Legislative Happenings
Show me the money!
by Gary Bischoff

The hearings on the Ulster County Jail cost and schedule overruns reminded me of the line from the movie Jerry Maguire – “Show me the money”. As most people know, the Ulster County Jail was opened almost three years late and a total cost of more than $95 million, far more than the $53 million projected cost, and the $71.8 million cost when the project was approved. The hearings were set up to find out why the jail project spun out of control. The hearings are well organized, making it obvious that the Investigation Committee did a lot of preparation. The committee consultant, John Mavretich is very knowledgeable about the history of the jail project and has assembled many documents dating back to 1987. His questioning is tough, but fair and took the audience, press and the committee through a time line, document by document that revealed the what seems to be at this point the root causes of the problems with the jail.

Here is a list of some of the most significant revelations thus far:

1. Documents show that all firms awarded major contracts contributed to a Republican fundraiser.
Show me the money!

2. An architectural firm (Crandell Associates) submitted the winning proposal after illegally being given a competitors proposal.
Why? See item 1.

3. That same architectural firm performed a needs assessment to determine the size of the facility. Remember that the architect fee is a percent of the total jail cost.
Why? See item 1.

4. There were notes that indicate that officials knew that the first construction manager (Barry, Bette & Led Duke) was guilty of a $10,000 extortion payment scheme in Dutchess County.
Show me the money!

5. The job of construction manager (Bovis Lend Lease) was not given to the lowest bidder.
Why? See item 1.

6. There was no appointed oversight committee even though the legislature passed a resolution in 1987 mandating that major projects have one.
7. Bovis did not do a required constructability review due to pressure from Ulster County officials.
Why? See item 1.

8. There was a memo from Arlene Kerans, the former the county purchasing agent stating that she was concerned with the relationship of vendors to politicians.
Why? See item 1.

9. Arlene Kerans identified an architectural firm that had a record of innovative thinking, but officials denied them access to the sheriff department.
Why?See item 1.

10. The architect (Crandell Associates) was not licensed.
Why? See item 1.

There will probably be more facts discovered as the hearings proceed. But it is distressing that the root of many of the problems has to do with political donations, favoritism and corruption by the then Republican majority. The hearings are not over and it is difficult to draw conclusions, but it is clear at this point that a lack of transparency, ineptitude and party politics cost Ulster County tax payers a bundle. We haven’t gotten to the bottom of this yet, but with the intense scrutiny we will clearly know more than we do now and work to insure that this type of corruption and cronyism does not happen again.

In order to give citizens as much information as possible, we have supporting documents listed on the right.