A special grand jury report criticizing the city's purchasing department does a good job of identifying personality conflicts and human errors within the city office, City Administrator George Kolb told Augusta commissioners in a letter dated Monday.
But in the same letter, Mr. Kolb said grand jurors did not identify any criminal wrongdoing in the purchasing office and he points out that in some cases their findings are completely wrong.
"I acknowledge that errors in judgment, attitude and the reactions creating conflict situations did occur (in purchasing)," Mr. Kolb wrote.
But he said he has no plans to remove the department's director, Geri Sams, as grand jurors recommend.
"Many of the issues raised in the presentment have been corrected and any remaining issues will be addressed and corrected," he wrote. "To do otherwise would create unnecessary disruption in the organization."
Mr. Kolb's response to the most recent grand jury presentment comes nearly a month after the panel released the 52-page document, which accuses Augusta commissioners of "hijacking" the city's purchasing department by protecting its "incompetent" director - Ms. Sams - who grand jurors describe as stubborn and sloppy.
Mr. Kolb disagrees.
"Of the thousands of purchasing transactions and expenditure of millions of dollars on the procurement of goods and services that occur during any given year, I do not believe that good management principals were abandoned and that replacement or termination is justified," he wrote.
Mr. Kolb's letter was given to commissioners Monday, after discussion about the grand jury presentment was placed on commission agendas.
In an effort to improve purchasing department efficiencies, Mr. Kolb confirmed Monday afternoon that one employee has been transferred to a different office, adding that the change was made before the presentment's release.
In his letter to commissioners, Mr. Kolb's management responses to each of the grand jury's eight recommendations include the following:
He agrees that vendors who are not in good financial standing with the city should not be allowed to participate in a bid. However, he adds that Augusta has an obligation to attract businesses that create jobs in the community, including those that may be struggling to stay afloat.
He disagrees that the purchasing department should be placed under the finance director.
"It will eliminate a necessary check and balance of our financial management system, and provide a 'loop' in the financial management system that should be avoided at all costs," Mr. Kolb wrote.
He points out out that although the grand jury was highly critical of the purchasing department's actions during bid proceedings for Richmond County Sheriff's Office uniforms, jurors failed to note the role that vendors played in complicating the process.
"It omits that vendors openly violated the process by insisting that their products be accepted, manipulated how prices should be determined and used the political process to influence the outcome, even while the bid process was active," Mr. Kolb wrote.
"Commissioners became innocently involved during the bid process to try and mediate an equitable solution to the conflict, only to discover that the solution was complicated and added no value to the process."
Commissioners deferred discussion on Mr. Kolb's response until later this month.
Reach Heidi Coryell Williams at (706) 823-3215 or heidi.williams@augustachronicle.com.
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