Norwalk has had some interesting historical relationships with it’s historical assets. I think pretty much everyone knows that at one point the City political flunkies circa 1960 had plans to raze the Lockwood Mathews Mansion after using ti to store voting machines and yard machinery. They built a police station in Mathews Park, I guess because they had fears about zombies or something. They didn’t object with the state DOT decided to build I-95 through the historic center of Norwalk — exit 16 being the site of the former Governor Fitch house amongst others. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

So the mansion was spared, thanks to a private not for profit group Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum, that has managed the property on behalf of the City. But the City, through its Historical Commission, retains oversight on just what building restorations and modifications are allowed. Which brings us to the current spat between the Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum and the Historical Commission.

Each month over the past year or so, on the Historical Commission agenda is the report from the Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum (LMMM). And each month neither a representative, nor a report is submitted. When it came time to move forward with some restoration work, suddenly representatives appeared form the May 26th Historical Commission meeting. On that meeting’s agenda was the Historical Commission’s review of a $299,875 award for engineering services and infrastructure improvements. The item was on the agenda for a recommendation following the April executive session meeting. Action on the project had been tabled because there was concern that somewhere along the way, the steps and procedures of the bidding process allegedly did not get followed to the satisfaction of Historical Commission members.

Typically in a bidding process, a selection committee sets criteria upon which the bids are to be evaluated. A review of those items is then rated on a point system 0-5, on the completeness of the bid. A review of the bid evaluations revealed a troubling anomaly. Under the heading Schedule: Preliminary schedule of time needed to initiate and complete the project and identifying key phases of design, one of the bidders was awarded the top score, 5 by several selection members, when the bid in fact did not have a timeline included.

As it turns out, the bidder who skipped this criteria also scored the highest ranking, yet was not the lowest bid.

1. Silver/Petrucelli & Associates at $152,700
2. Bianco Giolitto Weston Architects at $266,000
3. Fuller D’Angelo, PC Architects & Planners at $297,500
4. David Scott Parker Architects at $299,875

Just who was evaluating the bids?

• Shelly Gerarden, executive director of the LMMM
• Chris Cooke, chairman of the LMMM board of trustees
• Patsie Brescia, treasurer of the LMMM board of trustees
• Joe Passero, LMMM board of trustees
• Mimi Findlay, LMMM board of trustees
• Port Draper, LMMM board of trustees
• Susan Sweitzer, Norwalk Redevelopment Agency
• Alan Lo, Land Use & Building Management, Public Works
• Dori Wilson, Dept of Planning and Zoning
• Gerald Foley, Norwalk Purchasing Agent
• David Park, chairman of the Norwalk Historical Commission

I’m sort of curious why there’s no trained architect on the selection committee, but I digress. There were other issues concerning the grading of the bids that raised concerns all coming to a boil on the May 26th Historical Commission meeting.

The infrastructure services specifically relate to the mechanical systems, which include an elevator and sprinkler system. In a building that innovated air conditioning in the late 1800s, how that mechanical infrastructure was implemented was going to be tricky. Maybe this should have been something delved into as part of the interview process and reference check, but it those items were not checked on the winning bidder’s submission.

The Historical Commission asked the LMMM to at least interview the 3 lowest bidders as a result of the May meeting, yet LMMM has not done so.