On Tuesday, June 16, 2009, the Montgomery County Council approved an appropriation to partially fund the installation of a $1.2 million artificial turf football field at Walter Johnson High School.
The appropriation was discussed and approved by the Council's Education Committee at 10:15 AM. At the meeting Chair Valerie Ervin called a representative from MCPS and a representative from FieldTurf to the table for an additional opportunity to comment on the proposal. No additional opportunity to speak was afforded the Montgomery County sod farmers or members of the community.
Councilmember Ervin stated that this matter had been "thoroughly vetted". However, the Committee never discussed the cost of this procurement in relation to other FieldTurf artificial turf high school fields as seen here ($770,000) and here ($795,000), nor did they discuss why this project was not put out for competitive bids as per state law on procurements over $25,000.
UPDATE: PLAN TO INSTALL AND THEN RIP UP $423,000 NATURAL GRASS FOOTBALL FIELD AT WALTER JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL.
Exclusive video (in two parts) of the Education Committee's meeting:
The vote of the full Council on this appropriation came within 40 minutes of the conclusion of the Education Committee's meeting. Video of the vote of the full Council action on this appropriation is posted here.
I just adore the way those hands go up in unison. Aren't we lucky in Montgomery County to have a county council that gets along so well with each other and the entities they fund like MCPS?
ReplyDelete