WAS THE PAINT APPLICATION COMPANY AND THE DESIGN CRITERIA THE CULPRITS IN THE SHREVEPORT WATER TOWER REPAINTING DEBACLE

The visual challenges to the "dirty" newly repainted Shreveport water tower on I-49 have been documented in Settle Talk and other members of local media.
Department of Water and Sewage (DOWUS)Interim Director Brandon Snead was roasted by several members of the Shreveport City Council at its meeting last Tuesday. Snead drew the ire for a project started last year under than DOWUS Director William Danel who resigned earlier  this year.

Snead did not help his cause by not knowing financial details of this hotly contested issue without reference to this phone which he left in his chair in the chambers rather than taking with him to the podium. Snead's lack of clarity on other details was a sharp and unfortunate departure from the presentations by Daniel to the Council during his tenure as DOWUS director.

In May of last year Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux announced with much fanfare a contest to design proposals for Shreveport's three water towers. This project was sponsored by the City of Shreveport, Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) and Clean Shreveport.  SRAC was named to  "administer the selection process and the design development through to approval by the City of Shreveport and the selected paint application company." (Press Release captioned "Shreveport Water Tower Call for Design Proposals.")

The press release did NOT list any criteria for paint color.

The release did state listed many details of the contest:

a. "The selected semi-finalists will be required to create the design concept "to scale" with accurate Pantone colors for the designated Water Tower."

b.  Semi-finalists "will meet with the Project Engineer (not named) to gain a clear understanding of the requirements of the design".

c. "The design will be submitted as a digital design with designated Pantone Colors"

Snead has identified the shoddy appearance of the I-49 tank as dirt on the tank. He said the white color shows dirt more than dark colors.

Hmmm--what was the advice of the "selected paint application company" on the white color?

Hmm--did the unnamed "selected paint application company" have an obligation to render advice on the appearance of dirt on the selected paint color?

Hmm--should the press release with design criteria have included information on impact of dirt on the paint color? 

The Council expressed major concerns on this embarrassing and highly visible paint mess. They challenged Shreveport City Attorney Marcus Edwards to research possible remedies for the repainting mess.

Hopefully Edwards will dig deep into what the duties and responsibilities of the "selected paint application company" were, and whether or not those were properly discharged.