Racine gave a $230K contract to a firm without anyone else being able to apply for it; one alderman didn't like it

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Racine gave a $230K contract to a firm without anyone else being able to apply for it; one alderman didn't like it


https://journaltimes.com/news/local/rac ... DaRjEW-KeM

RACINE — Instead of allowing many businesses to apply for a $230,000 federally reimbursed contract to encourage vaccinations in the City of Racine, the City Council nearly unanimously voted to give the contract to a Milwaukee firm the city has worked with before.

Protect Your Community - VACCINATE RACINE

The contract, awarded to Kane Communications Group, is for an outreach campaign called Vaccinate Racine. The goal of Vaccinate Racine is to help the city meet its goal of having 75% of residents vaccinated by getting factual information to who those who may be vaccine hesitant; as of Tuesday, 44% of Racine County residents have received at least one vaccine shot, according to state data.

The outreach effort is underway. But the question of waiving the formal bidding process in favor of Kane Communications Group, which also crafted the Safer Racine campaign, once again has raised some questions.

Only one alderman dissents waiving the formal bidding process can be sticky business for the city council, especially when the contract is going to a firm outside of the city.

Jeffery Peterson

Alderman Jeffery Peterson was the only council member to vote against the resolution for waiving the formal bidding process.

The $230,000 contract will be reimbursed by Federal Emergency Management Agency.


Peterson said while he appreciated the campaigns Kane Communications has developed for the city in the past, he was opposed to awarding the contract to Kane Communications in light of the fact that there were other companies in Racine that could have managed the campaign, had they been given the chance to bid.

The rules
Local ordinances do allow the city to contract for professional services without a bidding process if certain conditions are met.

For example, if the provided service is available from only one person or firm, then the competitive bidding process may be waived; that wouldn’t be the case here, since there are numerous communications firms in and around Racine.

Another example would be if there were an emergency or certain time constraints that did not allow for the competitive bidding process.

In the situation with Kane Communications, the following criteria from the ordinance was used to waive the bidding process: A particular consultant provided services to the city on a similar or continuing project in the recent past, and it was economical to the city on the basis of time and money to retain the same consultant.

However, because the service was in excess of $25,000, and the contract was not subject to a competitive selection process, city staff members couldn’t just award the contract on their own; the City Council had to approve it via resolution, which it did.




Shannon Powell, the city’s communication director, explained that the Vaccinate Racine campaign was “just an extension” of the Safer Racine campaign created by Kane Communications.

Powell pointed out the staff from Kane knew how to use the city’s social media, they already knew the city staff who are working on the vaccine response, and worked with the team doing the coronavirus website previously.

In essence, Kane Communications Group could hit the ground running with the Vaccinate Racine campaign without time lost because they were already familiar with the city’s operations from previous campaigns, he said.




After all the time in lockdown, no one getting paid, they certainly should have accepted bids but as said in previous posts, Racine is corrupt
No bid contracts
Racine is corrupt


https://searchvoat.co/v/pizzagate/1974193

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