Disaster management firm backs out of St. John School Board contract

Published 11:28 am Wednesday, August 7, 2013

RESERVE – Project management firm Hammerman and Gainer backed out of a disaster management contract with the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board in response to a cease and desist letter issued by the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors that stated that the company was required to have a general contractors license.
The vice president of the firm, David Weller, addressed the board, saying that the contract was never classified as construction/public works in the request for proposals and that the paperwork did not require a contractor’s license number to be placed in the proposal package.
Weller went on to say that the company was under the impression that it would only provide program/grant management services. The vice president said the company is “disappointed” at the board’s sudden change and chose not to pursue the matter further.
A board member expressed the opinion that the company should have told the board it had no interest in fulfilling the contracting part of the agreement when the board received the cease order instead of waiting for a special meeting.
The board member went on to say that even though the board has been working on this issue for at least a year, the community is buzzing about the board not doing their job as a result of this latest discrepancy. The board awarded the contract to Hammerman and Gainer in June.
See Saturday’s edition of L’Observateur for more on the story.