Yearwood cancels contract with Moreland Altobelli

More than three weeks after the Barrow County Board of Commissioners voted to terminate a $1.6 million engineering contract with Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc., Barrow County commission chairman Danny Yearwood signed the required written notice of the cancellation.

The letter was signed July 7 and was to be sent by certified mail July 8 to the Norcross company, said county clerk Michelle Sims.

The BOC voted June 14 to terminate the contract for work on the future West Winder Bypass and to issue new requests for engineering services. However, the 2005 contract states that the county’s termination of the agreement for “convenience” would become effective upon written notification.

As the county CEO, it is the chairman’s responsibility to administratively implement the board’s actions. The vote to end the contract was unanimous. However, Yearwood apparently took no action until Moreland Altobelli representatives learned of the vote during a June 28 telephone conversation with the county’s engineering manager and demanded an immediate meeting with the chairman.

Yearwood in that meeting confirmed the BOC’s action, but did not provide to the representatives the official written notice.

Following questions raised by the Barrow Journal (see the July 6 edition of the print edition), Yearwood signed a revised version of a letter that had been drafted by county engineering manager Darrell Greeson and transmitted to the chairman by email on June 21.

The only changes in the final version of the letter were its date and the effective date of the termination of work under the contract.

The draft letter was dated June 15. The signed version was dated July 7. The draft asked the company to terminate work within 30 days of the date of the letter.

The final version directed the company to end work no later than 30 days from the date of the June 14 vote.