Q: How many bids were solicited/received for the recently completed tree removals at the Capitol? Twenty-thousand dollars seems really outrageous.
—Gene Osborn, Marietta
A: The cost of the project was below the bid threshold and didn't require a bid process, Georgia Building Authority spokesman Paul Melvin told Q&A on the News in an email.
GBA purchases under $25,000 do not require competitive bids, he wrote.
The two oaks – one was a scarlet oak with extensive decay – were removed from the southwest lawn of the state Capitol on New Year’s weekend.
Downey Trees, which has worked with the GBA on previous projects, recently completed an inventory of all the trees around the Capitol, citing those two with extensive problems.
“GBA then had a licensed, certified arborist with Boutte Tree, who has also worked with GBA, complete a risk assessment of the two trees and determined that they needed to be removed,” Melvin wrote. “Boutte then removed the trees.”
Q: In regard to Jared Fogle, can you tell me the times that the abuse happened?
—Jean Stone, Doraville
A: Court documents show that Fogle had an interest in child pornography going back to 2007, the Indianapolis Star reported.
Other documents show that Fogle, the former Subway pitchman, paid for sex with a 17-year-old in 2012.
Investigators examined “more than 235,000 text messages, emails, images and videos — more than 5,700 gigabytes in all,” the Star reported, during the investigation.
Fogle was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in November.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column; Allison Floyd contributed. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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