Credibility vital to prisoner program

We were troubled when some contractors said they had been unfairly shut out of bidding on an innovative new housing project aimed at helping former prisoners become successful citizens.

But after reviewing in more detail how Home To Stay LLC officials went about hiring Rinderknecht Associates to build the $3.45 million apartment complex, we feel better about the process. Project leaders did their due diligence to be fair, efficient and free from conflicts of interest. That's good because the project is an important one.

The Home to Stay low-income housing project has been developed by Home to Stay, LLC - a partnership between the non-profit Community Corrections Improvement Association of Cedar Rapids and the Spencer-based Community Housing Initiatives Inc. It is not a public project, although it has received public support in the form of grants and tax incentives.

The 26-unit building is expected to be finished in a month, and might well serve as a national model of creative community corrections for the rest of the country. However, it has not been without some controversy.

Project leaders gave up initial grant money and put the project on hold after bidding came in higher than they could afford. After securing new funding, they tried again, this time inviting only several qualified companies to submit resumes as a way to “value engineer” the process.

That's because they had to move quickly to secure state grant money, Community Corrections Improvement Association Director Gary Hinzman told us this week.

Besides saving time, it also allowed them to guarantee they won't pay more than the accepted bid, he said.

Both the first and second bid processes were designed with input from partners and financial backers, and in keeping with relevant government regulations.

“We think it was a fair process,” Hinzman said. “The bottom line for a project like this is you have to bring it in on target, spend the funder's money in an appropriate way and finish the project with the funding you have.”

But what of questions raised about conflicts of interest involving two Community Corrections Improvement Association members: LaVerne Flagel, past president of Rinderknecht, and Scott Friauf, president of Merit Construction, the non-union arm of Rinderknecht.

Hinzman told us the two men not only recused themselves from discussing the project, they left the room during discussions.

Good. Credibility is vital for Home to Stay's objective: offer recently released prisoners much-needed stability and other support so they have a better chance of success in the outside.

If it works, offenders, their families and our community all benefit.