Free Workshop on Early Utility Coordination

Free Workshop on Early Utility Coordination

Sponsored by: BMS Engineering Services, LLP (John Medina)

When: May 28, 2008, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (free lunch provided)

Where: Utility Contractors Association of Washington, 635 Andover Park West, Suite 101, Seattle

Reserve a seat by calling (425) 939-7383 or e-mailing john@bmsengrserv.com.

Space is limited.

Design Build Training

The Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) will be sponsoring a class on "Design Build Cotnracts and Risk Management" in Seattle on June 13, 2008.

My understanding is that it will be taught by Robynne Parkinson, the incoming president of the Northwest Region chapter of DBIA. Robynne's is a local attorney with significant Design Build experience. For more information on her background, visit the website of Law Offices of Robynne Thaxton Parkinson, PLLC.

For more information on the training call 1-866-692-1001. I couldn't find updated information on the website of DBIA or the Northwest Region of DBIA.

Leadership Skills Training

Training on Leadership Skills

Sponsored by: APWA's Northwest Public Works Institute

When: June 17-20, 2008, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Where: Holiday Inn, 1801 12th Ave NW, Issaquah

Registration Fee (includes lunches and course materials): $480.00

For more information and to register, visit APWA’s website.

Instructors include: John Ostrowski (JOMC), Pete Butkus (Deputy City Manager, Smmamish), Brian Ziegler (Public Works Director, Pierce County, Richard Warren (Retired Public Works Consultant).

Course Description: This class consists of lecture, case studies and exercises covering the following topics:

• Overview of the Public Works Process
• Career Self Assessment
• People Skills and Personalities
• Council Relations
• Citizen Relations
• Creativity
• Employee Relations
• Dealing with Regulatory Agencies
• Dealing with the Media
• Performance Management
• Asset Management
• Financial Management
• Understanding Business
• Planning Skills
• Project Management
• Managing Consultants
• Excellence in Public Works Panel

Bidder Responsibility – Web Conference Training

Training on Bidder Responsibility Criteria: Expanded Tools for Public Entities

Presenters: Mike Purdy (University of Washington), Arnold Hedeen (Attorney), Ronald Leaders (Attorney)

When: June 25, 2008, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Where: Your office. This is a web conference with the training provided online through your computer and your telephone connection.

Cost: $129 for a single connection. Allows an unlimited number of participants.

For more information and to register, visit this website.

Content: Learn about the new state legislation effective July 22, 2007 that:

1. Establishes mandatory bidder responsibility criteria on public works projects

2. Permits establishment of supplemental bidder responsibility criteria on public works projects

3. Establishes subcontractor responsibility criteria

Protests and Disputes Training

Protests and Disputes: What's a Buyer To Do?

Sponsored by: Washington State Chapter of NIGP (National Institute of Governmental Purchasing)

When: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where: Olympia, WA

Instructor: Robin Rickard, CPPO

For more information or to register, visit NIGP's website.

Course Outline:

Understand what protest is.
Learn to distinguish between kinds of protests
Learn how to reduce the potential for protest.
Learn how to effectively "debrief" with "non-award" vendors.
Learn what to do if you receive protest.
Learn how to formally respond to protest.
Learn to eliminate the emotion related to protest.
Review and discuss some case studies of protests.

Attorney General Legal Opinions

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office maintains online an index and complete text of all of their formal legal opinions from 1949 to the present. You can search by year, by topic, or by entering in your own search variables. The website notes that “while these formal legal opinions are not binding in any way, they have historically been given ‘great respect’ and ‘great weight’ by the courts.”

Click here to access the legal opinions of the Attorney General’s Office.

In Ethics, Appearances are Important

On May 7, 2008, the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission charged Seattle City Councilmember Richard McIver with violating the City’s conflict of interest laws. McIver awarded a $37,000 consultant contract to Griffin Hill & Associates, the same firm that a good friend of his, Joann Francis, works for. For at least a decade, McIver has been a guest of Francis and her husband at their Virgin Islands condominium, including in December 2006. The $37,000 contract that was subsequently amended to $42,000 was awarded shortly after McIver’s 2006 stay at the Francis’ condominium.

Whether McIver actually violated the City’s ethics laws will be determined based on facts. The critical thing to take away from this situation is that, regardless of the facts in McIver’s case, elected officials and contracting and procurement officials, in particular, have an obligation to ensure that their actions do not create even the appearance of a conflict of interest. As stewards of the public’s trust and confidence, it is important to think twice about actions that may appear to a reasonable person as creating a potential conflict of interest.

More information about the charges against McIver may be found in the Seattle Times and on the website of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) 4.16.070.1. that was cited in the charges against McIver provides that “No current City officer or employee shall…engage or have engaged in any transaction or activity, which is, or would to a reasonable person appear to be, in conflict with or incompatible with the proper discharge of official duties, or which impairs, or would to a reasonable person appear to impair, the officer's or employee's independence of judgment or action in the performance of official duties and fail to disqualify him or herself from official action in those instances where the conflict occurs.”