Mayor’s pal gets more of the millions doled out Tuesday

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Tucked into the Miami-Dade Commission agenda Tuesday is a little item that will make Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s best friend and campaign finance chair very happy.

One of the multi-million dollar contracts that will likely be awarded lists Ralph Garcia Toledo‘s company as one of the subcontractors. But nobody is going to mention it. Nobody brought up this cronyism at the Chairman’s Policy Council where the contract went up from $11 million to $22 million at Chairman Esteban Bovo‘s request.

Why should they? It’s just part of business at County Hall.

Read related story: Mayor’s BFF is back for another county contract payola

Garcia Toledo already has a piece of another contract, getting paid $200 an hour for mostly clerical work —  up to $18 million in 12 years. For work that could be done by a county staffer. Does that sound legitimate to you?

Now he’s getting more? Why not? If nobody stopped him the first time. 

The resolution is a contract award for $22 million for engineering services to Parsons Brinckerhoff to help the Department of Transportation and Public Works execute projects in its capital improvements plan and implement the all-powerful Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan, including the study and implementation of future technology, such as driverless vehicles.

GT Construction is listed among the 18 subcontractors. We don’t know what his piece of the pie is. Another $200 an hour? 

The first contract was awarded after Garcia-Toledo helped Gimenez win the 2012 election. He’s due another bite at the apple.

Read related story: Mayor’s pal Garcia-Toledo eats lobster with county staffers

There are two more contracts being awarded, each for $11 million, for the same thing: professional engineering services for the Department of Transportation and Public Works for their capital improvements and the SMART plan. And there are a dozen subcontractors on the other two — one for Parsons Transportation and one for Aecom Technical Services, which is the same company that messed up the reverse osmosis plant in Hialeah but the county still keeps contracting nonetheless.

That makes for 42 subcontractors — or 41, really, since Manuel Vera is on two contracts — who are feeding from this $44-million buffet.

The funds for the contract awarded to Parsons, and from there to Ralph Garcia-Toledo, are coming from the People’s Transportation Funds. Those are tax dollars approved by voters in 2002 when they approved a half cent tax to fund rapid transit expansion.

The dollars used to pay the mayor’s daughter-in-law for the subcontract that the company she is employed in also are taxpayer dollars.

So the mayor is using public taxpayer dollars to help his best friend and his daughter in law and the commission just rubber stamps it? Is that what we can expect for the next four years?