Steve Stewart

With a number of locally owned businesses struggling in this depressed economy, the rally cry from business owners and government officials is “buy local.”  Shortly after the Mayor of Tallahassee started “buy local Saturday’s”, the City Commission adopted a local preference for city procurement with the goal of providing more business opportunities to locally owned [...]

A Tallahassee Reports comparison of electric rates over the last three years shows COT electric rates have decreased more than any other of the seven utilities included in the comparison group. Using data from the Florida Municipal Electric Association for December, 2008, December 2009, and December 2010, Tallahassee Reports compared monthly residential rates for 1000 [...]

After a year without bylaws, The City of Tallahassee Citizen Advisory Committee for Utilities codified their mission and elected a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman. The final result is that all 15 members will be appointed by the City Manager, Anita Favors-Thompson, and the committee will “act as an advisory board to the City Manager.” The head of [...]

Last week Mayor Marks admitted that he made a mistake voting for a vendor he was being paid by without disclosing any of the specifics. The appropriate federal, state, and local officials will sort this out in due time.

However, one question that has not yet been answered is why was the project not put out for a competitive bid?

The Atlanta-based Alliance for Digital Equality (ADE), the vendor that is paying Mayor John Marks approximately $20,000 a year and was included in a City of Tallahassee (COT) federal grant application, has had little luck in securing federal grant monies in the past. However, sources from inside the city tell Tallahassee Reports that one of [...]

As the FBI decides whether to launch a formal investigation of corruption within the City of Tallahassee, Tallahassee Reports is releasing supporting documents related to the story, which broke this morning on TallahasseeReports.com.

On September 15, 2010, Commissioners Ziffer, Lightsey, and Gillum joined forces with Mayor John Marks to approve the city’s participation in a $1.6 million federal grant with partners that included the Alliance for Digital Equality (ADE) and The Go Beyond Foundation.

After talking to sources, it has been determined that several documents have been turned over to the FBI because of concern about the relationship between Mayor John Marks and the vendors included in the grant application.

The red light camera program implemented by the City of Tallahassee was promoted as a way to increase safety at dangerous intersections. A recent national study concluded that the program was making intersections safer. Based on this premise, the City began installing red light cameras across the city. Currently there are 17 red light cameras [...]

Tallahassee Reports has received a preliminary draft of a COT Audit of the City’s Vendor Incentive Programs. Among the findings is that the Minority Business Enterprise Program “structure and operation is based upon outdated policies and statistics and therefore likely does not comply with United States (U.S.) Supreme Court rulings related to race and gender neutral alternatives.”