I guess I saw this coming a mile away, I figured it would be a 3-5 vote (Stehly, Starr and Neitzert voted NO) or a 4-4 with mayoral tie-breaker.
A couple of things tonight I noticed that the public might have missed;
• Erpenbach flip-flopped her intentions. I figured she would, she has a record of doing so. Last week people praised her for standing up to the contract but I warned them to be careful. I’m sure she weighed her options and realized if she voted NO she wouldn’t win anyway and didn’t want to be in the bad kid’s club. It’s all about appearance for Erp, always has been.
• Kiley and other councilors who voted yes tried to make it about an attack on the RFP process. Not at all. It was stated loud and clear by those who opposed this it was about this ‘particular’ RFP. They didn’t get enough time to review the contract, the other proposals were secret, they changed the terms from lease to management with out council pre-approval and a last minute equipment deal was taking place. The RFP process does work for many city contracts, in this case it did not because it was poorly executed. But that didn’t stop the rubber stampers from trying to kill the messenger in their justifications.
As I said during public input tonight; Secret, Secret, Secret, RAMROD! The dictator in the corner office wins again.