JACKSON COMPLAINT TARGETS ENGINEER

JACKSON -- The City of Jackson has filed a complaint with the state against former consulting engineer Rich Bowen, charging that Bowen has failed to give the city files for projects he worked on during his eight-year association with the city.

The complaint of violation was sent to the state Board for Architects, Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors in March. Such complaints are confidential, but a copy was sent to the Southeast Missourian anonymously.

Signed by City Administrator Steve Wilson, the complaint alleges that Bowen did provide records of the projects he was working on at the time the city ended its association with him, Sept. 23, 1998. But the city maintains Bowen has "failed to deliver to the city project files for past projects."

The project files the city is seeking consist of "records, electric and computer files, survey notes, design documents, construction records, tracings, maps, figures, plans, specifications, design computations, shop drawings, reports, memos, letters and other data..."

In the complaint, the city claims it worked with Bowen to "narrow the scope of the requested documents and established a method for copying same."

But the city says Bowen refused to take the records to a previously agreed upon copying agent when it refused to release him from all liability for the work he performed for the city.

"It would be dumb on our part to grant that to anybody," Mayor Paul Sander said. "To release him from liability for any kind of work he's done, we can't do that for anybody."

The complaint states that "the City has a potential claim against Bowen for professional negligence."

Attempts to reach Bowen for comment were unsuccessful.

The state board initially determines whether an investigation is necessary after logging in a complaint, according to Jim Gardner, director of communications for the state Department of Economic Development. The department oversees the state licensing boards.

If an investigation is warranted, the licensee has an opportunity to respond at its completion. The board then decides whether there is cause for discipline. That can consist of censure. In a more serious case, the matter can be sent to the state attorney general's office for an administrative hearing.

The action that follows can range from a warning to probation of up to five years to suspension or revocation of a license.

Gardner said 34 cases currently are awaiting investigation by the department. He is prohibited from providing information about individual cases.

A note attached to the copy of the complaint sent to the Southeast Missourian suggested that the complaint was retribution for Bowen's son, Chris, running in the most recent Board of Aldermen election.

Sander said that isn't the case.

"The taxpayers of Jackson paid for those records by that office when they worked for the city," he said. "We feel the city has a right to records they paid for."