INC NEWS - Bond Oversight Committee (again)

[pat carstensen]

In its last 2 meetings, INC has discussed what the bond oversight committee 
should actually do.  I said  I would DRAFT something that would attempt to 
capture the discussion, since some kind of formal position needs to be done 
this week if we expect to have any effect.  Anyway, what is below is a 
DRAFT, first approximation, whatever of an official letter.

Regards, pat

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The InterNeighborhoood Council (INC) is a strong supporter of the concept of 
having a citizen oversight committee for bond spending. We believe that such 
a committee will further INC goals of openness in government, use of 
well-defined decision processes, and respect for the professional work of 
staff and the efforts of citizen committees. 
 
On the other hand, the selection of a firm to design and oversee 
construction of the Walltown Park Recreation Center has raised new concerns 
about how well the bond money will be spent and how effective the oversight 
committee might be. City of Durham staff followed a well-defined method for 
evaluating firms and made their recommendations based on points earned 
during the interview process. City Council then selected a different firm, 
based on unknown criteria. We note that the Walltown Park Recreation Center 
will take about 20% of the Parks and Rec part of the 2005 Bond Referendum, 
and 
 
We believe the oversight committee should be chartered to have at least the 
following powers: 
* Gathering consensus when the priorities for spending bond funds must 
change (due to new needs, increased costs, etc.) 
* Providing expertise in developing evaluation requests for proposals and in 
evaluting responses (for example, experience in CPTED standards) 
* Evaluating processes and proposing improved processes so that we become 
more and more effective in the use of limited funds 
* Receiving project information packets prior to the approval process for 
our evaluation and input
 
Obviously, we do not want to make the already complex process of writing 
city contracts worse. However, we believe that the committee?s charter needs 
to be clear about what the powers of the committee will be, what aspects of 
bond spending they will oversee, and what the consequences will be when the 
committee is displeased.