No wrong doing by Phoenix City Councilman Nowakowski or the City of Phoenix was found according to a report just released on the West Fillmore Request for Proposals. According to Sal DiCiccio, the report’s findings are “another case of sloppy reporting by AZ Republic “reporter” Dustin Gardiner.”
According to Diciccio, Gardiner “burns his confidential source and then writes only the side of the story, the side from the losing bidder.”
“I was pleased to read the independent counsel’s report on the West Fillmore Request for Proposals (FRP) process. It confirms what I have said from the beginning: I was falsely accused of having violated a conflict of interest, and there is no evidence to support the accusations. The independent counsel did not reach its conclusions lightly; they took weeks to review documents and interview witnesses, and slowly got to the bottom of the allegations. After following that process, the independent counsel concluded, correctly, that the allegations were false,” said Nowakowski. In his statment releasd on Thursday, Nowakowski itemized key the findings in the report:
1. I have no financial or employment interest in the contract.
2. I never shared private information (either from the City or from another bidder) with the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
3. When meeting with Deco and when voting to issue the RFP, I did not know that the Cesar Chavez Foundation would be bidding on the contract. Indeed, it appears that Trammel Crowe and the Cesar Chavez Foundation did not even know they would be bidding on the contract at that time.
4. I never voted to award the contract to Trammel Crowe or the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
5. I cooperated fully with the independent counsel’s investigations.
Nowakowski also addressed Gardiner’s reporting: “Now that the facts and law are clear, I hope the individuals who were so quick to suggest that I had a conflict of interest will now report fully and fairly on the key facts.”
On Thursday, DiCiccio and Councilman Jim Waring held an event open to the public with Phoenix Fillmore Partners, LLC for discussion of the West Fillmore Redevelopment Request for Proposal in order to give th public an opportunity to hear the other side of the story.
At issue was the allegation that Nowakowski violated conflict of interest laws related to the West Fillmore RFP. Questions also arose as to whether any impropriety took place in the City’s Request for Proposals (RFP) process.
The independent investigation by Sanders and Parks concerned the West Fillmore Redevelopment Request for Proposal RFP-CED15W, for the development of property located between 4th Avenue and 6th Avenue south of Fillmore Street. According to the report:
Multiple bidders responded to the RFP. One bidder was Phoenix Fillmore, which was comprised of the Trammell Crow Company (“Trammell”) and the Cesar Chavez Foundation (“CCF”). Another bidder was Fifth & Fillmore Development Partners, LLC (“Fifth & Fillmore”), which included as a member DECO Multifamily Holdings, LLC (“DECO”). After the City’s Evaluation Panel recommended that the Phoenix Fillmore proposal be selected, the Arizona Republic published comments from DECO alleging that it discussed its bid proposal ideas with Phoenix City Councilman Michael Nowakowski without knowing that the Councilman’s employer, CCF, also intended to bid on the RFP.
The City asked us to review two issues: (1) whether the City’s process for recommending the award of the RFP met all applicable legal standards and requirements; and (2) whether Councilman Nowakowski violated the City and Arizona’s conflict of interest laws related to the RFP. It is our conclusion based on the information available to us at this time that, although Councilman Nowakowski (sometimes referred to herein as the “Councilman”) could have been more forthcoming in his discussion with DECO to avoid the appearance of impropriety, the RFP process was uncompromised and there were no violations of conflict of interest laws.
he report concluded:
”It is our conclusion based on the information available to us at this time that… the RFP process was uncompromised and there were no violations of conflict of interest laws.”
”While the content of information the Councilman received from DECO during this April 6, 2015 meeting is the subject of dispute, the information we reviewed revealed no evidence that DECO provided specific or material details to the Councilman regarding Fifth & Fillmore’s ultimate proposal, or that the panel was aware of any information allegedly provided by DECO to the Councilman. DECO does not allege any information was actually transmitted about DECO’s plans to Phoenix Fillmore, and it has no direct evidence to support such an allegation. As discussed above, this accusation does not rise beyond the level of mere suspicion.”
“…nothing we were able to obtain and review indicates that the process was tainted, or that the recommendation by the panel was in any way influenced by the Councilman’s connection to CCF.”