Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/109601
Sarasota News Leader February 15, 2013 Page 43 Patterson finally put forth the motion calling ���What we found recently with some of these,��� for five full-time employees or one corporate Barbetta had said earlier, ���[was that] they qualofficer. ify and then we get a call from the sub, ���Hey, they forgot about me. I haven���t heard from the Hines seconded it. ���If everything���s equal,��� he contractor.��� I think we see it more in the arsaid, ���it tilts a little bit toward the local guy. chitect and engineering end,��� he added. Still, ��� There���s no perfect answer.��� he asked, ���Do we do anything?��� Having grown up in a family that Coyman respondowned a coned that the chalstruction busilenge is to write ness, Robinson the use of subsaid, ���I like what contractors into we have, actually: the agreement if one and one.��� A Sarasota County report shows the percentage of vena firm qualifies for local preferHowever, Barbet- dors surveyed who supported the current residency reta pointed to an quirement for a company to win local preference status. ence by saying it Image courtesy Sarasota County will employ local incident that had subcontractors. occurred in the past, when a company in Gainesville placed ���Then the agreement has to be administered,��� one full-time employee in Sarasota County to Coyman pointed out. win local preference status while the company was based in Idaho. ���It happened, and all ���We need to have some teeth,��� Barbetta told of a sudden $7 million left the county,��� he said. him. ���That���s why we���re here, because our local contractors were getting beaten up pretty good.��� Hines referenced Coyman���s comment that a county employee would manage the contract Mason told her fellow board members she felt once it was signed: ���Is that forcing you to do a Patterson���s motion ���is a little better than what whole lot of work? Are we getting too detailed we currently do ������ once [a contract is] awarded?��� As an attorney, Hines said he knows how easy it is to designate one person as a corporate officer in company documents without that person���s actually fulfilling an officer���s responsibilities in the firm. ���That���s the part I like least,��� Patterson said. ENFORCEMENT CONCERNS ���It���s certainly an extra step we���re not doing now,��� Coyman said. The county employee identified as the contract administrator, he added, ���would be responsible for making sure this happens, just like any other component of the agreement. This is no different from holding price or meeting delivery or holding quality.��� After that 3-2 vote, the commissioners pro- If a firm did not follow through on the use of ceeded on to the discussion about use of sub- subcontractors, Coyman continued, ���then [it] would risk moving into a default situation.��� contractors.