Councilman DeJohn Said What?

By Dave Freneaux

    It was reported in the Central City News that "Councilman Louis DeJohn said that he thinks it would be a good thing if 100 percent of permit fees go to CH2MHILL."  Untrue.  The direct quote of what Councilman DeJohn said is, "I don't think the City ought to get a nickel out of it.  The 10% was originally set up in case they weren't collecting enough money to cover the services without asking us to raise taxes.  After three years I think we can safely say that that money is not necessary.  So, what we are doing is we are taxing the people ourselves."  "If they (the City) have a fee structure in which the City gets taxes, I would appreciate it if we would delinieate it and get it off there."

    It is painfully clear that Councilman DeJohn wants the 10% to be given back to the taxpayers in the form of reduced permit fees, not that it be given to CH2M Hill.  DeJohn spoke earlier in the meeting and defended the 90% of the fees collected by CH2M Hill, pointing out that they do 100% of the work.  DeJohn's assertion is that any fee above what the City has agreed to pay for the services is in essence a tax levied by the City, and he wants that money left in the pockets of the taxpayers.  Mr. DeJohn obviously said nothing about giving 100% of the fees to CH2M Hill, as was stated in Woody Jenkins' editorial in the Central City News.  The audio recording of all Council meetings can be heard, free of charge, any business day, at the City Services office.

    In an interview with Councilman DeJohn late last week the discussion turned to whether the City should be able to require CH2M Hill to accept less than 90% of the permit fees collected.  That is, after all, the deal Central agreed to when the City wanted CH2M Hill to provide the services.  Mr. DeJohn, who owns a large contracting company, likened the situation to a three year plumbing job that someone might bid for $80 an hour.  Using the master plumber on his staff who could handle the job, the contractor would intend to make a $20 per hour profit.  Two years into a three year contract for this job, the contractor trains up a young plumber who is completely capable of doing the job, and instead assigns the young plumber to do the job, meeting all requirements of the contract.  If the contractor recruits and trains the young plumber and pays him $10 per hour less than he paid the Master Plumber, is he required to pass that savings on to the customer?

     The answer is no.  A deal is a deal.  A person purchasing a 50" television for $1,000 in 2008 does not get to bring it back to the store in 2010 and exchange it for the new 60" model which also now sells for $1,000.  A deal is a deal.  When you sign a three year lease on a house you don't get to lower your rent after two years just because you could rent a bigger house for the same money now.  A deal is a deal.  If the City of Central engages in the practice of signing agreements then trying to change the rules it is likely that companies will either avoid doing business with Central, or may at least raise their initial bids in preparation for Central not wishing to live with the deal that was signed.  Fortunately, Central is in the process of deciding what the new contract for City Services will look like.  The argument has been made several times at Council meetings that the best use of the City's time is to focus not on trying to change a deal signed three years ago, but to focus on the deal the City needs to sign less than six months from now.