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COLUMBIA, 2/2/10  (Beat Byte) --  Fourth Ward Columbia City Council candidate Sarah Read, J.D. spoke with the Columbia Heart Beat about the ongoing controversy over her firm's contract with City Hall to write the Columbia Visioning Report. 
 
Even at $150/hour, the contract was not profitable, Read said.  "We delivered far more hours than were paid for under the contract.  We produced an extensive report.  Without being involved and dedicated community members, we would not have taken this project."
 
The Columbia Vision Commission's (CVC) concerns over lack of transparency and favoritism are also inconsistent, Read explained, with a process that was "very public."
 
And though her firm, The Communications Center, Inc., has received other contracts with local government agencies, Read said she "did not seek out a contract with the City.  I was asked to help keep the process moving when Assistant City Manager [Paula Hertwig-Hopkins], who was shepherding the process, needed to take a personal leave of absence to be with her husband, who was terminally ill."   
 
Cited in city manager Bill Watkins' decision to award the no-bid contract, Read's experience with group facilitation and community involvement is well-known.  In 2008, she conducted a two-hour, $1,200 team-building exercise with the Columbia Public School district while also serving as president of Columbia Parents for Public Schools.  
 
And last year, had City Council members not defeated it, her firm was on tap to receive $9,500 to lead a two-day Get About Columbia mediation session between drivers and cyclists, to calm tempers heated over the bicycle harassment ordinance.  
 
"All of the above work was done or offered at a considerable discount," Read explained.  "Much of the actual work on the vision implementation plan was, in fact, pro bono." 
 
Finally, objections that Visioning groups and their citizen overseers were shut out of the process Read oversaw, voiced in the Vision Commission's January 5 letter to the Columbia City Council, were "incorrect," Read explained, directing readers to Hertwig-Hopkins response to the Council:    
 
 
"I assumed our work would be interpreted in light of my known dedication to the vision, and the need to keep the process moving," Read said, sentiments echoed by CVC member Dee Dokken, who earlier worked with Read. 
 
"Sarah served as the volunteer facilitator of the challenging Development topic group with skill, fairness, good humor and lots of her time," Dokken said.  "She was vital to the performance of the group."  
 
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