Two of the three members of the Boise City Council who reviewed the contract process were never told that Brian Cronin - a state lawmaker and former campaign staffer for Mayor Dave Bieter - had been paid $2,000 for "streetcar consulting, brainstorming, and planning" in the weeks before the city formally asked firms to bid for a contract of up to $90,000.

Even Council President Maryanne Jordan - the one who knew of Cronin's initial work and didn't think it was an issue - was unaware of another potential conflict of interest: that some of the same city staffers who recommended Cronin get the city contract were the ones who suggested Cronin join their group exploring the best ways to get information out on the proposed 15-block transit route in Downtown Boise. They met with him at least twice to talk about the issue.

"I would have liked to have known about it," said Councilman Jim Tibbs, who learned about the connection from the Statesman. The newspaper discovered the relationship after requesting hundreds of Capital City Development Corp. e-mails and documents through Idaho's public records act.

"I am concerned enough that I would like to have some answers," Tibbs said.

Jordan, who led the three-person review of the contract, said she didn't tell Tibbs or Councilman Alan Shealy because "the work that had been done was separate and preliminary."

The city was prepared to award the contract to Cronin on Oct. 6, when there was a public outcry over the cost, timing and potential conflicts of interest.

The council review determined that the contract process was proper; that a streetcar public relations contract is needed; that awarding the contract to Cronin and Associates was valid; and that there was no conflict of interest.

"I have no concerns at all that this was anything but transparent," Jordan said.

Several of Bieter's top aides said they didn't volunteer the information to Tibbs or Shealy - or to the local reporters who covered the issue - for the same reasons Jordan cited.

All city leaders say what happened isn't unusual.

The city can legally work with outside companies on small projects for small amounts of money - and does so all the time, they said. Boise city rules say professional services contracts under $25,000 do not have to be advertised to competing private firms.

And in this case, Cronin didn't even get paid by the city - he was paid as a subcontractor under the city's urban renewal district. But Bieter spokesman Adam Park said it was either he or fellow mayor's aide Cece Gassner who recommended in August a CCDC consultant hire Cronin's company.

CCDC documents show Cronin attended two meetings of a streetcar communications team that consisted of Park, Gassner and two CCDC representatives - one a staff member and the other a hired consultant.

On Aug. 18, CCDC's public outreach consultant, Alicia Ritter, wrote an e-mail breaking down the duties and confirming Cronin's role with Bieter's office:

"CCDC is going to take on the role of information resource/broker as managed by Alicia; and the mayor's office is going to assume its rightful role as cheerleader/champion and go about promoting the benefits and opportunities that ensure from streetcar systems as supported by Cronin & Associates."

When city officials decided to do more on the streetcar outreach and started the bid process, the city and CCDC ended the relationship with Cronin's company, Park said.

"We determined that the project was bigger than we originally thought when we made the decision to bring in Cronin under Alicia," Park said.

Park and Cronin both said the ties were severed Aug. 26. The request for bids was issued Sept. 8.

On Sept. 24, a review panel made up of Park and Gassner and two others - Michael Zuzel from the mayor's office and Scot Oliver from CCDC - recommended the contract be awarded to Cronin and Associates. Then and throughout the later reviews, everyone at the city agreed Cronin's proposal was far superior to the others submitted.

"If someone is asserting there is an insider deal here, then why would we be so stupid to do (a public request for bids)?" said Bieter chief of staff Jade Riley.

Cronin said the meetings didn't offer any advantage over other public relation firms.

"I don't think there was any knowledge shared in those meetings that would have not been obvious to anyone following the issue," Cronin said Monday.

"If you look at our proposal, you wouldn't see in there anything that was terribly revolutionary."

Jordan said Cronin didn't have an edge.

"Absolutely not. He did not have inside information. I one hundred percent reject that premise," she said.

Shealy agreed, though he didn't learn about Cronin's streetcar work until the Statesman started making inquiries.

But when the public outcry started, Ritter suggested the earlier Cronin work should be acknowledged.

On Oct. 7, two days after the Statesman broke a story about the pending contract, she sent an e-mail to CCDC with her advice on how to handle media and public questions about Cronin:

"The truth is best: City decided it wanted large public involvement effort, while we originally started them working on this with Cronin (open house, Web site, etc.) under Ritter contract, it was quickly realized that the scope was far larger than anticipated, so best the city take it out for bid. Cronin compensated for initial work, primarily planning for public outreach activities."

Longtime Eagle Mayor Nancy Merrill, now Idaho State Parks and Recreation director, said she always expected her staff to keep her and the council liaison informed of any meetings or communications - no matter how banal - pertaining to these city contracts, especially if it involved major projects or anything under council or public scrutiny.

"Everyone should be in the job of protecting taxpayer dollars, from staff to the mayor," she said. "It is always better to err on the side of the public, to avoid any appearance of impropriety. ... I didn't want to learn about city business from other people or the media. I wanted to learn it firsthand from my staff."

Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428