{"id":2060,"date":"2026-06-24T19:06:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2060"},"modified":"2026-06-24T19:06:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:06:52","slug":"columbia-councilmans-business-sues-the-city-over-lost-contract-alleged-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2060","title":{"rendered":"Columbia councilman\u2019s business sues the city over lost contract, alleged conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Columbia City Councilman Peter Brown\u2019s company Colite Technologies is suing the city after it says it was passed over for a multi-million-dollar contract for an \u201carbitrary\u201d reason: one of its owners sits on city council.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2058\">Free ChatGPT? USC re-ups with OpenAI to provide students, employees chatbot access<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The company, which builds commercial-sized solar projects for businesses and governments, put its hat in the ring this December to build the city a new solar power facility at its wastewater treatment plant south of downtown.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>But the city disqualified its bid because of \u201cunavoidable\u201d conflict of interest concerns stemming from Brown\u2019s partial ownership stake in the company, according to a lawsuit filed against the city by the company that alleges the city misapplied the conflict-of-interest rules and wrongfully disqualified Colite from the process.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Brown represents the northeast quadrant of Columbia on city council and also sat on the board of the Central Midlands Council of Governments at the time the company applied for the contract. That board will be handling the federal grant money paying for a portion of the solar work.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Colite Technologies\u2019 leadership said the conflict concerns could have been addressed.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe disappointing thing is that we\u2019ve invested a lot of money here in the local community, we\u2019ve built a very successful, competitive company,\u201d said Kevin O\u2019Hara, co-founder and CEO of Colite Technologies. \u201cThen when an opportunity comes up in the local community, we get arbitrarily removed from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>His company would have done the work for less, and his co-owner would have recused himself from any decisions about the project, O\u2019Hara said.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Now, Colite Technologies has sued the city, asking a judge to pause any movement on the contract and order the city to consider its bid for the work. The city had not responded to the lawsuit as of press time. It has 30 days from being notified of the lawsuit to reply.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<h2>Conflict questions<\/h2>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Columbia City Council earlier this month approved a nearly $9 million contract to Kentucky-based CMTA, Inc. for the solar panel project. Brown recused himself from the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2057\">Windshield flies off tumbling fire engine, hits man in his yard, NC officials say<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>A judge has since stopped the city from making that award final, issuing an injunction pausing the deal until the court says it can proceed.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The contract value is part of O\u2019Hara\u2019s legal argument. His company submitted plans to the city with a budget of $6.7 million, he said, and argues that difference elevates the dispute.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe magnitude of the pricing discrepancy between Colite\u2019s proposal and the intended awardee, as well as the error \u2026 committed by excluding Colite\u2019s proposal from consideration, create significant issues of public interest,\u201d that should be dealt with before the contract is issued, O\u2019Hara wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Colite Technologies is a commercial solar company born from Councilman Brown\u2019s commercial sign company called Colite, or Colite International. Brown is a managing partner of the sign company.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Colite Technologies arm was founded in 2018 initially within Colite International, then broken off into its own company, under separate management.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara said Brown is not involved in managing the solar company and did nothing to influence the contract discussions.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara also said that his attorneys were making a legal argument to the city after their bid was disqualified, and that he learned the contract had already been decided while in the midst of those conversations.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sit on a lot of boards here, I\u2019ve contributed a lot to the local community,\u201d O\u2019Hara said. \u201cI feel really betrayed that we did not have a real opportunity to participate in this project that we\u2019re completely qualified for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=2055\">Free ChatGPT? USC re-ups with OpenAI to provide students, employees chatbot access<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The city declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colite Technologies, part-owned by Columbia councilman Peter Brown, has filed a lawsuit against Columbia SC after being disqualified from bidding for a contract<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Columbia councilman\u2019s business sues the city over lost contract, alleged conflict - 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