Bids Involving Councilman’s Firm Must Be Dismissed

Nine bids to build a new, $1.5-million fire station in Santa Ana will have to be dismissed because all of them included a subcontractor’s bid by City Council member John Acosta to do the masonry work on the project.

City Atty. Edward J. Cooper said Friday that the bids by John Acosta & Sons masonry contractors violated no laws because the job has not been awarded. State laws make it a felony, however, for city officials to have a financial interest in any contract let by the city, and any such contract could easily be voided in court, Cooper said.

Acosta & Sons’ share of the each of the bids was about $95,000, Acosta said.

Acosta said his company’s estimator, Paul Finch, mistakenly thought that the fire station was a county project and submitted bids to all nine prime contractors participating without asking him.

Finch bids on as many as 30 jobs a week, Acosta said, and would not intentionally bid on a city project.

‘I Wasn’t There’

“As a rule, I give a final overview and approve them (bids) if he asks me to,” Acosta said. “But I wasn’t there in the office Tuesday morning . . . and he has the authority to submit bids.” Cooper called Acosta on Wednesday and told him he could not legally participate in the construction of the fire station. “I told him I know that, that’s not a problem, we’ll withdraw the bid,” Acosta said. “I am ultimately responsible. . . . It’s my company, and I take the blame.”

The City Council will vote to dismiss the bids and reopen the process at its next meeting, July 7, Deputy City Manager Jan Perkins said. The project will probably not be delayed more than a month, she said.

Santa Ana Mayor Dan Young, who is running against Acosta in the city’s first popular election for mayor in November, ripped into Acosta for bidding on the project.

“I find that it goes beyond a simple mistake and a mere coincidence when he turns up as the low bidder on all nine bids,” said Young, who is a developer. “I think it is deeply suspicious. . . . People expect a higher degree of ethical behavior than that.”

Acosta agreed that it was highly unusual for his company to be the low bidder on all nine prime contractors’ bids. He said it was probably due to the low overhead the company would have had on a local project, contrasted with masonry companies that would have to bring equipment and workers from a distance.

Young also criticized Acosta for bidding and performing work on the Century High School project in east Santa Ana. School district officials said Acosta’s company is doing about $100,000 worth of work on the project.

“There seems to be an enormous suspicion (about) how he’s conducting his business, using his influence to get public works contracts,” Young said. “It’s tragic, because it puts a chill on our bidding process. Who’s going to want to bid . . . if it’s known that the local public works projects are going to a city councilman in town?”

Acosta lashed back at Young. “That shows how little he knows about the construction industry,” Acosta said. “The bidding process is governed by the state government code very specifically, very strictly. If he knew what he was talking about, he wouldn’t be making those kinds of remarks.”