Complaint against Stantec+Richardson to the Georgia Board of Professional Engineers - pdf
Complaint against
Stantec+Richardson to
the Georgia Board of Professional Engineers - pdf
Elmo
Richardson
"Ethically Challenged"
The District 3
commissioner in Bibb
County, Georgia is Elmo A. Richardson. District 3 includes
north Bibb County and small portion of East Bibb County. Commissioner
Richardson is the Chairman of the Human resources/Information
Systems & Tax and Properties committees. He was first
elected in Nov 2002 in a special election to fill the unexpired term of
Caulder Clay who ran unsuccessfully for congress. Richardson was
re-elected in November 2004.
Mr Richarson has voted on
numerous Road Projects in Bibb County for which he has profited by his
Financial Interests as
a
professional engineer and as VP of Stantec. He owns the building
at the Macon click
location of Stantec...
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LINKS to Forest Hill Rd Ethics? in Bibb County Ga Law Bibb County Minutes | |||
| Below is a
formal Complaint filed with the Georgia State Attorney General's office
concerning Unethical Conflicts of Interest relating to Elmo
Richardson. It was filed by Friends of Forest Hill Road... |
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to:Amelia Baker Georgia State Attorney General's office from: John Q. Public (PE-_-_-_) --- Forest Hill Road Macon, GA 31210 subject:Elmo A. Richardson, Jr. (PE005690 & LS001499) Vice-President Stantec Consulting Services 4875 Riverside Drive Macon, Ga 31210 date: July 2007 Summary:Our complaint, in summary, is that Mr. Elmo Richardson (holder of licenses PE005690 & LS001499), a vice president of Stantec Consulting Services, did in his capacity as a Bibb County Commissioner, participate in considerations and actions with respect with to matters involving Stantec Consulting Services. This is a violation of Board Rule 180-6-.05 (6) which states:The engineer or land surveyor in public service as a member, advisor, or employee of a government body or department shall not participate in considerations or actions with respect to matters involving him or his organization’s private or public engineering or land surveying practices. Overview:It is a matter of public record that Mr. Elmo Richardson (hereafter known as Mr. Richardson) was elected to the Bibb County Commission in September of 2002. The details of my complaint are arranged in three sections. Section 1 establishes that Mr. Richardson is an employee of Stantec. Section 2 establishes that Bibb County does a substantial amount of business with Stantec. Section 3 establishes that Mr. Richardson participated in numerous actions regarding Stantec.Section 1: Establish Stantec EmploymentExhibits 1, 2, & 3 document Mr. Richardson’s direct, current and continuing business relationship with Stantec Consulting Services. Exhibits accompany this document and are labeled in the upper right hand corner of the first page.Exhibit 1:Mr. Richardson’s Professional Engineer license is a prerequisite license for Stantec Consulting Services’ (hereafter known as Stantec) dependent license PEF000683.Exhibit 2:Mr. Richardson’s Land Surveyor license is a prerequisite license for Stantec’s dependent license LSF000336.Exhibit 3:Governor Perdue’s March 13, 2006 press release announced Mr. Richardson’s appointment to the Board of Registration of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. The first line of his biography says “Mr. Richardson serves as a vice-president at Stantec.” Notably absent is any mention of his service as a Bibb County Commissioner.Section 2: establish bibb county’s relationship with stantecStantec’s relationship with the county will now be addressed. Stantec does a large amount of business with Bibb County. In order to keep this complaint a manageable length, I have limited myself to documentation related to the Forest Hill Road- Wimbish Road to Northside Road Project (hereafter referred to as the Forest Hill Road Project). This project is a subset of the Macon Bibb County Road Improvement Program.Exhibits 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11: (Work Authorizations)Because of their similarity, these documents are discussed as a group rather than individually. Each of the documents is a work authorization from Bibb County to Stantec. As indicated in the address lines, these documents authorize amounts to be paid to Stantec by Bibb County. The total amount authorized is $2.345 Million.The ADDITIONAL AMOUNT REQUESTED line items are monies authorized by the Bibb County Board of Commissioners after Mr. Richardson took office. This total is $306,757. Section 3: Establish participation in considerations & actions regarding StantecMr. Richardson’s participation in considerations and actions regarding Stantec are demonstrated in Exhibits 12 through 17. These documents are minutes from the Bibb County Board of Commissioners’ meetings. They are discussed individually.Exhibit 12: (See the underlined item on pages 5 and 6.)The Bibb County Board of Commissioners authorizes a letter to the Georgia Department of Transportation requesting that the Forest Hill Road corridor be added to the State Highway System. This has the effect of making the Forest Hill Road Project eligible for state funds, a good portion of which will go to Stantec.Exhibit 13: (See the underlined items on pages 2 and 3.)This action by the Board authorizes the Board Chairman to sign an agreement between the Georgia Department of Transportation and Bibb County making the Forest Hill Road corridor a state highway. Commissioner Elmo Richardson initiated this action.Exhibit 14: (See the box on page 2.)This action by the Board extends the county’s agreement with Moreland-Altobelli for Program Management Services of the Bibb County Road Improvement Project. Stantec’s work on the Forest Hill Road corridor is a subset of this project.Exhibit 15: (See the box on page 3.)This action by the Board extends the county’s agreement with Moreland-Altobelli for Program Management Services of the Bibb County Road Improvement Project. Stantec’s work on the Forest Hill Road corridor is a subset of this project.Exhibit 16: (See the box on page 4.)The Board of Commissioners (including Mr. Richardson) approves the Engineering/Public Works Committee recommendation to provide additional funds for the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program.Exhibit 17: (See the box on page 7.)The Board of Commissioners (including Mr. Richardson) approves the Engineering/Public Works Committee recommendation to provide additional funds for the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program.Apparent conflicts of interest: financial and engineeringThe conflicts of interest outlined above have at least two important aspects.Financial Conflict of InterestThe first aspect is the appearance of a financial conflict of interest. He is a Bibb County Commissioner whose duty is to serve the electorate by maximizing the value of their tax dollars.As a vice-president of Stantec, Mr. Richardson has a responsibility to Stantec’s stockholders. (Stantec trades as SXC on the New York Stock Exchange.) This responsibility is stated explicitly in Stantec’s Vision and Values, supplied as an Exhibit. Exhibit 18: Stantec’s commitment to Profit“Profits are the ultimate measure of how efficiently we provide clients with the best professional services for their needs. Profits are required to succeed, grow, and add economic, environmental, and social value to our firm and society in general.”Profits may add social value to Stantec, but the social value added by Stantec’s profits to Bibb County voters is indistinguishable from zero. Engineering Conflict of Interest:The competent engineer must be objective. Without objectivity, the theory and numbers he uses to justify his engineering decisions become nothing more than a dishonest pretext; a smokescreen. Mr. Richardson’s financial conflicts of interest logically and unavoidably lead to questions about his engineering objectivity. This reflects badly on all professional engineers. For example:Questions were raised about the effect of increased runoff from a widened Forest Hill Road. Stantec got the job to study these questions in January 2006 (Exhibit 8). After study, Stantec’s judged the extra runoff created by the Forest Hill Road Project to be minimal. Because Mr. Richardson is affiliated with Stantec, citizens wondered if Stantec engineers had not been directed by Mr. Richardson (in his capacity as vice-president) to use assumptions that would yield an answer that would have a minimum impact on the Project. (See Exhibit 17, pages 2 and 3 for Dr. Lindsay Holliday’s comments to the Board.) At the end of Dr. Holliday’s comments, Mr. Richardson asks Dr. Holliday his profession. The implication is that in Mr. Richardson’s engineering judgement, Stantec’s analysis is credible. Mr. Richardson’s comment goes to the heart of his conflict of interest. Is Mr. Richardson’s opinion that of a Stantec engineer, or is his opinion that of an engineer/County Commissioner? A citizen does not expect his elected representative to have a personal financial interest at stake while evaluating projects having major health, safety, and environmental impacts on the community. Mr. Richardson’s inability to see this conflict of interest and remove himself from the situation creating it, shows a lack of judgement that disqualifies him holding a professional engineer registration. It also disqualifies him from being a member of the Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Signed - The Friends of Forest Hill Road |
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About Elmo's
conflict of interest investigation (10-5-07) :
We called the Macon branch of the Secretary of State's
office and talked to Alicia on
September 4. She told us that she can't discuss current
investigations, but that we would
be written a letter at some time in the future after the
investigation was completed. She
stressed that these investigations sometimes take a very
long time.
Soon after that we called Amelia Baker at the State Attorney
General's office. She told us
that the matter was under investigation and that she was
precluded by law from discussing
it. She could say there is only one, small investigative
office which handles ALL the
professional licensing issues in the state. She suggested
that we urge my representative
to provide more funds to this office. She is probably quite
right about this.
She also said it was likely that the investigators would
contact us once the
investigation starts. This has not yet happened.
We are a bit frustrated. After reading all the materials
that we gathered, it
seems pretty obvious to us that Elmo has stepped way over
the line (in several
directions). But it also seems that the damage will be done
and the money will be in his
pocket before the official investigation even starts. We
guess that's how the good old boy
network stays in business.
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| F I N A N C I A L $ |
Elmo's Financial Disclosures to the State of Georgia dated 6-19-2006 showing a Fiduciary Position with Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. as a Vice President showing a part-ownership worth more than $10,000 in Stantec, Inc. showing ownership worth over $200,000 of the building housing Stantec at 4875 Riverside Drive in Macon. showing employment with Stantec as a Civil Engineer in 2006. Income from Georgia Department of Transportation exceeding $20,000 during 12 months between 2005-2006 Open Records Reports from Bibb County for a listing of checks: to Elmo for the past 3 years - travel and salary - totals $11, 651.45 Payments directly to Stantec during that time totals $52, 625.79 SPLOST payments to Stantec from 07-01-03 until 06-01-07 totals $276,813.34 SPLOST payments to Moreland during that time are almost $7,000,000.00 |
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| V O T E S _ |
Elmo's votes on self-serving projects: Votes: December 11, 2006 On motion of Commissioner Richardson, seconded by Commissioner Allen and carried, the members of the Board voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of Commissioner Linnenkohl to complete the Houston Road Project using the funds allocated for other projects and to support the completion of the 1-75 / 1-16 interchange and the Forest Hill Road Project *Note - In August 2007 the above Bibb County Minutes were changed to delete any mention of Mr Richardson. The current {changed} version of the 12-11-06 minutes can be downloaded here http://www.co.bibb.ga.us/minutes/12112006.pdf Bibb County officials (below) explain why, when and how the minutes were changed for the meeting with Ga DOT on 12-11-07. At 03:43 PM 8/20/2007, Ms Sheila Thurmond, Clerk of the Board, Bibb County Commissioners, wrote: Dr. Holliday, sorry for the delay in getting back to you but I left the office around 10:00 this morning and hadn’t been long returned. To answer your questions regarding the details of the minutes of December 11, 2006, here is my honest account: More: Commissioner Richardson chairs the Engineering and Public Works Committee. Go to this page (here) to view hundreds of thousands of dollars awarded to contracts for his old firm of Stantec , and to further his Forest Hill Road project: Still More: Minutes of the Public Works Committee show Mr Richardson initiating votes and motions to push the Forest Hill Road project. View excerpts of those minutes here. |
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July 6, 2007 Dr.
Lindsay D. Holliday 360
Spring Street Macon,
Georgia 31201
Dear Dr.
Holliday: I have
received your correspondence
dated July 1, 2007. After some
preliminary research the Department’s Office of General Accounting has
advised
that due to the broad nature of your request they will require
additional time
to search the Department’s database and retrieve any records the
Department may
have responsive to your request. Your request
coincides with
the Department’s fiscal year end; the databases are being utilized
fully to
produce fiscal year end reports. Because
your request will require running multiple queries
and reports,
the Office of General Accounting will need approximately three weeks to
conduct
its research. I anticipate a response to
your request by Friday, July 27, 2007. The Georgia
Open Records
Act offers the right to inspect documents and then obtain copies, if
the
requestor so desires, by paying administrative and copying charges
provided in
the Act. O.C.G.A. §50-18-71.2 provides that you will be charged
for the cost of
services associated with the search, retrieval, transport and other
direct
administrative services incurred in complying with your request at the
rate of
$11.60 per hour (excluding the first quarter hour) and $0.25 per page. As you are
aware, certain
DOT records may be exempt from disclosure under Open Records Act and to
the
extent it calls for such exemption, the Department cannot make those
records
available. If the Department determines that a record may be exempt
from
inspection you will be informed at the time and will be given the
reason for
such nondisclosure. However, please be assured that every effort will
be made
to make all information available to you, within the requirements of
the Open
Records Act. If you have
any questions you
may contact me at Brigetta.Perry@dot.state.ga.us Britt Perry |
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| 6/25/2007 Dear Ms Perry, I thank you for your efforts thus far with my open records request. But there is inconsistency between your findings and the public records report of [Elected Public Officer] Elmo Richardson's finances wherein he states that he received over $20,000 from the Ga DOT in 2005-2006. His signed declaration is posted here: http://www.macon-bibb.com/ELMO/FinancialDisclosures/scan0007.jpg Can you (will you, please) explain this discrepancy? Are you free, able and willing to disclose any "indirect payments" made by Georgia DOT to Mr Richardson? Thank-you again, - Lindsay D Holliday June 28, 2007 Dr.
Lindsay D. Holliday 360
Spring Street Macon,
Georgia 31201
Dear Dr.
Holliday: I have
received your
correspondence dated June 25, 2007. Based
on the parameters set forth in your open records
request dated
December 7, 2006, and subsequent request dated May 20, 2007, an
extensive
database search was conducted by the Departments’ Office of General
Accounting. As stated in my previous
response dated May 29, 2007,
the Department
does not have any record of payments made to Elmo A. Richardson,
Jr., P.E.,
LLC, firm PEF005014. The
Department found payments made to Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.
for
the period set forth in your December 2006 request.
These records were forwarded to you per your request. The Georgia
Open Records
Act offers the right to inspect documents and then obtain copies, if
the
requestor so desires, O.C.G.A. §50-18-71.2. The
Department adheres to full disclosure of its records,
except where
certain DOT records may be exempt from disclosure under Open Records
Act and to
the extent it calls for such exemption, the Department cannot make
those
records available. If the Department determines that a record may be
exempt
from inspection you will be informed at the time and will be given the
reason
for such nondisclosure. However, please be assured that every effort
will be
made to make all information available to you, within the requirements
of the
Open Records Act. Britt Perry Legal Services Coordinator Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 From: "Perry, Brigetta" <BrigettaBritt.Perry@dot.state.ga.us> To: "Holliday Dental" <teeth@mindspring.com> Dear Dr. Holliday, In response to your request I am forwarding to you the payment record [IMAGE] for Stantec for the current fiscal year and the previous fiscal year. I have been advised by the Department’s Office of General Accounting that we have no record of payments to Mr. Elmo Richards..[sic - Richardson] GA DOT Brigetta 'Britt' Perry Legal Services Coordinator 2 Capitol Square Atlanta, Georgia 30334 (404) 657-5807 Office (404) 657-4781 Fax -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Holliday Dental [mailto:teeth@mindspring.com] Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:23 PM To: Perry, Brigetta Cc: Green, Van Subject: FOI - Stantec and Elmo Richardson financial details with GaDOT Brigetta Perry GDOT legal services 404-657-5807. Dear Ms Perry, I am hereby narrowing my Open Records request to this: - A simple listing of checks to Stantec and to Elmo Richardson for the current year, and also for the previous fiscal year. Thank-you, - Lindsay D Holliday -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Holliday Dental <teeth@mindspring.com> Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:43:23 -0500 To: Harvey.Keepler@dot.state.ga.us,Jonathan.Cox@dot.state.ga.us,, "Millen, David" <David.Millen@dot.state.ga.us>,, "Buchan, Ben" <Ben.Buchan@dot.state.ga.us>,, "Gratton, Buddy" <Buddy.Gratton@dot.state.ga.us>,, Glenn.Bowman@dot.state.ga.us,Katy.Allen@fhwa.dot.gov, Anita Ponder <anita.ponder@macon.ga.us>,Bill.Causey@macon.ga.us, Subject: FOI - Stantec and Elmo Richardson financial details with GaDOT Dear Sirs: This is a Freedom Of Information request for financial links between the GaDOT and the Bibb County - District#3 Commissioner - Elmo Richardson. Mr Richardson indicates on his 6-19-06 Financial Disclosure Statement at the Bibb County Board of Elections that ->> He received over $20,000 from GaDOT last year. I am requesting all financial details between the GaDOT and Mr Elmo Richardson for the past 7 years. Mr Richardson identifies himself as a VP and a consultant with Stantec which is the major contractor for the over $1.5 Million spent so far on Forest Hill Road designs. So I am also asking for financial details between the GaDOT and Stantec for the past 5 years. Sincerely, - Lindsay D Holliday |
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| 12-7-06 To: "Sherri Sawyer" <ssawyer@co.bibb.ga.us> Subject: RE: Open Records Request of 12-1-06 regarding Stantec Contracts Cc: "Ken Sheets" <ksheets@co.bibb.ga.us>, "Steve Layson" <slayson@co.bibb.ga.us>, "Virgil Adams" <vadams@ajtlaw.com>, "Deborah Martin" <dmartin@co.bibb.ga.us>, "Shelia Thurmond" <sthurmond@co.bibb.ga.us>, "Tonya Davis" <tdavis@maai.net>, smarshall@macontel.com Ms Sawyer, Yes, I hereby narrow the scope of my Open Records Request to only a listing of all checks (and their amounts) payable to Stantec and/or Mr Elmo Richardson for fiscal years 2004, 2005 and 2006 only. Thank-you, - Lindsay D Holliday -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bcs Caution Macon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At 05:07 PM 12/7/2006 -0500, Sherri Sawyer wrote: Mr. Holliday, If a listing of invoices/billings to Stantec is all you need, we can certainly provide that to you much quicker; however, your initial e-mail regarding the Open Records Request did not indicate that. Please clarify exactly what you need. Thanks, Sherrie Sawyer -----Original Message----- From: Sherri Sawyer Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:58 PM To: 'Holliday Dental' Cc: Ken Sheets; Steve Layson; 'Virgil Adams'; Deborah Martin; 'Tonya Davis'; Shelia Thurmond Subject: Open Records Request of 12-1-06 regarding Stantec Contracts 12-5-06 Mr. Holliday, I have received your Open Records Request dated 12/1/06 regarding contracts and billings/invoices between the Road Improvement Program and Stantec. I have notified Moreland Altobelli and our Finance Office of the documents you are requesting. Since these contracts and invoices cover several years it will involve substantial retrieval time. The Finance Office estimates that it will take 8 hours retrieval time at a total man hour cost of $185. I do not yet have estimates on manpower costs for retrieval of records from our office. I will get back with you in a few days with that information. At this point, we feel that it will be after the first of the year before all documents can be retrieved and made available for review or copying. If you have any questions in the meantime, please let me know. Sherrie Sawyer Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:30:42 -0500 From: "Sherri Sawyer" <ssawyer@co.bibb.ga.us> To: "Holliday Dental" <teeth@mindspring.com> Attached
is a listing [JPG-Image]
of checks issued to Stantec for
FY2004-2006 per your Open Records Request of We
are still in the process of retrieval on the Consultant Contract
Documents and will notify you when those are ready. If
this e-mailed image is not clear enough, please let me know and I will
fax a hard copy to you. Executive
Assistant Bibb
780
Phone:478-621-6660 Fax:
478-621-6666 |
go to - CAUTION Macon 8-31-99 letter from Dr Tsai Caution Mirror Site Eisenhower Parkway Extension
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| Richardson was honored by the Georgia Engineering Alliance in March 2007 for his "outstanding contribution to the profession and his work with cities and counties." | ||
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From: Averill,
Jay [mailto:jay.averill@stantec.com] On Behalf Of Media Mr. Lemon, Thank you
for your interest in Stantec. In short, Stantec currently has no
employees serving in paid city or county government elected or staff
positions. Our former Sr. Vice President, Elmo Richardson serves
as County Commissioner but he has since retired from Stantec. Stantec is
involved in the Forest Hill Road Project, working with the
Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program. If you have any questions
or concerns about the project, you may contact: The
Georgia Department of Transportation Jay Averill |
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Subject: Ethics Complaint - status request. E.A.Richardson SECRETARY OF STATE -Karen C. HandelDIRECTOR - Randall D. Vaughn PROFESSIONAL LICENSING BOARDS April 30, 2008 Dr. Lindsay D. Holliday, DMD 360 Spring Street Macon, GA 31201 Re:Open Records Request Dear Dr. Holliday: I am in receipt of the email you sent to Julie Busbee, a staff member for the Georgia State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors inquiring about the status of a complaint against Elmo A. Richardson, Jr. The open records law, O.C.G.A. §50-18-70, et. seq., allows for exemptions to the law. O.C.G.A. §50-18-70 (b) says: (b) All public records of an agency as defined in subsection (a) of this Code section, except those which by order of a court of this state or by law are prohibited or specifically exempted from being open to inspection by the general public, shall be open for a personal inspection by any citizen of this state at a reasonable time and place; and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen. (Emphasis added.) There is an exception to the open records law, and it can be found in O.C.G.A. §43-1-19(h) (2), which states the following: The results of all investigations initiated by the board shall be reported solely to the board, and the records of such shall be kept by the board by the division director, with the board retaining the right to have access at any time to such records. No part of any such records shall be released, except to the board, for any purpose other than a hearing before the board, nor shall such records be subject to subpoena; provided, however, that the board shall be authorized to release such records to another enforcement agency or lawful licensing authority. (Emphasis added.) Therefore, I am prohibited from releasing any investigative information, including the status of the alleged investigation, to you. Please contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely, Kathleen O’Neal Director of Administrative Procedure cc:Darren Mickler, Ex. Dir. Georgia State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors as Doc file for printing |
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| Association County Commissioners of http://www.accg.org/content.asp?contenttype=General%20Information |
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Code of Ethics As the duly elected or designated
commissioner(s) of this
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go to - CAUTION Macon see Eisenhower Parkway Extension
this page maintained by Lindsay Holliday
Stantec payments
2004-2006.tif 
