Jackson Free Press

After a month of legal and procedural battles, the Jackson Public School Board awarded management of $122 million of a $150 million bond to Preferred Management Group and California-based Jacobs Engineering at a special May 31 meeting. The project involves building new schools, renovating some existing schools and expanding others.

The JPS Board voted 3-2 after weeks of lobbying by Preferred Management Group LLC and local engineering firm Integrated Management Services.

The board made a preliminary vote, which was also 3-2, in favor of Preferred Management back in April, a move that prompted competitor IMS to file a motion in Hinds County Chancery Court to suspend a JPS board hearing to confirm Preferred Managment.

IMS attorneys demanded Preferred Management and Jacobs Engineering release redacted portions of their contract proposal regarding the percentage of local/minority participation, saying the information was critical in convincing the board to reconsider its preliminary April vote.

Both IMS and Preferred Management removed such information from their contracts in April, claiming the information was proprietary. Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Denise Owens refused IMS' motion last month, noting that IMS had not objected when Preferred Management issued the redacted proposal in April--back when IMS was redacting its own information.

IMS Attorney Mark Herbert stuck to the argument at the May 31 meeting, saying the board needed to have all the information in order to better serve the public. He also objected to the board's decision to discuss the matter in executive session before holding the vote. He said the board's decision to adopt such secrecy violated the Open Meetings Act.

"It will render your (decision tonight) void," Herbert warned prior to the vote. He added that IMS should be reconsidered because Preferred Management was only a few weeks old, and created after JPS had submitted requests for contracts in December.

"My client IMS is a well established Jackson Mississippi based engineering firm. ... Preferred Manangement did not even exist when this proposal was submitted," Herbert said.
The vote was a mirror of the preliminary April vote, with Jonathan Larkin, Ann Jones and Maggie Benson-White voting for Preferred Management. Sollie Norwood and newly elected Board President Delmar Stamps voted against.

After Judge Owens ruled that the board could go ahead with its May 21 meeting, Stamps, as president, elected not to include the bond item on the agenda. Larkin made an unsuccessful motion to put the item back on the agenda, but he settled for a five-day delay. Last Thursday, Stamps delayed the vote again to May 31.

While the board delayed its decision, the Jackson City Council stalled for time itself, refusing to confirm a new JPS board member who might have changed the vote on the bond contract.
The council postponed a May 21 confirmation vote that would have replaced Benson-White, who was one of three board members who supported Preferred Management, with Jackson State University Dean Ivory Phillips.

Councilmen Marshand Crisler, Leslie McLemore and Council President Ben Allen routinely recuse themselves from votes regarding JPS, claiming conflicts of interest. Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, meanwhile, said she would not participate in any JPS confirmations until after the vote, in protest of attempts by the administration of Mayor Frank Melton to swing the vote for IMS.

Before the JPS board's preliminary vote in April, four council members, including Allen, Crisler, McLemore and Barrett-Simon, accused Melton's Chief of Staff Marcus Ward of threatening to pull Larkin's nomination if he did not favor IMS in the vote.

Ward denied the allegation and threatened to send a lawyer after council members. Members say they have yet to hear from Ward's attorney. Ward has acknowledged that he discussed the mayor's preference for IMS with Larkin.

Despite the alleged threat, Larkin voted for Preferred Management. Soon after, Melton sent out a memo asking council members to withdraw Larkin's name for re-nomination.

At a press conference last week, Allen accused the mayor of lying to him about Larkin's re-nomination on his radio last month.

"I had (Melton) on the radio the other day, and he told me on the radio that he was going to bring Larkin up for school board re-appointment. Meanwhile, the day before, he sent a memo saying he wanted (Larkin) to be pulled. So which part (of the mayor's conversation) do I believe, and which part do I not believe?" Allen demanded

With the board's members unchanged, the final vote was identical to the first.

Norwood argued that the board's vote was too hasty. "I think that it's unfair that we move forward with this document when there are certain portions of it that are not available for public consumption," Norwood said, referring to the redacted portions of the Preferred Management/Jacobs Engineering proposal.

Larkin countered that while citizens did not have complete access to the contracts, the board was able to review the contracts fully and make an informed decision.

Preferred Management CEO Johnny Crisler, who is related to Councilman Marshand Crisler, said he was happy with the $122 million decision.

"Oh, yeah, we're very satisfied," Crisler said. "We're very eager to get moving on that contract. We'll get started tomorrow if (the board members) go ahead and sign it."
IMS CEO and co-owner John Calhoun, meanwhile, said he was perplexed that the board would go with a contract that was more expensive than his.

"I just don't know why they would pick someone more expensive," Calhoun said. "It doesn't seem like good business to me."

Sources inside JPS, who asked to remain anonymous because they were discussing redacted information, said that the IMS bid was the more costly of the two.

The board approved paying Preferred Management and Jacobs Engineering $5,350,000 for a two-and-a-half-year contract.

Calhoun refused repeated requests from the JFP to reveal his proposal's price tag. Members of the board say they cannot discuss the figure submitted by IMS and that Calhoun himself would have to release it.

Calhoun also frames the fight between IMS and Preferred Management as a battle between local firms and out-of-state companies, saying California-based Jacobs Engineering is the prime contractor in its partnership with minority-owned Preferred Management. IMS, meanwhile, partnered in its own JPS proposal with California-based Parsons.

Jeff O'Donnell of Jacobs Engineering Group said the contract work between Jacobs and Preferred is "50/50—right down the middle."

IMS still has the option of fighting the decision by filing a bill of exceptions, though the company must file the order within 10 days. IMS must weigh the consequences of continuing a losing battle against Preferred Management, especially since IMS may compete for sub-contracted work under the latter's management.

Calhoun would not say immediately after the May 31 vote if he intended to file a bill of exceptions.

Previous Comments

ID

92841

Comment

At a press conference last week, Allen accused the mayor of lying to him about Larkin’s re-nomination on his radio last month. Do you mean "radio show"?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-06-06T20:16:07-06:00

ID

92842

Comment

Complain, complain, complain.... Suck It Larry!

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-06-08T07:21:35-06:00

ID

92843

Comment

Here is a profile of Jacobs Engineering's work on K-12 contract services. Boy, if Marcus Ward wouldn't have threatened that Board Member then maybe things would be different. Too bad... So sad... I'm glad to know that we have attracted a fine firm like Jacobs to continue to provide services to citizens of Mississippi. They have an office at the Stennis Space Center that provides over 200 jobs already. It's really sad (or twisted racism) to hear radio show hosts say this is bad because a MINORITY FIRM got the contract. Yet, IMS is a minority firm too. Go figure.

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-06-08T07:40:24-06:00