At the June 22 meeting of the Hamblen County Commission, commissioners voted unanimously to adopt my proposal for an open and fair process in selecting architects and engineers to work with the county on future projects.
I worked on the design and wording of this proposal for several months, so I am especially pleased at the result of the recent vote.
For more information, see my June 13 post on this topic.
In a nutshell, the Commission has now said that all qualified and interested architects and engineers may submit a Statement of Interest and Qualifications to the County whenever a county project is planned.
The County will fairly evaluate and rank all the proposals and then try to negotiate a contract with the firm deemed most qualified. Once a contract is negotiated, it will be brought to the full commission for approval
Previously, one or two people were picked over and over to provide architectural or engineering services, and no one else was invited to submit their qualifications for consideration.
There may be some initial reluctance on the part of architects and engineers in participating in the new process. This reluctance, however, will be wiped out when the county shows that the new procedures are truly going to be open and fair.
Of course, approving a new policy doesn't mean that there was anything wrong with any previous architect or engineer who was selected to work for the county.
Approving the new policy only means that whoever is selected in the future will be chosen after a full consideration and evaluation of the qualifications of all who are interested in performing such work for the county.
Surely, there's nothing wrong with being fair to everyone before making a selection.
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