Authority officials said the contract awards did not violate the agency’s rules because the work was to be paid for out of project budgets and not the authority’s budget. But the process raised the ire of Atlanta City Councilman Andre Dickens and Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis.

Ellis, who is also a recreation authority board member, made the motion at Friday’s board meeting to order the authority’s new executive director, Kerry Stewart, to develop a comprehensive policy. The motion was approved.

The new policy would dictate a minimum dollar amount required for board approval and detail how the board should be briefed for smaller contracts.

Stewart said he would review the practices of similar agencies as he drafts the new policy. He joined the authority in September and was not employed by the agency when the construction management contracts were awarded.

Ellis said taxpayers and the board are owed greater transparency about major contracts, including the Con-Real contracts.

“Contracts of that size and scope should have had public discussion and a board vote,” he said.

Con-Real won its first contract with the authority — a $100,000 consulting gig — in April 2017, days before its then-chief, Keisha Lance Bottoms, resigned as her campaign for mayor gained momentum. Bottoms also was a city councilwoman at the time.

In June of that year, after Bottoms left the authority, Con-Real won its arena renovation bid. Days later, campaign finance records show Con-Real CEO Gerald Alley donated $3,900 to Bottoms' campaign and he held a fundraiser for her that August.

The zoo contract was approved in June after Bottoms became mayor.

The mayor’s office has said she had no control over contracting decisions made after she left the agency, and “no favors have ever been asked and none have been given in the awarding of any contracts.”

The city controls six of the authority’s nine board seats.

Con-Real serves as the owner’s representative on both construction projects, in place to ensure contractors complete all work at the agreed upon quality and price. Con-Real vets all change orders to make sure any additional charges are justified.

Alley has said in both cases the authority decided his company was the most capable bidder.

A Con-Real representative said Friday his company had discovered disallowed expenditures in the $192.5 million State Farm Arena renovation, saving taxpayers more than $7 million.

The story so far

Channel 2 Action News and the AJC in October revealed the highest bidder won contracts for construction oversight services for projects at Zoo Atlanta and the newly named State Farm Arena. Those contracts were approved without a vote of the full board of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority. The authority said it wasn’t obligated to pick the low bidder, nor seek board approval, because funds to pay the contracts came from construction and not the agency’s budget. The authority said the contracts will save taxpayers more money than the value of the awards. On Friday, the authority board ordered its new executive director to draft a new tighter policy for contracting.