Central Municipal Services Office to Move to 6703 Sullivan Road

CENTRAL — The City of Central signed a master privatization agreement with the Institute of Building Technology & Safety (IBTS) Wednesday morning.  The pact will allow the non-profit organization to provide City Services in Central for the next five years at a cost of under $3.1 million a year.

The new agreement represents a savings of about 15 percent in comparison with the current contractor, CH2MHILL.  The new contract will take effect July 1.

IBTS will establish a new City of Central Municipal Services Center at 6703 Sullivan Rd., which is in the shopping center with Cactus Cafe and Central Perk.  The current municipal services center is located at the corner of Hooper and Greenwell Springs roads.  The location of City Hall will be unaffected by the change.

Signing the document were Central Mayor Mac Watts and Dr. Shyam Choudhary of IBTS.

The City of Central (population 27,000) is the only municipality in Louisiana and one of the few in the United States that has totally privatized all City Services.

The agreement with CH2MHILL became controversial over issues of transparency and costs.  Nevertheless, the Denver-based firm was expected to be chosen by Mayor Mac Watts to continue.

However, when the Mayor’s Committee on City Services issued a Request for Proposals, IBTS came back with the lowest bid.  Another committee appointed by the mayor then came back with an evaluation of the four bidders that resulted in IBTS having the highest evaluation score.  The committee recommended the non-profit organization and the mayor accepted their recommendation.

David Ratcliff has been named the Program Director for IBTS and will be responsible for running the company on a day-to-day basis.  All city permits, public works, and other services are included.

Photo by Connor Lloyd