Jamie Page has a solid investigative piece in Sunday’s daily paper. Through public records requests, Page got the cell phone records and message logs from the Escambia Commissioners. There are four troubling…
County Purchasing Procedures
Test To be sure that I was being fair to Comm. Valentino, I spent time yesterday with Escambia County Purchasing Chief Claudia Simmons to understand the competitive sealed bid process. Comm. Valentino…
Air America Radio RIP
The liberal national radio network, Air America Radio, signs off for the last time next Monday. The company is filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy, just a few weeks shy of its sixth anniversary….
Steen inquest date set
State Attorney Bill Eddins has announced the coroner’s inquest on the death of Victor Steen has been set for Feb. 25-26 beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Buzz: Other races
. Some locals have been hoping that another Republican would jump into the State Senate race that now has Greg Evers, Dave Murzin and Mike Hill. The name that I heard most…
Buzz: City musical chairs
This is the buzz on the Pensacola city elections. We are expecting to see people file for the mayor’s race before the end of the month. Mayor Mike Wiggins appears to be…
UWF will have its offer before CMPA
The University of West Florida offer appears to be very similar to one being discussed by the master developer and university during the holidays. The master developer had already offered to reduce…
Videos on Maplewood bid
Here are the comments from the different commissioners on the motion to reverse the re-bid of the Maplewood drainage project: KEVIN WHITE: GROVER ROBINSON: GENE VALENTINO: WILSON ROBERTSON: DISCUSSION ON THE SEALED…
There was no error by Roads
Through a public records request, I have the bids made by Gulf Equipment and Roads Inc on the Maplewood drainage project. As you would expect, the two companies have differences on several…
Valentino/Roads remix (updated)
So here is what we have with the Maplewoods drainage project: 1. Bids are open Nov. 18. Gulf Equipment is the low bidder at $1,768,621. Purchasing Department prepares recommendation for Gulf to…
County Purchasing Rules are clear
Escambia County has a set of general terms and conditions for all its sealed bids (Read). The Maplewood drainage project request for bids clearly states on page 14 that these terms and…
Roads Inc awarded $1.94 million last half ’09
Roads, Inc has done very well with Escambia County since June 2009 7/23 Awarded Molino Road Resurfacing $858,713.50 and Saufley Field Road Resurfacing $433,836 8/15 Innerarity Point MSBU $342,430.45 10/1 Santa Monica…
Valentino backtracks…too little, too late?
Escambia Commissioner Gene Valentino has a problem. He can’t get his stories straight, according to the PNJ. We know that he met with Cody Rawson of Roads, Inc in November 2009 in…
Roads wanted to protest its own bid, no really
Here is the video of Russell Weaver of Roads Inc. The heart of his argument is that Roads Inc’s protest of its own bid “broke new ground.” …”I don’t know how to…
Did Valentino solicit campaign contributions from his office?
The Florida Statutes state it is illegal for an elected official to solicit campaign contributions from his government office. PNJ reporter Jamie Page reports on his blog that Comm. Gene Valentino told…
Why the county has sealed bids
Why is the sealed bid process so sacred? Because Escambia County has a history of backroom deals and preferential treatment for certain contractors. It wasn’t that long ago when four county commissioners…
Three-Mile Bridge has six years left?
Navarre Press is reporting Jim DeVries of the Florida Department of Transportation told members of the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization yesterday at their meeting in Milton that the Pensacola Bay Bridge is…
Proposed new county bid process
1. Open bids 2. Ask – “Did anybody make a mistake?” 3. Ask – “Can anybody beat the lowest bid?” 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until everyone answers “No” or the…
Roads, Inc Circus has second act today
The Escambia County Commission will meet again today. Reportedly Comm. Kevin White will make a motion to reconsider the rebidding of the Maplewoods drainage project. The Associated General Contractors (AGC) has been…
