Saturday, February 19, 2011

Just County Bidness

By R.S. Gates


On the Commissioners’ Court Agenda for 2/22/2011 under item F3 is an entry not likely to draw much attention. TAM Properties, lists as an address P.O. Box 3013 Waco, Texas, 76707, is soliciting the Court for an extension of an existing agreement to provide construction services. (Link to Agenda Item)


Agenda1


It all looks pretty straightforward. This has been an ongoing contract since 2006. Since the bid is for hourly services, it might be interesting to see what the total outlay was.


FY2009TAMPropertiesCkRegister


$114,524.64 for Fiscal Year 2009 according to the check run provided in response to a public information act request. Perhaps not significant in light of a $16M budget, but not exactly pocket change. So,, who is TAM Properties?


According to documents on file with the County Clerk, C. L. Hendrik is the father of Steve Hendrick, McLennan County Engineer.


CIQ for TAM Properties - http://mclennancounty.us/pur/vresponses/tamproperty082206.pdf


CIS for Steve Hendrick -
http://mclennancounty.us/pur/eresponses/stephenhendrick082206.pdf


One recently elected Commissioner had a campaign plank to review the county bid process. While Texas law requires competitive bidding for work over $50K, there are many ways around the law. A government entity can simply split the work up in “phases” to remain under the cap. Yes, it’s always perfectly legal.


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