Jackson Jambalaya

When did the scam artists and shakedown jockeys start using engineering as their venue for government graft? Between these guys and Rudy's shenanigans in Madison, it's like the Corleone family is running Georgia Tech.

It's over for thIMS. Supreme Leader Lumumba can read Yarber's campaign finance report. They put all their chips on the wrong pony. Put a fork in em......

Obviously no one in Jackson to put a halt to this blatant robbery. Amazing.

Pretty simple 9:29-

People see engineering services and assume its necessary and not wasteful spending. These documents prove that the engineers are just the middle man for the crony gov't contracts so many people like to complain about, its just easier to hide them from the public eye. Just look who IMS subs all of their contracts out to and that will tell the whole story. Willing to bet that they weren't the lowest bids, nor the most qualified for the work they were contracted for. Typical.

From a 1% tax board member. "It costs roughly $175k to repave a mile of two loan road. It currently is costing Jackson over $800k to do one mile because of the middle men and Tony Yarber"

10:52, that is fucking unbelievable---if you know there is thievery going on then why not expose everything including names????????

I was happy when Yarber was elected and thought he would do great things.

I was very wrong.

I feel the opposite now that Lumumba is on track to be elected.

I hope my gut is wrong this time, too.

I hope JJ also closely looks at some of the majority-owned engineering firms as well in Jackson and the rest of the State. Start on S. Congress Street and move on from there. It's funny when minority-owned firms team with other firms to legitimately foster economic empowerment some folks always frame it as a scam or a robbery.

But when majority-owned firms prop up white women-owned firms and/or other highly recommended teaming partners to meet Federal SBE/DBE requirements and/or to meet political requests, it's framed as conducting business; give me a break. Nevertheless, this is Jackson and we're still dealing with the same ol' dog.

And, IMS demonstrated loyalty to Yarber even though he's become his own worst enemy. You never bet against an incumbent and loyalty is the strongest political currency you can have in politics. The new Mayor-elect will see this as well...

JJ has in the past. We've made RW mad a few times. We've taken some shots at Waggoner and Furr. IMS was in a high profile position.

TO: 12:11

Well written Dr. Calhoun---did you get help with the spelling ?

Well stated 12:11-notwithstanding the cynicism by 12:37 and some others.

Dr. Calhoun did not write 12:11...

I did, and I've been in this industry for a long time, and I've had a front row seat working for majority-owned firms winning Local, State, and Federal contracts.

What IMS is doing is no different than what I've seen majority-owned firms do to win government contracts. And like I said earlier, when minority-owned firms win work, some folks proclaim it's an illegal scam, but when white-owned firms win work the same folks proclaim they're conducting legitimate business.

12:11, Bulls**t. IMS admitted (or claimed when questioned) that they did not perform the 'mentoring' that was included in the bogus contract that Yarber handed to his contributors. The 'mentoring' was supposed to give a quarter million dollars to a full time employee of MDOT who has been an engineer for a dozen years. (Yarber also tried to give this same individual another quarter million on the AECOM contract he tried to steer to an out-of-state contributor, but the Council stopped.)

IMS has not propped up any 'white women-owned' firms. There is the one case of an Asian woman who gets a percentage of every contract issued under the Yarber administration, and IMS also gave a contract to a black woman for the public relations/Mayor reelect portion of their million dollar contract. But haven't seen any 'white women-owned' firms getting propped up by minority firms.

And what Federal requirements mandate any minority hiring that is not exceeded by the City's illegal EBO requirements? None, but that was a nice attempt to blame things on the feds, John. Just like you want to blame your failure to accomplish anything on anyone but your firm's work.

If your (IMS) contributions to Yarber were loyalty, not kickback, then why were there also some other candidates getting the benefit of your largess? Never mind, no need to answer that. Doesn't matter anymore.

Sure, 2:14. There's no coincidence at all that all of the subs in the IMS contract were ALSO minority and/or female owned. I'm sure those contracts were all legitimately won as you say.

And no, the race factor is not why I and others are calling foul. We are calling foul because race was a factor.

And the "buddy" contracts need to be called out regardless of race or gender has a dog in the fight. It happens everywhere. And deserves to get called out everywhere.

To: 2:14

I fully understand, most of the bad traits taken up by Blacks were introduced to them by Whitey.

Minority-owned and Majority-owned---why do you have to steal and bribe your way to success ?

2:14, you miss the point. Its not whether IMS is a majority, or minority owned firm, or whether they willingly or are bribed/required to associate with other firms to obtain their contract.

In this case, IMS didn't do crap to justify their billing of more than three quarter million dollars. And their ridiculous 'presentation' asking for a second year renewal for a million and a half, with no justification or basis for their pricing. Just, that's how much they felt they could fleece out of the city, with a willing Mayor who wanted to give it to them.

This isn't black, white, or purple. This is about what they produced, or didn't, and what all they billed the city for. And it does consider the fact that IMS was not the highest rated firm when evaluated. Or the second highest rated. And now they want to blame everything on whitey; nothing is their fault for what hasn't been done even thought that is what they were supposed to be handling as a program "manager".

4:34 - I will be glad to shut up about "minority this" and "minority that" once the word "minority" is no longer used in deciding contract awards. We don't live in a day and age where people are judged by their ability, but often only by the color of their skin. Or at least, insuring that skin color is used as a part of the judgment/award.

Jackson's contracting has so much 'minority this' actually written into the documentations and evaluations. Once that is removed, I will shut up about "minority this". In the meantime, recognize reality.

Someone noted above that race is a factor in awarding City of Jackson's contracts, but they deliberately failed to mention that race is also a factor in awarding MDOT, State of Mississippi (facilities, IT, etc.), Keesler AFB, and other majority-controlled city/county government contracts. If JJ did an analysis on contract awards with these government entities, then they would find that extremely few contract awards/dollars go to firms of color when compared against the 100s of millions of dollars these government entities award in contracts every year.

There are numerous qualified firms of color in Mississippi and across the country that can do some of this work, but they win very little or nothing. So it appears race is a factor in these contract awards as well, but nobody is raising this irrefutable fact except me. So if we're going to shine a light on Jackson, then let's shine the light all across Mississippi. You see, some folks can't stand and/or don't want minority-owned businesses to become economically empowered and some folks don't mind other races growing financially. And, some of the comments on this thread speaks for itself. It's like I said earlier, we're still dealing with the same ol' dog...

5:34 - have you kept up with the Epps scandal? Dr. Reddix (minority) seemed to do well getting him hundred millions of dollars of contracts. Teresa Malone (woman) did well getting her contracts. Of the others under indictment, there are other minorities along with white contractors/companies.

The IT companies at DHS and several other agencies were minority owned. Do they count in your count?

It would be great to see a review of this topic in one year as far as Jackson's contracts. The incoming folks seem to be touting unity. Let's see how that goes....

Excuse me, but doesn't the State and Federal government have some power to investigate and stop this sort of thing?

What happened to the investigative reporters with enough experience on city government and finances to know how government is supposed to work and who watch contracts?

Kudos KF but apparently those who follow you who could act, don't want to risk their boondoggles coming to light but only enjoy your stories when the propaganda value is favorable.

5:34 - I'm sure you're onto something. I've worked in state government for a while, and I've seen some pretty absurd contracts doled out to connected firms, most of them white owned. It is definitely a problem that crosses racial lines. However, I despise the implication in your comments that siphoning tax revenue via bogus government contracts is a legitimate way to "empower" a business. That's just graft. The thought that my 1% at the register in Jackson is used to "empower" a black engineering firm makes me want to vomit, and I would feel the same if the firm was white.

A couple of observations:

-A LOT of folks apparently don't read contracts before they sign them.

-Unless there's actual fraud involved, state/federal oversight is slim, and mostly only happens when the projects are funded through state/federal programs. At that point, the amount of regulation and actual oversight varies considerably. In some cases, the funding agency actually (supposedly) reviews the contracts prior to award/payment for them and the reviews (supposedly) the payments for compliance. But a lot of programs don't effectively prohibit silly charges, only fraudulent ones.

I would be surprised if IMS is "siphoning tax revenue via bogus government contracts" with the City and/or is engaged in "graft" as one person commented given their client list, awards, and business tenure, among other things. If this is the case then they should be judged by 12 and if they're not called to court, then it speaks for itself. Nevertheless, many folks that have commented above are rushing to judgment.

However, it appears they're definitely having some project delivery issues and they should have an opportunity to redeem themselves. I currently work for and have worked for other majority-owned firms. And guess what, majority-owned firms encounter project delivery issues with government clients all the time and some firms get 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and additional opportunities to redeem themselves.

Calhoun likes to play the race card in getting contracts and he likes to play the race card when his work or payments come under scrutiny.

The Northside Sun gave hell to Southern Consultants over the last year and Carl Ray and Joe Waggoner when they halfway controlled the levee board. This website pointed out how WRUA had to repay federal money after it gave illegal no bid work to engineers. The Northside Sun, JJ, and MCJ have all reported on Mr. Warnock, his billings, and his contracts over the years.

It wasn't Neal Shaffer or Waggoner who showed up at 1% STC meetings unprepared. It wasn't MEG who appeared at STC meetings and didn't have any information to present to the commission. IMS was questioned because it tried to double its fees just as Warnock was questioned over his fees and Southern Consultants was questioned over its work.

If Calhoun doesn't want public scrutiny, then he should shut up and not take public money.

Someone mentioned that, "Calhoun/IMS likes to play the race card in getting contracts..." It's a true fact the blacks folks play the race card and some blacks play it much more than others. However, they also deliberately failed to mentioned how white folks play their "race card" to maintain control of government agencies and award the vast majority of government contracts to white-owned engineering and construction firms.

So, let's shine the light on MDOT which controls aeronautics, highways, ports, public transit, and railroads. The State's Supreme Court (8-whites, 1-black) plays their race card to draw the district boundaries for MDOT's 3 member "elected" Board which is composed of 3-whites even though MDOT's organizational chart showcases the citizens of Mississippi at the top of the chart. Nevertheless, the composition of this Board clearly does not reflect the demographics of the State. The Board then plays their race card and "appoints" the Executive Director (white female)to run MDOT. The race card is played some more to construct majority-controlled selection committees to award the vast majority of MDOT's engineering & construction contracts to majority-owned firms.

Let's also shine the light on MSPA's 5-member "appointed" Board (4-whites, 1-black) where the Governor also plays the race card to appoint his 3 picks to maintain voting control at all times. The Board then plays the race card to hire MSPA's CEO & COO (2-whites) to run the agency, and government contracts are awarded in the same fashion as MDOT. The majority's race card is played even further because many of these projects receive Federal funding which have DBE/SBE participation requirements. This is where majority-owned firms prop up white female/"minority-owned family and friends" DBEs to meet the Federal participation requirements which severely limits firms owned by people of color's ability to win some of this work.

So, it's very disingenuous when some folks in this thread calls a flagrant foul on Calhoun/IMS for playing their "race card," but no one calls a flagrant foul on the whites for playing their race card to maintain control of government agencies and steer most of the contract awards to majority-owned firms...

10:54, the proof is in the pudding. If mdot were run like Jackson, we'd all be walking

Hey, you know what, the comment above was pretty good and hilarious...

It's extremely challenging to effectively deliver city services when there's a recurring series of story lines playing out in the news media that resembles a combination of a housewives reality show, law & order, and an adult film. Let's hope and pray that the next administration gets back to effectively delivering city services for the people. However, I know some of ya'll are not going to get your hopes up...