Frank Cagle in Metro Pulse [1]

Solway residents complain that the mulch facility run by Natural Resources Recovery stinks. But it may not smell any worse than the new 10-year contract the county may sign with the firm.

Not so fast, says Mike Cohen of Ackermann PR who represents NRR:

In case you read Cagle’s column, you might want some factual information.

He claims the process was rigged. Anyone who knows Purchasing knows they are straight arrows…maybe the straightest in Knox County government.

Here is some of what he cites:

"NRR has an advisory board of 10 members and the list (in its bid packet) includes Tom Salter, head of the Knox County Solid Waste Department, and Lynne Liddington, Knox County Air Quality Manager. These two also served on the committee that evaluated the bids for the new contract—they gave NRR high marks."

OK…some facts. No one was corrupted by serving on the Community Board which has met twice. Sharon Cawood attended the first…Lumpy the second. Frankly if you are going to try and have dialogue with the community, having Commissioners a part of it is important. It does not compromise them.

Still, let’s look at the votes. Lynn Liddington didn’t vote to award the contract to NRR. She was the one evaluator that scored another firm higher. And if you take Tom Salter’s votes out of the pool….we still win.

A competitor couldn’t win this fair and square and is now trying to use politics.

Cohen says Frank Cagle called just to give him a "heads up" about the article. "In other words," Cohen says, "the facts didn't matter."