TULSA, Okla. — A trade association representing contractors throughout Oklahoma now calls on local construction companies to not bid with the City of Tulsa henceforth, expressing frustration with what its executive director called a dysfunctional contracting system in a press conference Friday.
"I know this is extreme. But I am simply asking our members to simply shift their intention from doing jobs with the City of Tulsa to doing jobs with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority," said Bobby Stem of the Association of Oklahoma General Contractors, or AOGC.
Stem cited what he described as ignored complaints of cost and material regulations by Tulsa officials, leading to the group's first ever call to not do new business with a city.
"While the men and women of the department of Public Works are fine individuals, collectively they're part of a flawed process that is costing Tulsans millions of dollars," Stem said.
Stem added that late and inconsistent pay, unreasonable time, cumulative disincentives, and inconsistent application of the rules is driving construction costs up, which is a poor deal for taxpayers.
Mayor G.T. Bynum fired back in a statement Friday afternoon:
“My door is always open to experts who have ideas on how we can do better work at the City of Tulsa. We believe in continuous improvement, and always strive to be better tomorrow than we were today. But we don’t stop responding to 9-1-1 calls while we work to improve the Tulsa Police Department or Tulsa Fire Department, and we’re not going to stop doing street work while we work to improve there either.
“I would also point out that the City Council and I agreed just two weeks ago at our annual retreat that we need to assess and improve the way street work is done in Tulsa. This is one of our shared goals for 2023 which will inform the budget development process currently under way.
“I appreciate the expertise of our partners in the road construction industry, and am always eager to collaborate with them on process improvements. Working together, we’ve spent the last 15 years constructing over a billion dollars in street projects - the largest street program in Tulsa history. My staff and I have attempted to contact Mr. Stem to determine what specifically he would like addressed. He has not bothered to return any of our calls. I have worked with him constructively in the past, and hope to do so in this instance. It is regrettable that he chose to hold a press conference and lambast the City of Tulsa in vague terms instead of just calling me so we can fix whatever problems he has identified.”
Drivers like Tanner Cox, who dodges downtown road work daily for work, told 2 News he finds the whole conflict frustrating.
"It's our taxpayers' money that goes for these circumstances, and I feel like as a taxpayer...our money should go to what needs fixed," Cox said.
Stem said he just wants local construction businesses and their workers thought of first.
"They've got to go out and bid work, because they've got people that they need to keep employed, and quite honestly City of Tulsa has got a lot of work that needs to be done. But somebody's gotta understand this is real."
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