As first reported in the MDJ, Brock in November 2007 maneuvered the school board into secretly OKing a four-year contract worth about $8 million. The contract runs from January 2009 through December 2012.
State law says all final actions by public bodies must take place in public, but this one was definitely hush-hush. The board, in cahoots with Superintendent Fred Sanderson and communications director/media minder Jay Dillon, kept the contract secret for 10 months until an irate board member leaked word of the illegally approved contract to the MDJ. Yes, Brock was "ratted out" by his own client. But he's still the board's lawyer, and apparently will be until his contract expires three years hence.
So many board watchers were mystified at the Dec. 10 board meeting when Brock, seemingly spontaneously, brought up the subject of his contract.
Said Brock at the meeting: "As you move forward into the new year we appreciate the opportunity to continue to represent you and we'll be happy to do so on the same terms as our agreement (which is a retainer plus hourly fees - Ed.), or if you prefer, we'll be happy to do it on strictly an hourly basis with rates ranging from $165 an hour to a high of $195 an hour, whichever you feel is of the best value. And we'll forward you a letter saying that."
Question: Why would Brock dangle such an offer when his firm already - albeit via a tainted, smelly contract - has the job through 2012. Is he trying to get a new contract properly approved by the board in an open meeting to replace the controversial, ill-gotten contract?
Answer: Who knows? His offer left school board watchers puzzled, but left the board apparently unfazed. True to form, the board lacked the curiosity to ask even a single question about why he was hinting at a new contract.
More likely, the board has already been secretly briefed about any proposed change in Brock's status. As the saying goes, "You don't need to ask questions if you already know what the answers are."
AND WHILE BROCK may be maneuvering to get a new contract, don't look for this board to embrace any best practices and seek an RFP or bid for its legal service work. Don't forget that board member and vice chairwoman Lynnda Crowder-Eagle said earlier this year she was "too busy" to spend the 30 seconds or so it would take to make a motion at a board meeting in favor of seeking the bids.
And although Board Chairman Dr. John Abraham has promised many times to rebid the contract, he flip-flopped earlier this year and concocted the excuse of waiting until the accreditation team from the "paper tiger" Southern Association of Colleges and Schools had come and gone. Then after the SACS group winged out of town at the conclusion of its two-day inspection, which cost Cobb taxpayers $60,000, Abraham told the MDJ at last week's legislative forum that the board isn't going to bid the legal services contract for three more years.
Promises made, promises broken?
FORMER GOV. ROY BARNES, a native of Mableton, spoke at the dedication ceremony for Austell’s Mayors Memorial Park on Thursday and praised his pal of long standing Mayor Joe Jerkins, while also taking a bit of a swipe at lame-duck Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway during his speech.
After referencing Mayor Jerkins’ “get down in the dirt” approach to leadership, Barnes said: “I’d like to see Bill Dunaway on a garbage truck, taking care of his citizens, or cutting grass around the community so the city doesn’t have to pay someone like Mayor Jerkins has done plenty of times.”
Added Barnes, “I have never seen someone so dedicated to ensuring that his residents receive the very best at the lowest price. Joe Jerkins is the kind of fellow that will walk in a door and you just know he’s an all-right man. You don’t need written contracts with Mayor Jerkins because his word and handshake are as good a gold. How many people, especially politicians, can say that?”
Barnes and Dunaway have never been known to be best pals, but it is interesting that Barnes would take such a swipe with his own race for a second term as governor right around the corner.
SICK BAY UPDATE: Jean Alice Tumlin, wife of Marietta Mayor-elect Steve “Thunder” Tumlin, is back home after emergency gall bladder surgery last week at WellStar Kennestone Hospital and is doing well. ... Marietta Housing Authority Chairman Ed Hammock is back home at well after a week of tests at St. Joe’s after suffering chest pains.
THIS AND THAT: Vocalist Billy Joe Royal again will perform on New Year’s Night at the remodeled Strand Theatre. … Friday’s rain halted repaving work at the halfway mark on Kennesaw Avenue. … Today will mark the final Farmers’ Market for the year on the Marietta Square until next year. …
Seven women from Cobb County schools and universities are receiving American Association of University Women scholarships, with funds derived from AAUW’s 50th annual book fair this year. The women are: Sarah Bohn, Kennesaw State University Amanda Kate Jackson, Shelby Hines, Pepper R. Dorfman, Chattahoochee Tech; Elaine A. Newberg and Xi Li, Southern Polytechnic State University. All received their award certificates at the annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony at the Mansour Center in Marietta.
KEEP COBB BEAUTIFUL and Cobb Trees are offering unique gifts to the community this holiday season. For a minimum $25 gift, the group will send attractive holiday cards to recipients announcing that a special donation to Cobb Trees has been made in their honor. The 2009 holiday cards are back and were made by second-grader Kayleigh Previte and third-grader Juliette Calemine from Ford Elementary. Visit cobbcounty.org/kcb.
BACK IN THE 1980S, when Dr. Betty Siegel was in the early years of her presidency at Kennesaw State University, she and the late KSU Dean Dr. George Beggs visited China in an effort to internationalize KSU. Their interpreter for the trip was a young woman named Khaning “Connie” Yi.
Siegel, Beggs and Yi struck up a friendship, learning that Yi wanted to visit the U.S. and earn a degree, but couldn’t afford to. So Siegel arranged for her to get a scholarship. Yi lived with various faculty members as she earned her MBA at KSU, among them Beggs, who passed away last Saturday, said Siegel’s husband, Dr. Joel Siegel.
Yi and Siegel lost touch over the years, until one day, Yi appeared in Dr. Siegel’s office a couple of years ago, expressing her gratitude for what KSU and Siegel had done for her. After earning her MBA, Yi went back to China to run a manufacturing business that furnishes hotels, becoming highly successful. Yi asked Siegel what she could now do for her.
Siegel told her of her efforts in promoting international ethical leadership across the globe, and Yi helped finance Siegel’s South African conference last year, graced by such heavy hitters as the Most Reverend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
Moreover, Joel Siegel reports that he and Betty have just returned from Shanghai, where Yi unveiled a boutique hotel/coffee house/restaurant named in Siegel’s honor.
“My jaw dropped,” Joel Siegel said, upon seeing the Siegel name in big silver letters on the building.
“It really brought tears to Betty’s eyes,” he said.
Future plans for the building are to use it to help exchange students, just at Siegel helped Yi come to Kennesaw decades ago, he said.
Talk about what goes around comes around.
THE ANNUAL COWBOY CHRISTMAS PARTY took place Dec. 12 at Atkins Apothecary, owned by Gene Atkins. The event was held by the Drug Store Cowboys, a group that counts among its members some of Cobb’s best-known residents and now numbers about 50. Among the partiers were Gene Atkins, Hope Atkins, Harriett Atkins, Babe Atkins-Byrne, Bill Atkins, Charlene Gill, former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden, Harris Adams, Billy Martin, Pat McPherson, T.W. Lord, Sean McPherson, Pepper Kelly, John Thomason, Griff Chalfant, Charlie Waters, Bill Harris, Bill Ramsey, Bill Rohner, Mary Bannister, Laura Speaks, Holly Walquist, Mark Frutchey, Billie Pascoe, Butch Thompson, Bill Underwood, Gene Bradley, Bo Pounds and Ed Bentley.
The Cowboys meet each Saturday at the Apothecary at the corner of Gene Atkins Alley and Fairground Street, from 10 a.m. until noon.
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there will be a new contract in no time - probably taking it out 10 years. Brock is probably afraid of the new board that will be coming in so he has to do something now.