(1) Why did more than one year pass between the hiring of GSI and the hiring of Pickus, when the GSI contract called for the completion of the project by November 1, 2002, less than three months after Pickus was eventually hired?

(2) Why would the city make more than $400,000 of no-bid purchases of chandeliers and sconces (including restoration) from a single supplier, New Metal Crafts, instead of seeking competitive bids from other suppliers of such fixtures?

(3) Where are the written architectural and construction contracts that authorize and regulate the substantial work, other than demolition, that has been performed in the upper floors of the theatre building?

(4) Why has Ray Vukovich, the city's designated representative on the GSI and Pickus contracts, failed to make periodic detailed reports about the progress of the project at city council meetings, leaving it to Steve Kolber to provide only cursory information at finance committee meetings?

(5) Who paid (and from what sources) the salaries of the executive director, executive assistant, development director, and on-site coordinator after GSI's contractual obligations ended, and who paid (and from what sources) the salary of Ray Shepardson after his disaffiliation with GSI?

(6) What is the total amount of salaries or other compensation that have been paid to date from any source to the various personnel who have been involved in this renovation project, including but not limited to Ray Shepardson, Sonya Winner-Smith (Ray Shepardson's former wife), Nanette Shepardson (Ray Shepardson's wife), Steve Kolber, and Peggy Kolber (Steve Kolber's wife)?

(7) Why was Pickus not held to the terms of its first construction contract with the city that required substantial completion of the project by mid-June of 2003 for the total sum of $5,539,591?

(8) Why was the payment and performance bond section stricken from the first Pickus contract, when the law requires these protections for public funds in all public construction projects?

(9) Where is the performance bond for the first Pickus contract, or where is the evidence that there was some sort of "endorsement" by Pickus into "an existing compendium bond" that is exempt from FOIA disclosure?

(10) Why did the city not immediately hire a new architect when GSI was terminated, given the crucial administrative oversight role that the architect played to protect public funds and to make sure that the project proceeded according to plan?

(11) When did the city first learn that there was an $8,000,000 cost overrun on the project, since it appears that the city was not taken by surprise when this disclosure was made at the November 3, 2003 city council meeting, and that there was already a plan in place to rehire Pickus to complete the job?

(12) Why would the city waive bids and enter into a second construction contract with Pickus, at more than double the cost of the first contract and giving Pickus even more control, when Pickus was already in apparent breach of the first construction contract?

(13) Why did the city wait more than five months after authorizing this second Pickus contract to actually enter into it, and did TOWN's first FOIA request seeking all non-GSI contracts help to trigger the creation of this new document?

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