Senators question changes in Iowa Veterans Home plans

Democratic senators charged Republican Gov. Terry Branstad with short-circuiting his predecessor's efforts to create good-paying jobs for Iowa union members and delaying progress on renovations at the Iowa Veterans Home.

In a Statehouse meeting June 23, senators questioned David Worley, commandant of the veterans home in Marshalltown, about reports they had heard – second- and third-hand – that the state had “turned back” federal funds to avoid using a project labor agreement and, possibly, jeopardizing federal funds rather than match them with I-JOBS bonds.

“I'm concerned about putting off these projects,” said Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center. “Those are a lot of jobs and a lot of money in my district. They would have been good-paying jobs under the PLA.”

Branstad has prohibited using state funds on public-works construction contracts with project labor agreements. However, the veterans' home project was put out to bid under Democratic Gov. Chet Culver's executive order mandating the use of PLAs for state projects.

As evidence, Democratic senators pointed to an e-mail from Randall Strapp of the state Department of Administrative Services telling bidders the state hopes to re-bid the project “with revised specification (i.e., no PLA).”

“It looks like we're re-doing this because of the PLA,” added Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington, a 30-year union member. “I have a problem with that.”

“That's not my motivation,” said Worley, who was appointed by Culver and retained by Branstad. He's worked for five governors “and I understand the politics of the job.”

Branstad denied the decision to reject all the bids on Phase 2 of the renovations had anything to do with PLAs. The low bid, by a Red Oak construction firm, was $2.66 million over the $15.9 million estimate, Worley said.

Worley and Branstad said the design of the renovations did not meet the needs of aging veterans and their spouses. The plans would have reduced the number of veterans the home could serve, Worley said. He objected to upgrading administrative office before making improvements that directly benefit veterans.

Worley insisted that no federal funds have been returned. The state never received the funds in question, he said. The $11.4 million in question, he said, is still available. He remains confident Iowa will get the funding, noting that some states are dropping their requests because they don't have state matching funds.

Phase 1 of the Iowa Veterans Home master plan is underway. At a cost of $44 million, it will replace 180 beds and help the home provide single rooms for its 624 residents.

Phase 3 was a $17.5 million renovation to the administrative office. Phase 4 called for tearing down an existing building and replacing it with a $25 million facility.

The changes Worley is making to the plans will make better use of state funds and provide better facilities for veterans, Branstad said.

“They're going about it in the right way and the veterans can be assured we are doing everything we can to provide the right kind of facilities to meet their needs,” he said.

Rep. Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, emphasize that he and other Democrats are not concerned about the quality of care of veterans, but communication between Worley, the governor's office and the Legislature.

“We want to make it's more of a partnership,” he said, referring to lawmakers' complaint that they didn't know about the changes in the plans.

Worley apologized for the lack of communication and said he would do better.

FYI

• A project labor agreement between a government entity and labor unions typically attempts to assure that some percentage of workers on a public works project will be local union workers. In turn, unions agree not to strike or stop work on the project.
• Advocates of the agreements say they protect against out-of-state firms winning bids and then bringing all of their workers to the job from elsewhere. Opponents of the agreements say they drive up project costs and make for less-competitive bids, in part, because non-union contractors often don't want to participate in the bidding.