Review Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council – July 1, 2009
Posted on July 1st, 2009
Date & Time: Tuesday, July 01, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Location: Room 171, State Capitol
Agenda: http://tr.im/qtRJ
Attachments: http://tr.im/qtSM
1:30 pm – Call to order. Response provided from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission concerning international activities. Their report is in that attachments linked above.
1:35 pm – Rep. Pennartz is asking for the budget for the Japan office of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
1:37 pm – The response from the UAPB Minority Initiative Sub-recipient Grant Office is being presented. Rep. English and Rep. Lea are asking where the money is coming from for their lobby activites. They are asking if taxpayers are providing funds for them to lobby legislators.
1:40 pm – The Department of Arkansas Heritage concerning the Discretionary Grant Award. The response is in the attachments, no legislators asked further questions. Truth be told, we have not had timie to sufficiently review all the information. Same thing with the Responses B4, B5, and B6 on the agenda.
1:43 pm – Committee is currently reviewing methods of finance for contruction projects at UAPB and UA Community College – Morrilton. No questions or comments.
1:45 pm – Just reviewed the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service Warehouse Annex Project with VCC without question or comment.
1:46 pm – The DHS – ARRA Grants (“Stimulus Money”) is being reviewed. Rep. Reep is asking about the use of staff “for the collecting and reporting of data”. The DHS response is that those staff positions are required to meet federal requirements of the ARRA Grants. Further details state that will help provide information to the community on prescription benefits, weatherization, and etc. These activities are exclusively in South and East Arkansas. Rep. Reep clarified that these people are going to go out and find people who need the assistance programs.
[Apparently "Simulus Money" is being spent to pay people to go out and find people to give money and benefits.]
1:53 pm – We are currently reviewing Professional/Consultant Services and Contracts. Rep. Pennartz is asking a question about the Department Corrections. Sheila Sharp from the Department of Corrections is responding. Rep. Pennartz is asking why the contract is sole source instead of a competitive bid. Ms. Sharp says it would be more expensive because the design work has already been accomplished by the sole source. Sorry about the delay in updates. I was asking questions. I asked why this could not have been put out for competitve bid and if the original design work was indeed already been done by one of the contractors then they could come in with as lower bid. Furthermore, other contractors may be willing to “eat” the cost of original design work in order to aquire future contracts. I moved that the contract be held for further review. The motion was accepted and the contract was held.
2:03 pm – Rep. Glidewell is asking questions of Richard Hudson from the University of Arkansas about some of the percentage of design fees in one place. The response was that those higher design fees were for remodeling work, which indeed does have substantially more work involved in design requirements.
2:09 pm – Lots of interruptions, doing a poor job of documenting meeting today. Rep. Pennartz is asking about contract extensions and contract cost increases at the Department of Corrections for medical and mental healthcare. The response is that there will be a new contract and that the increase accounts for the consolidation of services.
2:14 pm – Senator Altes had a question on contracts for testing services for the Arkansas Department of Education. No one from that agency was present to answer questions, so the contract was held until someone could be availiable to answer questions.
2:17 pm – Rep. Reep is asking questions of the Department of Corrections about the contract with a pilot to fly the Departments airplane. Rep. Burris is asking if it is being used to fly to Board meetings. Yes, it has been used. Rep. Lea is asking who is authorized to use the plane. The director authorizes who is approved to fly. The planes purpose is to travel between the various units. [The Department of Corrections is under increased scrutiny by the legislature lately.]
2:21 pm – Reviewing mulitiple unremarkable DHS contracts.
2:29 pm – Rep. Glidewell is asking if we can be told by how many clients are being served by these DHS contracts. Apparently, that information is not currently being tracked. Rep. Glidewell has asked if that information could be provided at the next committee.
2:31 pm – Senator Altes is asking why DCFS contracts are being made to purchase “home studies” because he was under the impression that they were done “in house” by the agency.
2:35 pm – Rep. Lea asked about DHS having $3 million availiable for mental health services in Little Rock alone. Further information will be provided. The answer provided is that the area is Pulaski County south of the river.
2:48 pm – Senator Altes is asking about the $1 million spend on website hosting. Richard Davies is explaining that there are 27 to 32 websites that are being designed, hosted, advertised, and maintained. The contract was competitively bid.
2:52 pm – The Department of Education now has someone availiable to answer the question from Rep. Glidewell. Gail Potter, Associate Director for Curriculum and Assessment is answer the question. The contract is for the end of course literacy tests required by state and federal laws.
3:17 pm – The committee meeting adjourned. I awoke when I heard people leaving the room. Wow, that was a nice 15 minute nap.
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