Mayor denies city
helping friend’s firm

Mayor Mufi Hannemann said no politics are involved in the city considering his friend and political supporter Joe Pickard to work on a study to select a mass transit system.

"We followed the law," Hannemann told reporters yesterday.

Hannemann was responding yesterday to criticism by public relations executive Kitty Lagareta, whose firm was part of the original subcontractors team assembled by contractor Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas to assist in submitting a bid to the city for the contract. The Parsons transportation engineering firm won the $9.7 million bid as the main contractor.

Lagareta pulled out of the effort after learning her company would have a reduced role in the contract, which would now include Pickard's company. She said she has not received a sufficient explanation for the change.

Pickard is president of Community Planning & Engineering Inc. as well as Environet Inc., and he has denied that his relationship with the mayor led to his company being considered as a nonbid subconsultant.

Pickard said he approached main consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas. He has said that neither politics nor his friendship with the mayor had anything to do with his decision to pursue the work.

Hannemann said the city has the final say over the choice of subcontractors, but there has been no decision on whether Pickard's company will be selected for the project.

"If he is, in fact, picked as one of the subcontractors, I really believe he's eminently qualified," Hannemann said.

Hannemann said he questions "Kitty's thinking and logic in this whole crusade."

"I find it very curious that they say that Mr. Pickard's my friend and that's why they say he got the contract," Hannemann said. "Kitty Lagareta is also my friend."

He said Lagareta was never assured a part in the contract while she worked with Parsons before the contract was awarded.

"She was never guaranteed a contract," Hannemann said. "They felt that it was a done deal. There was no done deal."

But Lagareta said the administration still has not provided an explanation for why Pickard's firm is now in the mix, and she continues to question the process through which Pickard's firm is being considered.

"The city made the change, not the primary contractor, and that's the problem," Lagareta said. "We need to make sure that the process is open, transparent and fair, and I am going to pursue looking into that."

Lagareta questioned whether the city can handpick the subcontractors after the primary contractor used a different set of subcontractors to come up with a bid.