Moore defends actions in building purchase
Alamogordo Daily News
By Duane Barbati, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/26/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

Otero County Commission chairman Doug Moore disclosed Thursday that his company, Lane Plumbing, did work as a subcontractor on the new county building, also known as the old Firestone building, at 1104 White Sands Blvd.
Moore said he has 47 employees who work for him.

"I was contracted to do the plumbing," he said. "It was the whole plumbing system in the building. I didn't bid on it. I didn't have anything to do with it."

Moore and Clarissa McGinn voted to approve the purchase of the building during a special meeting June 3. Commissioner Ronny Rardin was absent from that meeting because of a prior commitment.

The county purchased the 11,928-square-foot building for $1.44 million that houses the assessor's, treasurer's and county clerk's offices. It is priced at $122 per square foot.

"I have people that bid on jobs and superintendents," he said. "I do very little in the operations of the business. I own several businesses. I wasn't in on the whole process about any of it. We work for almost all the contractors in town, like White Sands and National. We're all subcontractors because it's what we do for a living."

Moore said at some point Lane Plumbing was given a set of plans to bid upon.

"We turned in a bid," he said. "Beyond that, it's the normal scenario. We submitted the bid as any other plumber did. When I come to the county commission meetings, I am not a plumber. I am a county commissioner for District 1. I try to maintain that professionalism."

Moore said he believes there have been veiled comments and innuendos that he has done something illegal or inappropriate.

"I am not going to respond to those as a commissioner," he said. "In my private business, it's a private matter. If anybody wants to know about the construction documents on that building, it's public information. Anybody is welcome to peruse that."

Moore said he feels he is being unfairly attacked by Janet White.

"We did the plumbing under contract to White Sands Construction," he said, "when White Sands owned the building. There was no inside deal. I didn't get the job because I was a commissioner. It was a heads-up deal and sent to Dennis Crimmins (White Sands director of operations)."

Moore said he believes the county has no policy against its commissioners bidding on projects.

"There's some decorum," he said. "If I had a direct contract with the county, then I would abstain. That would be the ethical and moral thing to do. I am not going to vote to give myself something."

According to the Otero County purchasing policy for procurement of tangible personal property, services and construction, an employee of the county is defined as any person receiving a salary, wages, per diem and mileage from the county.

According to a copy of the policy obtained by the Daily News, they can be elected officials and can even be non-compensated individuals who are performing personal services as an elected or appointed official, or performing personal services in some other capacity for the county.

According to the ethical conduct section of the employee participation policy, no employee of the county can participate directly or indirectly in procurement when the employee knows that the employee, or any member of that employee's immediate family, has a financial interest in the business seeking or obtaining a contract.

It further states the prohibition does not apply if the financial interest is held in a blind trust.

County manager Ray Backstrom said the county was working with Tommie Herrell and Dennis Crimmins at the time on the procurement of the building and construction.

"The county wanted to purchase real estate," Backstrom said. "The county did not own the building. White Sands owned the building."

Crimmins said he worked with Herrell to do the construction on the building before the county was interested in it.

"The bidding process was done before I bought the building," Crimmins said. "When Herrell owned it, he was trying to get prices. He came to me for pricing on the construction of the building. I went out and got the price for the construction, or turnkey pricing, because I am the general contractor on the building."

Crimmins said he usually goes with the lowest bid.

"The bidding prices are private because it's between me and my contractors," he said. "It's a standard practice in the construction industry. It's based on an agreement between me and my subcontractors."

Crimmins said he sold the county a completed building.

"I didn't sell them one subcontractor to build it cheaper than another subcontractor," he said. "It's no different than a consumer going out and buying a house. The person buys a house, then they want to know what everyone was paid to do the work."

Crimmins said he believes the project took about six months to complete.

"It was about the normal time frame," he said. "A $1.44 million job runs between six to eight months. The county got a great deal on it. A building this size, the county could have easily paid $1.50 per square foot. They paid $1.22 per square foot. It also included the land, design and construction."

Crimmins said he believes one of the reasons the county received a good deal was because Herrell originally received a good deal on the building, then flipped it to him at a good price.

"This deal was worked out between me and Herrell," he said. "Herrell worked it out with the county. The only thing different about this deal is if the county would have owned the building. If the county would have bought the building, then put it out to bid, they would have had to put it out for design fees. They would have had to put it out to bid. They would have had to pay the Davis-Bacon Wage Act. All of those would have increased the price at a minimum of 25 percent and up to 35 percent more."

Crimmins said he believes the construction of about six months was twice as fast versus the county doing the construction.

"If they would have purchased the building, designed it, put it out to bid and had it built, it would have took them twice as much time," he said. "This is not something new. This a way a lot of government entities do it. I just did a $9 million building in Deming. We built it with partners and turned it over to the county afterwards. The Otero County building is a beautiful building."


Contact Duane Barbati at dbarbati@alamogordonews.com.

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