RALEIGH -- City staff can no longer authorize contractors to work on public projects without a signed agreement, the City Council decided Tuesday.
Raleigh's council voted 5-3 to stop allowing contractors, such as engineers and architects, to do work until an agreement is signed, weeks after such work on the stalled Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center drew scrutiny from several council members.
The council deadlocked on the controversial public safety center project in March, when it also voted to halt further funding or planning work. But a contract amendment for $455,000 worth of design work the council had approved in December hadn't been approved in writing and couldn't be signed after the council's vote. City Manager Russell Allen brought the issue back to the council for approval last month, and it drew sharp criticism from council members Russ Stephenson and Thomas Crowder.
State law requires that "All contracts made by or on behalf of a city shall be in writing."
Councilman Bonner Gaylord suggested the council iron out a policy on when to approve such agreements.
"I wanted to outline under which conditions we would deviate from state law," Gaylord said.
Allen says he does follow state law when encouraging such work but that amendments to existing contracts sometimes take months to process. He said he weighs the risk to the contractor and the city before authorizing the work.
Allen, Mayor Charles Meeker and an official at the engineering firm that did the Lightner work all said it's common practice for municipalities to start work that requires amendments to existing contracts before the documents are signed and processed.
"It's a little different when we're talking about contract amendments," Meeker said. "But the council has asked the city manager to change practice on some of these things, and I'm sure he will."
Council member Nancy McFarlane joined Crowder, Stephenson, Gaylord and John Odom to stop the practice.
