Augusta Parks and Rec audit decision sent back to full commission

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The full Augusta Commission will make the decision on a firm to conduct an audit of the Parks and Recreation Department.

It’s been bouncing back and forth from the committee level to the commission level for a few weeks.

Commissioners met at the committee level Tuesday and sent the decision to the full commission.

The question drew a heated discussion during last week’s commission meeting.

There are lingering questions about how and when UHY Advisors Mid-Atlantic was chosen by the city procurement department.

Before UHY was picked, Marcum LLP had been awarded the bid.

That was before city officials say they realized UHY had met the deadline to submit a bid.

City Interim Administrator Takiyah Douse says the UHY bid was delivered by UPS on May 7 at 8:02 a.m.

Because the procurement department hadn’t opened, UPS took the package back to its warehouse and delivered it the next day on May 8.

Officials say the evaluation committee was not aware of the UHY bid when it discussed which company to pick.

The committee met again May 10, and ultimately picked UHY as the winner of the bid.

UHY’s bid was around half the cost of Marcum LLP’s cost.

Some commissioners are suspicious, and when they asked to see the UHY timestamps, they were refused, with the city staff citing state law and the fact that it’s still an open bid.

When Maurice McDowell resigned as parks and recreation director, Augusta leaders said they wanted to check every corner of a department riddled with internal and external investigations before the next director stepped in.

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