7/9/2009 5:01:00 AM Mayor calls for subcontract details
By STEVEN G. WATSON Associate Editor
Subcontracts the county engineer negotiated with other firms over the five years he was paid about $9.5 million in fees should be made public, Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler insists.
Municipal officials in both Madison and Ridgeland unanimously approved resolutions Tuesday night calling for an audit of fees paid to County Engineer Rudy Warnock over the last five years.
District 3 Supervisor D.I. Smith last month called for a performance audit following a published report in the Madison County Journal that Warnock was paid the unusually large sum, according to some.
Warnock and others have defended the fees, saying they were within reason given the scope of work being done in Madison County.
The State Auditor's Office last week said there was no evidence to merit an investigation.
Hawkins-Butler said citizens have the right to know how much Warnock's firm profited from the subcontracts.
"If Mr. Warnock would produce the subcontracted invoices a lot of this could be put to rest," Hawkins-Butler said. "It would be so easy and would not cost a dime to produce those contracted invoices."
She added that taxpayers deserve to know if they are getting their money's worth for all the engineering fees.
"You need to look at the actual engineering costs compared to the actual work that's on the ground," she said. "You can engineer a road all day long and the Board of Supervisors can vote to pay for it and it's legal, but we need to see what's being put on the ground. What's being constructed."
Warnock didn't returned calls to comment on the issue before press time.
Ridgeland Mayor Gene F. McGee said he also supported an audit which he thinks would help dispel any public doubt.
"I think the board just feels an audit would clear the air and show that there's no wrongdoing," McGee said. "That makes it better for all of us and improves confidence in county government."
The resolutions, which were identical, said: "recent reports in the print and electronic media have suggested that certain engineering contracts between Madison County and Warnock & Associates have resulted in excessive and unsupported billing with limited benefit to the citizens..."
It went on to say: "the citizens of Madison County, including those residing in the city, have a right to expect full disclosure regarding the use of public funds and the extent of public benefit resulting from such expenditures."
The resolution also said the audit should include: "a full review of the billing and scope of work for all sub-contracts and the profit margin pertaining to such sub-contracts."
Supervisor Smith last month also called for copies of invoices between Warnock and subcontractors to be made public.
Both of his motions were voted down 3-2 with three supervisors aggressively defended the payments to Warnock.
District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson went so far as to call Smith's actions a "which hunt."
Smith brought up the subject of subcontracting, specifically $326,000 Warnock's firm charged the county in environmental engineering fees for Calhoun Station Parkway before subcontracting the work to another firm.
In a press release, Smith said, "It has been alleged that this work was actually done for less than $30,000. We need the facts!"
The terms of those subcontracts are not public record.
District 1 Supervisor John Bell Crosby voted with Smith for the audit while Johnson, District 4's Karl Banks and District 5's Paul Griffin voting against.
Johnson, Banks and Griffin have aggressively defended the payments to Warnock saying they were merited due to the scope of work being done in the county.
Meanwhile, Madison County Chancery Clerk Arthur Johnston is conducting a formal review of the county's engineering contracts with Warnock and hopes to produce a comparative analysis of all fees paid since 2005 sometime later this year.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, July 13, 2009
Article comment by:
Stan
I do not necessarily see this as a "Rudy Warnock" issue but a lack of stewardship of Madison County taxpayer money by the Board of Supervisors. The Supervisors have outsourced the county engineering services and with that goes a negoiated general services contract which prescribes the required actions of both parties. Mr Warnock has been given a job to do and the contract prescribes how it is to be done. If he is delivering results as requested then the "how" part would apprar irrelevant.
Posted: Thursday, July 09, 2009
Article comment by:
Clark Ethridge
If everything is above board, then one would think Mr Warnock would rapidly produce the requested documents to clear up any doubt. To not do so gives a perception of wrongdoing.
