Florida Mayor made repeated direct purchases from a company linked to the mayor’s secretary

Several of the purchases that the Florida Mayor made from Rodríguez Castellini and Rodríguez Coito were observed by the Court of Accounts (TCA) for exceeding the amounts allowed to hire through direct purchase. But, in turn, the service that is purchased from the company is carried out practically every month and no bidding was called.

The company’s relationship with the official and the observations of the TCA were one of the reasons that led to the fact that this Friday the Florida Departmental Board will reject the approval of the rendering of accounts of the Administration, something that had never happened.

Direct purchases every month

According to the records on the website of the State Purchases Regulatory Agency (ARCE)the first purchases were made in 2020. In October of that year, the purchase of rental of a backhoe to collect non-domestic waste which was held in July 2020 by $199,348.

The direct purchases from the same company and for the same concept they continued to be made every month until October 2020, even in some months more than one purchase was made. In general, the Municipality paid between $150,000 and $200,000 each time he leased the backhoe.

Florida Mayor

Backhoe removing debris from the side of a container

In 2021the Intendance leased the service through direct purchases every month of the year and sometimes more than once in the same month. The lease cost between $200,000 and $300,000 each purchase. In 2023 there is only one record that was published in May for the direct purchase of January for $273,580. According to the TCA, in total direct purchases from the Castellini family company total about US$70,000.

He director of the Treasury of the Intendancy of Florida, Martín Varelaargued to The Observer that for waste collection “there is a tender” and that “sometimes” it has been without effect because the offers are higher priced. Meanwhile, he said, a “price call” is made to choose the cheapest among the companies that offer the service. “There are several companies in the same business, sometimes one wins and sometimes another wins,” he said.

However, the ARCE does not have bidding records or price contest for the service of the lease of a backhoe to lift the non-domestic waste and the company that carries out the task is always the same: Rodríguez Castellini and Rodríguez Coito.

Asked why instead of directly buy the hours of the machine, the commune did not call for a tenderVarela explained that the service is used “when it is detected by the Hygiene division of the mayorbecause there are neighbors who are throwing rubbish, like washing machines or refrigerators in two specific places that are identified” and added that “sometimes it is done through direct purchase, but for different things. One can be for Hygiene and another for Social Development,” she said.

Florida Mayor

Municipality hires a backhoe to collect non-domestic waste

The hierarch affirmed that the fact that the The owners of the company are the son and ex-husband of the mayor’s secretary it is a fact “fortuitous” because Castellini entered the mayor’s office during this administration and the company provides services to the commune “more than 10 years ago” and assured that “legally there is no problem of any kind”. The State Purchases Regulatory Agency does not include purchases from before 2020.

The backhoe and the dump

The administration identified that in two areas of Florida neighbors dispose of large waste: mattresses, heaters, chairs, washing machines, refrigerators. One point is “near the Santa Lucía river and another behind a soccer field.” The garbage dumps that are formed are the ones that motivate the commune to use backhoes to remove that waste.

He President of Adeom of Florida, William Rodríguez, said to The Observer that the union has been critical of the contracting of services to private companies and that the commune cannot take charge of the collection because the Municipal machines are not in good condition. “This is not from now, the machines have a period of wear and little maintenance. Florida has grown a lot and the mayor’s office cannot cope with the garbage, the scrap metal and also facing the rural roads, the streets. They end up in private contracts that end up being more expensive,” he said.

In 2022 the commona bought a backhoe, but “it’s not enough”, According to the director of the Treasury, therefore, the company continued to be hired. Regarding that machine, Rodríguez said that he “is at the command” of the hygiene division and that the rest use roads for rural roads and remarked: “It is the responsibility of the administration to have the machinery in good condition.”

Direct purchase by surveillance service

The TCA also noted several purchases to the surveillance company Hiparco. The commune has made direct purchases for more than a million pesos for the service to monitor the racetrack or the stadium. Varela affirmed that this company had won a tender and that when it was finished, another call was not made “because they are specific things.”

However, there are several purchases that were made by contracting surveillance for six months. Consulted in this regard, the chief said that this point should be answered by the supply area, which is the one who receives the purchase order from the different directors. “We at the Treasury see that without the invoice it was done accordingly, it is passed to the TCA and then to the treasury. We do not know the previous administrative process,” he said.

In this sense, Rodríguez de Adeom said that the mayor’s office has a guardian service. “It is inefficient, they have an average age of 50 years and there are very few. The ideal would be to hire municipal guards, but the modality of the private contract is sought,” he said.

Accountability left political division

The fact generated a political division within the National Party itself. The white mayor Jesús Betancur said that “he who warns does not betray” in reference to the fact that López’s co-religionists had warned him of the difference in criteria in the management of the commune. “Accountability was always voted. That time is over. It is more honest to say that we have differences, the mayor has to proceed differently,” said the mayor.

From the administration they believe that “there is bad faith” politics. “Some political actors of the Departmental Board, with a purely political purpose they misrepresented what Accountability isemphasizing some points in which the Court of Accounts observes and that from their point of view they understand that this observation may be viable” however, Varela expressedthe administration “has tools to raise these observations with solid arguments”.