighborhood park, it is a 501(c)(3) corporation that buys and sells properties in its own name and enters into private construction contracts.
The CMHP has acquired many of the properties in this area, including the units on Rachel and Olando Avenues that are to be renovated. The State statute that requires public entities such as the City of Charlotte to advertise and award public construction contracts to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder does not apply to the CMHP. The fact that the CMHP solicited bids for the HVAC portion of their rehabilitation project does not cause the public bidding requirements to become applicable. Any dispute between the CMHP and C&M Heating & Air Conditioning over the award of contract for the HVAC work for this project is a private matter between those two parties and the City of Charlotte has no role to play in it. Please feel free to contact me or Jude Starrett at 704-336-5801 if you have any questions.
"Chalking" of Sidewalks
Staff Resources:
DeWitt F. McCarley, 704-336-4112 - dmccarley@ci.charlotte.nc.us Stanley Watkins, 704-336-3796 - swatkins@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Some of you may have heard of an organized effort to write pro-bond messages in chalk on the sidewalks around the Charlotte Bobcats Arena this past weekend. Representatives of the pro-bond campaign contacted us in advance to see if the City's graffiti ordinance prohibits this activity. Although we advised that the ordinance as written does not prohibit the chalk writings, we asked the organizers not to do so for fear of sparking a proliferation of this kind of activity. Obviously the group decided to move forward despite our request.
We are prepared to identify and develop options should the Council want to consider amending the graffiti ordinance to address this kind of activity.
Council Committee Meeting Summaries
Staff Resource:
Arthdale Brown, 704-336-2180 - arbrown@ci.charlotte.nc.us
In response to feedback the City Manager's Office received from the Customer Service Survey of the Mayor and Council conducted in July, staff will no longer attach a hard copy of the committee meeting minutes to the Council-Manager memo. We will continue to distribute this information electronically. This will save paper and help reduce the size of the packet. If you would like a hard copy of the summaries, please contact Arthdale Brown.
