Curiouser and Curiouser

City of St. Augustine Assistant City Manager TIMMY BURCHFIELD allegedly wrote a "sole source" memo justifying no-bid purchase of $400,000 worth of "hyper screens" for the Visitor Information Center. No electronic copy has been supplied. I've asked for it six times. Asked whether the General Services Administration's Cooperative Purchasing program was checked, the City has not responded. Twice today, City Hall bureaucrats hung up the telephone on me. Yes, I do wear their scorn as a badge of honor. We've made a lot of progress since April 11, 2005, but one thing our City Hall is deeply deficient and defective in is manners. So much for Southern hospitality, in a corrupt City Hall (Chicago writ small) where there's an odd mix of "Southern efficiency and Northern charm," as JFK said about Washington, D.C.

I don't believe that a 3.5 month deadline justifies "sole source" procurement. Do you? No one ever told Commissioners about it until Mayor Nancy Shaver started asking questions.