Stacy Head follows up on comments about hiring utility consultants
The New Orleans City Council's discussion Thursday of which utility advisers to hire for the coming year ended up in relative amity, though by no means unanimity, but for several minutes it degenerated into one of the most ill-tempered arguments the council has seen in a very long time.
New Orleans City HallIt began as the council considered whether to renew the contract of Jeff Wilkerson, a local lawyer who for 25 years has worked with Clint Vince, the council's main legal adviser, who is based in Washington, D.C. Everyone acknowledges that Wilkerson got his contract originally because the council wanted a local black-owned law firm to have a share of its business, but his work has been highly praised by Vince and others.
Because Wilkerson's contract was the first one on the agenda, Forest Bradley-Wright of the Alliance for Affordable Energy took the opportunity to make some overall comments mildly critical of the way the council has approached the whole issue of hiring utility consultants, especially its failure to hire an in-house utility regulatory officer.
When Councilwoman Stacy Head tried to ask Bradley-Wright to elaborate, Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, chairwoman of the Utility Committee, and Councilman Jon Johnson objected, saying the issue should have been discussed at the committee level, not when the council was considering Wilkerson's contract. Hedge-Morrell said all the members had told her beforehand they favored renewing the contract.
Although President Jackie Clarkson said Head had a right to ask her question, Johnson refused to concede, repeatedly proclaiming: "That is inappropriate. It is inappropriate."
"I'm not going to sit here as a member of this council and allow that sort of questions and responses," he said. "It is inappropriate. It is inappropriate."
Head finally gave up and asked Bradley-Wright to communicate with her privately.
The council then approved Wilkerson's contract 7-0, but it immediately got into another spat on the next agenda item, a contract renewal for technical adviser Joe Vumbaco. Hedge-Morrell tried to get an immediate vote without any discussion, but Councilwoman Susan Guidry objected, noting that she and Head had proposed at the committee that Vumbaco get less than a full year's contract so the council could try again to get more than one response to its solicitation to potential consultants.
Hedge-Morrell said she did not see the point of readvertising a contract when no one but Vumbaco had responded either in 2009 or this year. "I am totally confused as to what (Guidry's and Head's) agenda is," she said, adding, "This does not have to be such a confrontational situation."
"No, it doesn't," Guidry said. "It's just a difference of opinion."
"But it's opinion at a time when we can least afford opinions," Hedge-Morrell told her, "especially when you don't have all the institutional knowledge to make a good decision."
The arguing finally ended long enough for the council to approve Vumbaco's contract for a year and then move on to the other consultant contracts on its agenda.
Danny Monteverde can be reached at dmonteverde@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3482. Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.