Dayton OKs contract after closer look following FBI charges

The city of Dayton has approved a contract that it pulled from last week’s commission meeting for closer scrutiny after federal indictments were unsealed alleging a public employee and former commissioner took bribes to help people and companies do business with the city.

The city’s law department reviewed a $960,340 contract with John R. Jurgensen Co. for asphalt repaving and thoroughfare resurfacing to ensure the “integrity of the procurement process” was followed, said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.

“It has been confirmed that it was,” she said.

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Two bids were received for the project, and John R. Jurgensen Co. had the lowest bid. The company’s bid says it will utilize two certified minority, woman-owned or small business contractors.

The law department looked at how the bids were evaluated for scope of work and diversity goals and concluded John R. Jurgensen had the lowest and best bid, Dickstein said.

Staff review vendors’ work experience, past projects, references and past performance related to meeting diversity participation goals to try to determine if there are any areas of concern, Dickstein said.

The city looked at the asphalt resurfacing contract because it is a large award to a vendor the city often uses, Dickstein said.

“We pulled it just to do a double-check,” she said.

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The city has asked Green & Green Lawyers to review past city contracts and will scrutinize contracts in the pipeline to try to uncover any concerns, Dickstein said.

Federal authorities last week unsealed an indictment accusing Dayton employee RoShawn Winburn of accepting bribes from people and companies that wanted to do business with the city.

In exchange, Winburn allegedly provided minority, small or disadvantaged business certification without the proper screening for qualifications.

Former Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams is accused of taking bribes to try to help a company get city contracts.

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