There was an incident at the January 18, 2011 City Council meeting that deserves closer scrutiny. The City Council was asked to approve an exclusive catering contract to Chouras Events of Long Beach. the staff recommendation was based on the review of two proposals that were vetted after a lengthy RFP process involving staff from the Community Center, the City Attorney, and an outside expert. who manages the Torrance Cultural Center. To summarize, the City Council originally placed this item on the December 21, 2010 agenda. After public input, the City Council directed the two proposers, Choura Events and Jay's Catering to bring back its last and best offer. At the City Council meeting, Mayor Dear announced that they received a hand-delivered letter from Jay's Catering announcing that they had formally withdrawn from consideration. During the public comment portion of the item, a representative from Jay's Catering all but accused staff involved in the vetting process of underhanded dealings. This occured after the City Council granted them a previous extention. Chouras Events presented its last and best offer and asked for consideration. After placing all their cards on the table, a parade of residents who were clients of Jay's spoke, urging the City Coucil to reconsider.
I'm concerned that Jay's acted in their own best interest and not in the best interest of the city. To publicly charge staff with less than honorable conduct and at the same time, taking advantage of the situation to advance thier own position. The proper thing for the City Council to do was to award the contract to Chouras Events in light of Jay's withdrawal. The City Council chose to manipulate the process in order to save face with supporters who spoke in behalf of Jay's and when all was said and done, the City Council voted 5-0 to grant a 9-month extention to Jay's Catering.
This isn't the first time the City Council had thrown staff under the bus. I'm beginning to wonder if this may be one of the reasons why City Manager Jerry Groomes chose to leave city service. What distresses me the most is that the City Council allowed representatives of Jay's Catering to level these accusations and not demand any substantiation of the charges. What they engaged in borders on libel. We can't let them get away with this. The sad thing about this whole mess is that He's not here to defend himself.
