Goffredo said that all bidders were good, but he preferred to go with Boyle and ONS because their bids were lower and would save the county $250,000. He added that public works director Mike Emili agreed with him.
Executive Lamont McClure, however, has asked that the contracts be pulled from Thursday night's agenda. He said the selection committee had made a decision by points, but noted that Skanska and Boyle were actually tied. He believes the committee needs to "go back to the drawing board" and come up with a consensus. If not, he will reject the bids and start over.
McClure said he was also bothered by Goffredo's disclosure, in an email to McClure, that Goffredo's company has had prior dealings with Boyle.
"I have business relationships with everybody on this sheet," said Goffredo.
"Then maybe you shouldn't be evaluating them. Maybe you --
"Why would that disqualify me?
"Then maybe you should recuse yourself from that?
"I would disagree. I would say I'm going to recuse myself from bidding on the project because that would be in bad taste, but my information is perfectly valid."
"I'm not questioning your expertise for purposes of ---
"What are you questioning, my integrity?
"But if you have business relationships with people you are advocating that we hire, you might want to recuse yourself from that discussion."
"I want to save the county money. Do you have a financial interest in this, Mr. McClure?"
"No, I do not. I, unlike you, didn't do business with companies you're reviewing. You should have disclosed that and recused yourself."
In understand that Goffredo has insight into construction that is missing from others on Council. He provides expertise. But he should recuse himself. His participation on the selection is a quasi-judicial function. While he has no personal interest in the outcome, the Pa Supreme Court has ruled that the decision-maker must avoid even the slightest appearance of bias.
Optics matter. Or as Caesar put it, "Caesar's wife must be above reproach."
