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Government Procurement Alliance (1GPA). The cooperative purchasing method is intended to streamline procurement. But records obtained by KJZZ and AZCIR suggest Hunt & Caraway began working on the project before the procurement process even started.Records show that in January 2016, 1GPA began advertising the request for qualifications, which tells interested vendors there’s possible work. Architecture firms were then given a qualifications submission deadline of Feb. 11, 2016.But the week before the deadline for architects to submit their qualifications, multiple subcontractors sent letters to Hunt & Caraway President Brian Robichaux, including landscape architecture firm THK Associates, dated Feb. 2, 2016.“Dear Mr. Robichaux, It was good to hear from you yesterday regarding the Scottsdale Unified School District,” THK principal Peter Elzi wrote. “As we understand it, you and your associates are in the process of completing a master plan for the district, which involves the assessment of examining all of the elementary schools in the district.”Elzi’s letter also included a detailed work scope. Another company, Facility Management Group, sent a similar letter to Robichaux a few days later, but still before the deadline for Hunt & Caraway to even submit qualifications and be considered for the work.Around the same time, a purchase order history shows the district issued a $60,000 payment to Hunt & Caraway Architects on Feb. 8 for “facilities planning and review,” for the discussion of a future bond — three days before the architect submission deadline.In the end, 28 firms submitted qualifications to be considered for the project, but Hunt & Caraway was officially selected, and the governing board approved a $180,000 contract with the firm in April.In June, the governing board approved the 2016 bond proposal, sending it to the November ballot, and district voters passed it.Normally, schools are supposed to go through the procurement process again to hire an architecture firm for the actual building design. Instead superintendent Birdwell announced that the initial review done by 1GPA was sufficient to have Hunt & Caraway stay on and design the new Hopi Elementary School.The handling of the architect selection caused parents and community members to dig deeper.They found court documents showing Hunt & Caraway Architects president Brian Robichaux had been convicted of felony theft in 1998. According to court documents, Robichaux misspent $125,653 from the Arizona Department of Transportation.Mike Norton, another of the concerned residents who came together around these issues, said he was shocked when he looked looked into Robichaux’s background.“They had been registered with 1GPA. And 1GPA represents to the public that they perform due diligence functions ... It took me about 15 seconds to find the criminal case and the conviction. This wasn't a difficult task to complete. This is actually a difficult task to ignore," said Norton.Both Hunt & Caraway and Brian Robichaux did not respond to multiple requests for comment.After Norton and others voiced their concerns, Birdwell announced in October that Robichaux had been replaced by Tamara Caraway as company president. But Hunt & Caraway’s corporate records, kept by the Arizona Corporation Commission, still list Robichaux as Hunt & Caraway’s president.img src="https://kjzz.o...
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has vowed to speed up cleanups nationwide, pledging to create a top 10 list of projects and streamline the process.In January, while still under the Obama administration, the EPA released the long-awaited final cleanup plan for the Superfund site, the culmination of a 17-year effort.The 2,535-page Record of Decision document described the 13-year cleanup timetable and outlined a variety of treatment plans, including dredging 248 acres of the river bottom and capping another 89.6 acres of toxic land in the water. Another 1,774 acres were expected to recover naturally.On Tuesday, the EPA convened a conference call with the state, tribe and federal partners to try and allay concerns about the latest developments.The EPA has insisted its draft work plan and the list of parties it is collaborating with are confidential. Tribal groups and the state have cited confidentiality when asked to disclose the records.In response to the statement Thursday, the DEQ released an official comment saying it appreciated EPA's responsiveness and expected the agency to work with the state on a "constructive, collaborative relationship."Earlier in the week, the feelings weren't as definitive.Kevin Perrett, DEQ's superfund manager, said the conference call was a time for all the groups to express concerns directly to the federal governmentHe said the EPA agreed to allow for two weeks of review before finalizing the work plan at the DEQ's request.But neither the state nor tribes were celebrating."It's not a victory," Perrett said Wednesday. "It's a battle, perhaps that we won, but we haven't won the war."He said the larger question is whether the EPA will work with the state and tribes "in a meaningful way."Rose Longoria, the Yakama Nation's Superfund manager, said the EPA caused alarm bells to ring when it appeared close to a work plan that didn't include tribal input.She said a lot of the new uncertainty is being driven by EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. "Additional time to review documents is great," she said, "but we need to make sure that our comments are going to be addressed."Tribes are concerned about the Superfund site because the Willamette River is the largest industrial tributary of the Columbia River and its contamination levels have an effect on lamprey and salmon health.It's still unclear which industrial partners or other responsible parties identified in the area were working with the EPA behind closed doors. The Oregonian/OregonLive asked the 14 members of the Lower Willamette Group, a group of public and private entities that have long worked on the project, if they were working with the EPA.Of those that responded, EVRAZ, Chevron, Burlington Northern Sante Fe, Siltronic and Phillips 66 declined to answer any questions.Kinder Morgan, NW Natural, the Port of Portland, Union Pacific and the city of Portland said they were not currently involved with EPA.Pirzadeh's predecessor said it was "disturbing" that the EPA would show any interest in moving forward without the state or Portland's participation.Dennis McLerran, former region administrator under the Obama administration, said that was "unprecedented" and seemed designed to delay cleanup alto... (OregonLive.com)
Heights neighborhood thanking the students for their work and calling it "a sight for sore eyes."The clean-up project is in its third year, and streamlined organization allowed the school this year to expand the territory that is covered. "It's a tremendous thing for St. Mary's and a tremendous thing for our neighborhood," England said.England explained the clean-up is an example of a lesson that "life is not just about you. It's about what you can bring to others. Today's about giving back. Our young men get it. They're out here working so hard because this means something to them."It didn't take Van Valkenburg's crew long to get one side of the street corner looking spotless. "Some of you grab these bags," he said. "We're going to start to move on." Bookmark/Search this post with ... (St.Louis Review)
May 31, 2023). Moving to automation, as MTG has done in other communities, would “minimize inconvenience and streamline trash collection,” said Grebien in his letter to the council. The administration will review and share details of that automation proposal in the coming months, he said.MTG Disposal has been winning contracts all over Rhode Island of late. Cumberland town officials signed a deal with the company over the summer that goes to automated trash collection two years from now. Pawtucket has already made significant gains in cutting down on waste disposal since signing with MTG Disposal in 2012. The recycling rate has nearly doubled, to more than 30 percent since the company implemented automated recycling collection from 95-gallon blue bins that year. (Valley Breeze)
Iowa City Landfill. The ban is part of a series of waste minimization initiatives, including a streamlined recycling process that will hit Iowa City curbside pickups this fall.The first round of initiatives — mandating recycling pickup services at multi-family residences with more than four units, curbside food waste collection, a secured load policy and bans on computer monitors and TVs — have all been put into place. Starting this fall, Iowa City customers will have access to single stream recycling, meaning plastic, paper, cardboard and metals can be mixed together. (This excludes glass which can be recycled at drop off sites such as the East Side Recycle Center.) The cardboard ban was unanimously passed by the Iowa City Council July 18 this year.Efforts to put a plastic bag ban into place were torpedoed by a bill in the Iowa Legislature earlier this year — part of the same bill that struck down local minimum wage ordinances.Jen Jordan, the new Resource Management Superintendent, oversees the landfill, curbside collection and recycling programs. Jordan, who has been working at the Johnson County Landfill for 11 years, watches from her office as 18,000 tons of food waste and about 15,000 tons of cardboard are needlessly buried every year. Currently cardboard makes up about 12 percent of materials entering th... (Little Village)
