Is it too much to hope that a single meeting of the Pine Bluff City Council could transpire without an elected official implicating himself in either an ethical, rational or personal debacle? Apparently it is.
The injury to credibility d’jour lays at the feet of Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. with regard to resurfacing the gymnasium floor at the Chester Hynes Community Center. Who knew that our good mayor cared so much about gym floors?
As reported in the Commercial, a proposed resolution that would have accepted the low bid to resurface the gym floor at the center was pulled by its sponsors from the Pine Bluff City Council agenda Monday at Redus’ request. Redus enumerated several reasons for the request, some of which Parks and Recreation Department Director Angela Parker refutes as just plain wrong. She should know by now that mere facts are seldom sufficient justification once this administration has made up its mind. If the embarrassing debacle of Saracen Landing manager (and mayoral spouse) Trudy Redus’ suspension was not sufficient proof of that assertion, little else could be. Once a course is set, nothing shall dissuade its navigation.
Rather inexplicably, the mayor also cited a desire to re-bid the project in hopes the city will receive a lower bid. Here too cooler heads found no purchase. Several of the aldermen and Parker contend such a move would be unfair to the present winning bidder and potentially open the city to lawsuits. Such perils mean little when an opportunity to advance personal grudges and petty squabbles is in hand.
Despite the well-reasoned warning, Redus and public works coordinator Larry Matthews both indicated that the re-bidding could be opened up to include different types of flooring possibilities. Baring all other motives, at a minimum, this suggests that Redus has no faith in Parker’s ability to select an appropriate material for the gym floor. Parker and former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Teki Jimenez said that Parker and Community Center Director Laura Hildreth have carefully researched the type of flooring they selected and think it is the best fit for the project.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I’m totally against going for a cheaper, less expensive type of flooring,” Parker said.
“We don’t want the cheapest floor,” Jimenez said. “We want the best floor.”
While no one thinks we should incur frivolous expense, purchasing a better-suited, longer lasting floor makes sense. Nickel and diming at the margins — especially under the present dubious cloud — makes no sense/cents.
Important as issues of quality, fit and durability are, the larger question at issue is why Redus felt the need to dramatically insert himself into the process. According to Parker and Jimenez — and verified by the Commercial — Redus mischaracterized the Parks Commission’s knowledge of the flooring project during the Ordinances and Resolutions Committee meeting saying the commissioners didn’t know about the project. Oops, wrong. The matter was presented to the entire commission.
Redus further cast aspersions on the nature of the relationship between the city and present winning bidder, Sports Court of Arkansas. Redus said the city was being “back-doored” and that they shouldn’t be “getting in bed with a vendor” or “show favoritism to one vendor.” Redus claims there was only one bid tendered, but, oops, there were two, according to Parker, and Sports Court was the lower of the two. That’s the way the process is supposed to work — unless you’re a mayor intent on meddling.
Given recent events involving members of the Redus family in which Parker was obliged to act as disciplinarian, this sudden interest in micromanaging the Chester Hynes gym floor seems awfully coincidental — awfully coincidental. It may not be direct tit-for-tat retribution, but that’s how it smells.