NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans City Council took up several hot-button issues Thursday, including Mayor Ray Nagin's controversial plan to re-develop the Municipal Auditorium.
Thursday, the New Orleans inspector general gave a report to the City Council about the contract to redevelop it, that the city attorney said is not a contract at all.
The firestorm over the project started last November when Mayor Ray Nagin announced he chose developer Stewart Juneau to re-develop and run the Municipal Auditorium.
But after harsh public criticism, Nagin pared down the deal.
“This is a professional services contract. Its problem is its lack of specificity. It doesn't say what the contractor is gonna really do,” said Inspector General Ed Quatreveaux.
But city administrators told the Council that Quatreveaux's concerns are based on a work-in-progress, not a signed contract.
“All of this is so premature it's ridiculous. That is because it's based upon someone getting into my files and taking a draft document and thinking that that's the final product and it's not,” said Bill Chrisman, the city’s capital projects director.
“When proposals go out, they're very broad and we want to solicit ideas and services and make sure that different organizations or companies are able to provide the services to the city,” said City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields.
Moses-fields said nothing has been signed, and that the administration is only awarding a project management contract, not one for a long-term lease of the facility or for the rebuilding of the auditorium, as was first planned.
“My concern remains that the city not be on the hook long-term for some very large sum of money. In this case, it's only a couple of million dollars. And as we move forward to construction then that's a very large sum of money,” Quatrevaux said.
Council members grilled Nagin administrators about it.
“Who pays for what FEMA doesn't pay for? Period. The end... We are not supposed to be at risk in this kind of a development," said City Council Vice-President Jackie Clarkson.
Moses-Fields said the inspector general would now be included in the development of the contract, and the project. It’s something council members said highlights the need for more IG involvement before the city solicits bids on any projects.
And that’s something the city attorney said they're not required to do.
Council members said that they will still have a say in the project because they could decide to block funding for the contract.
