October 26, 2007

Bipartisan anger at Johnson over GOP mayoral hopeful's claim that not all city contracts "are done properly and completely above board"

When Republican mayoral candidate Ken Johnson told a crowd recently that he is "not satisfied that all contracts are done properly and completely above board" at City Hall, city officials and politicians said they were perplexed.
But when Johnson explained the next day that he was referring to last year’s decision to hire a Plainville real estate broker to help sell surplus city property, they got mad.
Calling the charge “an eleventh hour political ploy, Democratic city Councilor Frank Nicastro, said Johnson’s comments were “offensive as heck. He owes the city an apology.”
“He cast a general allegation against the city,” said Republican Mayor William Stortz, that made Bristol look bad without any justification at all.
Republican city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, one of the three real estate panel members that picked the Plainville firm for the pilot project, said, “If I had to do it again, I’d do it again.”
Democratic mayoral contender Art Ward, a council veteran, said that Johnson “cast dark aspersions” that he failed to justify.
Johnson said that some city firms that sought the contract to sell surplus residential property “were not satisfied the contract was awarded properly.”
Johnson said that his own real estate firm, based in Bristol, was one of the brokers shut out when the city tapped the Plainville-based Berarducci Realtors to handle its sale of surplus residential property.
It’s unclear, though, what anyone did wrong.
Roger Rousseau, the city’s purchasing director, said that the selection process that led to the hiring of Berarducci was “no different” than the way Bristol awards all of its professional service contracts.
He said the contract was advertised twice in both The Bristol Press and a Hartford paper, discussed at council meetings and the subject of news stories.
Still, though a dozen firms sought the contract, some agents complained later they didn’t know the city was looking to hire someone to sell off surplus land.
“Were local firms given every reasonable opportunity to bid on the project and every reasonable consideration to be selected?” Johnson asked.
In hindsight, Rousseau said, he would not rely only on the normal marketing methods. He said he would ask the Realtor’s Association to spread the work about a similar contract in the future.
Nicastro, who heads the real estate panel, said that everything about the selection of Berarducci was done in public and correctly.
Rimcoski said it led to the sale of $700,000 worth of property that has helped reduce the tax burden for residents.
The other member of the Real Estate Committee, Democratic city Councilor Kevin McCauley, said the panel “did everything above board. Nothing was done behind closed doors.”
“We have nothing to hide,” said Nicastro.
McCauley said that Berarducci got the nod because it offered the most attractive deal to the city, something that Nicastro, Rimcoski and Rousseau also said.
McCauley said he is disappointed that Johnson would attempt to make an issue of the deal after it was extensively discussed in public last year.
“Why didn’t he bring it up at the time?” Ward asked.
“I never saw Mr. Johnson at any of the meetings,” Nicastro said.
Nicastro said he was particularly offended that Johnson would put Rimcoski in the crosshairs.
“When he attacks a member of his own political party, that’s not the kind of person I want as mayor,” Nicastro said.




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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ken Johnson is showing what a weak candidate he is.

If he wants to taint Ward and Democrats on the City Contracts issue, he should be talking about the contracts Couture/Kosta/Ward engaged with Gatto in buying the mall and the contracts they signed when hiring expensive consultants like Macguire and the others who were involved in the big downtown plan.

A lot of money kept changing hands without a lot of oversight or very much light of day for the public. Some of this came out when then-regular citizen Nicastro brought it up at a council meeting before he got back into office.

Ken Johnson has picked the wrong target.

Anonymous said...

Hey Nicastro: Why don;t you tell the people of Bristol how much you spent to buy these properties when you were Mayor?

Figure in what we have lost in taxes and attorney fees.

Now your trying to be a hero by saing you added $700K to the city coffers. How much did you take out to buy them?

I cannot believe that Rimcoski and McCauley are stupid enough to follow you blindly on this issue.

Bristol firms should get Bristol Business. No wonder business are moving out of Bristol.

We'll take your tax money and when it comes to making money we go to Plainville.

Regardless of the presentations..a Bristol firm should have gotten the work.

Thanks Frank for creating jobs in Plainville.

Anonymous said...

Stortz..once again, Shut Up!

Anonymous said...

HOW BLINDLY THESE JOHNSON SHEEP FOLLOW AS A FLOCK - THE ISSUE IS THE CONTRACT THAT JOHHNSON BROUGHT UP, SO DON'T TRY AND CAST IT OFF BECAUSE HE PUT HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH AGAIN, FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME.
THE ONLY FLEECING THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN HERE IS IF JOHNSON EVER HAS A CHANCE OF GETTING ELECTED, WHICH CAN ONLY BE SHEAR WISHFUL THINKING AND BAAAAD FOR BRISTOL. THANK GOODNESS.

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is that we need to review how contracts are awarded to ensure that Bristol business are not only getting a fair shake, but to ensure that theyare getting the inside track.

Keep chipping away Ken. The good ole boys are tough to oust.

Anonymous said...

Gee, go to the fundraiser of any incumbant and all you see are local construction contractors looking to line their pockets. Ward is the prime example of this.

Anonymous said...

But did Ken Johnson complain when he got a lucrative contract WITHOUT ANY BIDDING?

It all depends on whose ox is being gored.

Anonymous said...

Ken, explain how you will be over seeing the productivity of your former investment interest Municipal Energy if you are elected; can you guarantee that your former croonies will do anything other than come back to the city asking for more and more money? You shafted us taxpayers once, you showed your true colors, you don't get a second shot with me.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone (that means you, Steve) actually interview Ken Johnson to get his COMPLETE side of the story? Or do you just cull out the stuff that will make your Democrat buddies look good? And who cares what Frank "The Wastrel" Nicastro thinks anyway? All he ever does is grandstand. Every comment he makes at a City Council meeting turns into a political speech.

Steve Collins said...

Yes, of course I talked to Ken. And late last night I heard a message on my answering machine from him, so I am sure I'll be talking to him again soon.

Steve Collins said...

For those who might want a little more, Johnson told me that he didn't think this would be too sexy a story.
He said his comments about the contracts were "not an attack on Ward" just a criticism of the way the city awarded the real estate contract to Berarducci.
"That's the whole story," he said.
He ran through the background about the contract, which I already knew since I'd written several stories on it last year, and mentioned that some Bristol brokers were unhappy with how it all went down. That's true enough.
"Here's a situation when clearly the Bristol-based bidders were not satisfied the contract was awarded properly," Johnson said.
The problem with that, of course, is that the Bristol brokers were basically wrong. There had been news stories in the paper about the city's plans to hire a firm. There were ads in the Press and the Courant informing them of the deadline to apply for consideration, and there was a fair amount of discussion about this whole thing at City Council meetings that were reported and on television. The proof that it wasn't hidden is that a DOZEN firms sought the contract.
What made people unhappy, really, is that a Plainville-based firm got the nod. But four key people who looked at all the proposals all thought Berarducci was the best choice: the city's purchasing agent (a friend of Ken's), and city Councilors Frank Nicastro, Kevin McCauley and Mike Rimcoski.
They've all been sort of angry and disgusted that they've taken heat for the choice they made (including some criticism from Art Ward last year, coincidentally). They say they don't believe they did anything wrong at all, though they also say they'd try harder to make sure more brokers know next time around.
But this was hardly some back room, closed deal. It was all done in public meeting with citizens and the press often in attendance.
Johnson's comment that set off this particular flareup implied some sort of wrongdoing.
But even he readily admits there wasn't any, really.

Anonymous said...

So Johnson is basically throwing out any item that he thinks he can misconstue and make controversial in the hope that something will stick. great leadership skills. Vote for Art

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Do a little more digging. Johnson said there were at least 9 Bristol firms left out. What do they have to say. In one of you old stories on this subject, Artie was even concerned about the contract going to an out of town firm. It's easy now to take the other side b/c it is going against Johnson. This seems like incomplete reporting to me. Who were the three firms that Nicastro met with to explain the decision? Why did the process stop part way b/f presentations could be made. Maybe there was no wrongdoing at all, but the perception is there that something was amiss.

Steve Collins said...

I knew the firms last year. I looked at the stuff at the time. There was nothing amiss.

Steve Collins said...

Look, I hoped there WAS something amiss. That would have been a much better story. I didn't have, and don't have, any reason to protect Rousseau, Nicastro, McCauley or Rimcoski. If they did something wrong, I'd gladly report it.
But the worst thing anyone can say about this is that perhaps they should have tried a little harder to make sure Bristol real estate firms knew they could seek this contract. That's hardly breathtaking stuff.

Anonymous said...

No matter what comes out and no matter if everything was done above board, it is ridiculous that city owned property was sold by an out of town firm. What a joke!!

This is completely unacceptable. 12 firms? That means nothing to me. We talk about promoting Bristol and supporting our businesses - Bull@#$%!! Our leaders are all talk! I would have preferred back room dealings to guarantee that it went to a Bristol firm. Nicastro the cheerleader missed the boat entirely. It is completely unacceptable that this did not go to a Bristol business. Maybe Ken is crying sour grapes, but even if he is, he should be!

Thanks Frank! I can't wait until all the old generation is gone - Stortz, Ward, Nicastro, and even Rimcoski and anyone associated with them. I finally thought we had a shot at some educated, progressive smart people with Ellen and Johnson battling it out. It looks like the Seniors and the Unions are going to keep things as is. Yeah!!

Anonymous said...

Rimcoski says contracts were done fairly, yet he throws a temper tantrum everytime Maguire is ready to be awarded a contract.

Why doesn't Mike tell the truth.

Anonymous said...

Yep Ward was ticked off about the contract award last year and now he's defending it b/c his Team McCauley and Nicastro supported it and he can't say anything bad about his rock solid team.

And you all say Ward doesn't flip flop.

Anonymous said...

"Bipartisan anger"?

Your kidding right?

I would not include Stortz or Rimcocki as representatives of what the GOP believes. Stortz has been undermining the GOP ever since he didn't seek the endorsement and Rimcocki has been following along. They are both a part of the problem. Unfortunately it looks like we will only oust people like them by attrition.

Anonymous said...

Intersting that with all this bashing of Stortz, presumably by incompetent Republicans who could not dictate to him what he should do, that it is not noted that he has won more elections since he became involved than ANY OTHER Republican.
Council 6-7 times, Mayor 3 times.
He did it, not by getting just Republican votes, but by representing the people, listening to them, being part of the city.
While it is moot, I believe that he would have won again, if he chose to run.
Maybe those that can't win, haven't won (Mocabee, Schafrick) ought to take some lessons from him.
They can't win but they want to control.
They can't win, but they don't want anyone else to win, either.

The Republican Party needs, I won't even say new, they need leadership.
Mocabee and Schaffrick could not even come up with a full slate.

How pitiful is that.

Anonymous said...

"Bristol Politics is an eternal source of amusement to me"
GOP mayoral hopeful Ken Johnson

As posted by Steve Collins some time back

Anonymous said...

My Name is Mike Casey, a Realtor for Berarducci Realtors. I just wanted to go on the record as saying that I was born and raised in Bristol. I pay my taxes in Bristol,patronize Bristol businesses etc. I maintain a home office in Bristol. Part of my job as a Realtor is staying informed on current events in the communities I serve. One way of doing this is by reading the local papers on a daily basis(and not just the real estate section). I approached Becky Berarducci, the owner of Berarducci Realtors about putting together a proposal for the real estate contract after reading about it in the Bristol Press. Another agent who worked on the proposal with us also lives in Bristol. I do agree that Brisol should strive to keep business in town when we can but I also think that we need to be careful that we are not discouraging other businesses from submitting bids for contracts or RFPs. The current process works. It encourages bussinesses(and not just real estate companies) to put forth an honest, fair competitive proposal. If we start showing favoritism to in town business we are setting a precedent that could lead to problems in the future.

Mike Casey
Realtor

Anonymous said...

The only contracts that Johnson doesn't question are those that benefit him, i.e. the Bugryns contract, the Minicipal Energy contract. I guess that it only demonstrates that Johnson puts himself first rather than the City of Bristol.

Anonymous said...

I approached Becky Berarducci, the owner of Berarducci Realtors about putting together a proposal for the real estate contract after reading about it in the Bristol Press.

Maybe if Ken Johnson had been as proactive as the Berarducci group he would have had a chance at getting the contract.

This is just proof that Johnson was beat out by a business that knew what it was doing.

Anonymous said...

It is not the job of the real estate committee to make sure that the real estate brokers are aware of contracts that are put out to bid. They have enough to do. Can't people take responsibility for their own actions? It's always someone else's fault that they didn't see an ad in the paper or didn't hear about it. That's their tough luck if they don't pay attention and not the real estate committee's fault. We have protocol that must be followed and the real estate committee followed that protocol whether you like it or not. Everything was done above board. It's sad that Mr. Johnson is even trying to attack Mr. Rimcoski, who is a Republican no less. Talk about doing anything to get elected. I'm disappointed in you, Ken. You know that nothing untoward was done by the real estate committee yet you try to give the impression that there was. It was hashed out months ago, but in the 11th hour you decide to bring it up again! Your voice was not heard back when all this happened and you deal in real estate. If you were so angry about it at the time, why didn't you come to the council meetings and voice your concern? Some people did and were given valid reasons for why they were not chosen. The city made out better with these people and the citizens of this city are always complaining that the city is spending too much money. Make up your minds, people! I guess it's okay to spend more money if the business is in Bristol, but if you live here, I guess that doesn't count. Absolutely ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

Good thing that Beraducci didn't get to propose and bid on the Bugryn contract.
Otherwise Mr. Integrity probably wouldn't have gotten that one either.