A Quincy Tale: Crony Capitalism in Local Government

The Quincy (Ill.)City Council–with the support of all GOP Alderman–decided to reward a large contributor to Quincy Mayor John Spring’s campaign with a $6.69 million contract with the city.

City officials used an RFP process that pretty much guaranteed the company was going to keep doing business as usual with the city.

A committee of appointed city officals and a paid consultant recommended approval with Environmental Management Corporation (EMC), O’Fallon, MO, for the management of the city’s waste water treatment plant and biosolid disposal operations based upon a five-year contract.

EMC’s contract calls for the city to pay management fees of $717,000 in year one, $734,925 in year two, $753,298 in year three, $772,131 in year four and $791,434 in year five. The city’s cost for its own eight employees during that same period is $2,873,019 in salaries and up to $141,921 in overtime for a five-year total of $6,693,727.

A proposal EMC submitted using all of its own employees would have cost the city $7.1 million.

So, yes, the city is paying a private company about $750,000 a year over the next five years to manage public employees.

A contract with EMC running waste water operations and another company, Synagro, handling sludge removal would have cost the city $6,716,505, but the members of the Proposal Review Committee said they preferred having one company handle both operations.

Quincy Director of Administrative Services Gary Sparks, Comptroller Ann Scott, Director of Utilities David Kent and Jeff Conte, a water/wastewater systems consultant who works for Klingner and Associates of Quincy, a private provider with its own city contracts, make up the committee which recommended the proposal.

Sparks says the city has negoiated a lower rate for the services, saving $1 million over the next five years compared to what the city was previously paying EMC. The city had 19 public employees at this facility a few short years ago and now feels it can get by with eight public employees.

So was EMC previously overcharging the city?

According to the city’s request for proposal (RFP), the mayor and the City Council will be the “final authority” on all matters pertaining to the contract.

As part of EMC’s contract proposal, it included a letter of recommendation from Quincy Mayor John Spring as a reference to assist in garnering a new contract with the City of Quincy. Click the link to see the campaign contributions EMC has given to Spring.

Let that sink in. The sitting Mayor, a recipient of campaign donations, was able to provide a “letter of recommendation” to extend the city contract.

EMC’s proposal also included a letter from Conte, a member of the proposal review committee, to EMC regarding a tour of the facility he was given in 2005.

“…the facility is in need of substantial improvements and repairs…,” Conte writes. “I hope that Klingner & Associates, P.C. can work together with EMC and the city to see this through.”

The city is also paying Klingner about $4,000 for Conte’s work on the committee.

Klingner & Associates gets a great deal of no-bid work from the city and is currently cashing large City of Quincy checks for work on a proposed multi-million dollar hydroelectric plant at Lock and Dam 21 on the Mississippi River.

And before you ask, yes, Klingner boss Mike Klingner also ponies up to the Spring campaign fund.

But, as Paul Harvey would say…here’s the rest of the story. The Quincy City Council is split evenly between Democrats and the GOP. One of the Democrat councilman was absent on the night of the vote, meaning the GOP members could have killed this corrupt bargain. Instead, they all voted for it. Go along, get along.

No, the GOP still doesn’t get what is happening in America.