City of Bella Vista under legislative audit review

An alleged lack of procurement protocol brought to attention by Bella Vista Alderman Jerry Snow is under investigation by the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit, the regulatory body tasked with overseeing the checks and balances of state and local governments.

Tim Jones, spokesman at the state agency in Little Rock, confirmed Thursday (July 10) that the audit is being conducted on the Bella Vista procurement procedures.

Jones could not release any details, but did say the agency has worked on the audit for the past few weeks and a full report will be made public once the probe is completed.

Snow has publicly raised concerns over “questionable business practices” regarding then pending and past purchases of several dump trucks planned by the city. He said the city “waived the competitive bid process” back in April 2012, which is against state statute and more recently using bid specifications that could only be met by Kenworth.

“I don’t know why the mayor and city council majority are so set on rubber-stamping a bid process that is not consistent with state statutes,” Snow said.

Mayor Frank Anderson and city attorney Bryan Vernetti did not return calls made to their offices at late Thursday afternoon.

The city spent $228,952 in April 2012 on two dump trucks and a spreader after they waived competitive bidding when MHC Kenworth was the lone bidder.

In April 2013, the city set out to buy more dump trucks, using the same bid specifications from a year ago. The bid requirements for the two dump trucks as advertised in the local newspaper were written specifically for Kenworth, according to Snow and two other truck dealers contacted – Diamond International in Little Rock and Macks Truck in Lowell.

When Snow continued to question the bid specifications last month, the council failed to get a majority vote to purchase the two new trucks and the issue has not been re-introduced.

The City Wire contacted John Leverett, procurement specialist for the Arkansas Department of Finance, who said any time the specifications are too narrow that they exclude other manufacturers the bid is out of compliance.

Snow said his main objective is to see that the city get the best deal and follow state guidelines since they are using taxpayer dollars He said Benton County had a similar situation where they attempted to purchase dump trucks using bid specifications that only Kenworth could meet.

“The Benton County Attorney reviewed the matter and advised they should rebid based on competitive specs. Bids were received from six manufacturers with Kenworth being the high bidder. There was $30,000.00 difference in the bids from International and Kenworth,” Snow said.

He said there is no guarantee Bella Vista would get six different bids, but he wants to see the “true competive bidding” process work.

Harry Newby, a retired resident of Bella Vista and a former city attorney in another state, said there are lots of questions dating back to the purchases a year ago that should be investigated before more taxpayer money is spent. He said advertising for bids in the local newspaper does not likely meet the standard requirement for published notice. He said waiving competitive bidding is only allowed when there is a natural disaster and the need is too great to wait on the formal bid process to take place.