Engineering or Electioneering?

A subcontractor of engineering firm Burns & McDonnell will be paid $685,734 to facilitate door-to-door meetings with residents of a proposed taxing district set up to finance Kansas City’s proposed streetcar expansions.

The expenditure was authorized as part of a $4.4 million contract awarded to Burns & McDonnell by Kansas City last month for advanced conceptual engineering and environmental analysis related to the expansion.

Burns & McDonnell has been involved with the streetcar project since before the original downtown TDD was formed in December 2012.

On Wednesday, the Kansas City Business Journal obtained a copy of an undated email from Twana Scott of Scott Hall & Associates, which will be working with Parson & Associates on the public outreach project. According to the email, the two firms are looking to hire door-to-door liaisons on the behalf of Burns & McDonnell.

 

James Klahr, executive director of the Missouri Ethics Commission, said it would be premature to comment on the situation at this time. He said the commission can investigate allegations of conflicts of interest if a complaint is presented to the commission.

Full story here at the Kansas City Business Journal