“I find this highly unusual. We’ve had a reasonable process of RFP. We’ve had several providers have responded… The current provider had every opportunity to participate in the process. He wasn’t even in the top three in terms of the price and performance. We have relied on our… human resources director to provide us with a significant amount of information. And over the past month, we’ve asked them to go back and review this… I have no idea of why we are considering going back to a provider that we’ve now heard does not have the proper certification for the service…”
Mr. Saylor is correct this is highly unusual, and frankly something does not sit right about this entire exchange.
Please see the video clip below to view this for yourself.
First, you have Melissa Chaney, the Human Resources Administrator, telling council and the public about the Knox-Keene act and how each EAP provider is required to have a license under its provisions.
Second, you have Melissa Chaney, the Human Resources Administrator, telling the council that Psychological Resources Associates (PRA) is out of compliance and does not have a license. Not only has PRA been a provider for the City of Davis for 23 years, but they also provide EAP services to several other governmental agencies including the County, the City of Woodland, the City of West Sacramento, and the Davis Joint Unified School District. So how could a company that is in the business of providing EAP services to government agencies, not be aware of Knox-Keene act requirements and be out of compliance?
So you would think that maybe Ms. Chaney would clarify this issue? Mayor Greenwald asked her point blank and she stated, “No.” This is a company with whom the city of Davis had 23 years experience, why would you not at least grant the courtesy of having them clarifying the issue?
At this point clearly Mayor Greenwald is torn on this issue. City Manager Bill Emlen intervenes saying that they were actually not sure about this issue and that if this is the concern, perhaps they should wait and explore it further. But if you watch Greenwald’s response, the issue of Knox-Keene is clearly very decisive. Mayor Pro Tem Asmundson is not on this clip, but she has a similar reaction.
Mr. Saylor is correct–this entire exchange was extremely unusual and it would seem that this is far from the end of this story.
—Doug Paul Davis reporting
