Firms Picked for Jail Work After Delay Due to Gift Law

After a four-week delay caused by questions about campaign contribution limits, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday chose a three-company coalition for architectural, engineering and construction management work at a branch jail.

The Anaheim architectural firm of Dan L. Rowland and Associates Inc., in joint venture with the Ehrenkrantz Group and Kitchell CEM, was awarded the contract for three 120-bed dormitories at the James A. Musick branch jail near El Toro.

The terms of the contract will be negotiated later, but supervisors last year budgeted $7 million for design and construction of the dormitories, which will replace tents being used to house inmates temporarily.

The contract was to be awarded Dec. 11 but was delayed because the Fluor Corp. was listed as a construction consultant with another coalition bidding for the job.

Fluor was over the county’s campaign contribution limit to three of the supervisors--Roger Stanton, Harriett Wieder and Bruce Nestande--leaving only Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and then-Supervisor Ralph B. Clark eligible to vote. Three votes are needed to award a contract.

The 1978 county campaign contribution law, known as TIN CUP (Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics), bars supervisors from voting on issues affecting a contributor from whom they have received more than $1,704 over the last four-year period.

Fluor ultimately was dropped from the joint venture of WMFL and Smith Partnership, also with Kitchell CEM. That coalition was picked Tuesday as the alternate contractor. The joint venture is based in Irvine.

Clark was succeeded as supervisor on Monday by former Anaheim Mayor Don R. Roth, who was eligible to vote. But Roth abstained from voting in a separate action by the supervisors because of concern about exceeding the TIN CUP limit.

Roth said he did not know whether a taxi company that had contributed to his city and county races had gone over the TIN CUP limit, because he was unsure if contributions to his previous Anaheim City Council races should be included.

Roth said he was uncertain of the totals involved but decided to abstain from the vote on a minor amendment to the contract between the county and the Airport Yellow Cab Co.