Monday, July 12, 2010

Are the Lawyers Building the Firehouses Too?

Come on, it's past ridiculous.  John Bury of NJVoices summarzies that almost $500,000 has been paid to the Union County darling  law firm, DeCoitiis, for some new firehouses being constructed in Linden.   See Exhibit D-6 and D-7 of Bury's report here.  Two firehouses are complete, and one is still being constructed.  These fees are outrageous.  Not only are those fees outrageous, but to the best of  my knowledge, NO ONE from Linden reviews and approves those bills.  They just get paid by the UCIA.  No questions are asked if you review the minutes of the UCIA meeings.  F it and pay it seems to be the attitude over at the UCIA since the minutes reveal that NO ONE questions anything.

Besides preparing a Request for Bids (RFB), a construction contract and some change orders, what else could this law firm being doing?  Is the law firm laying bricks?  It's obscene.

But Linden, like dopey Plainfield, allows the County to take over projects, thus losing any control over the projects and the fees entailed.  A living nightmare for present and future taxpayers. 

It's sickening.

2 comments:

Citizenswatch said...

Over priced JTG estimates and the city ends up having to borrow millions more...

NFS said...

JTG is gone but the legacy lives on. There is no reason why the City should go through the UCIA for these projects, except for the UCIA to hire their cronies/campaign donors who, in turn, fund their campaigns. In this fashion, taxpayers then become unwitting campaign donors. Total joke on Linden taxpayers.