"I never had heard that name," she said. "I don't know who handled it, but I did not."
In several interviews with The Sun about Vollmer's recollection, Schwartz at first said he could not remember whether she had played a role in the choice. And he could not explain why the document said Vollmer had insisted on GWWO. He said he had meant to inform the Board of Estimates that she was among several people who agreed with his recommendation to hire the firm. It was a conclusion he said he alone reached after checking the firm's credentials and its projects, which include the visitors center at George Washington's Mount Vernon and renovation of the Walters Art Museum's Hackerman House, a mansion donated to the city by the Whiting-Turner CEO and his wife.
There was no advertising for bids and no interview with any other architect, said Schwartz, whose title now is chief of capital development.
"You can look at that as a bypass, but in reality it is such a minuscule percentage of what we do," he said.
Board of Estimates rules for hiring architects and engineers require that a city panel recommend the firm best qualified and list at least two and not more than four other qualified firms in order of preference.
Through a spokesman, O'Malley declined to comment about the Cylburn contract and other issues regarding the foundation, referring questions to the city.
Comptroller Joan M. Pratt referred questions to the city solicitor's office. City Solicitor George A. Nilson said he believes that members of gardening organizations selected the architect. That would have made the contract exempt from competitive bidding, he said.
Shapiro, the attorney who incorporated the Baltimore City Foundation, said the city should not have avoided the bid process by using foundation funds.
"You create something that has perfectly legitimate purposes and then somebody decides that is a neat way to sort of end-run these bidding procedures. That dog won't hunt. That is not what this foundation is for," he said.
Ethics rules and exceptions
Foundation records reviewed by The Sun do not reveal how contributions come about or who solicits them. According to Ivey, city officials raise funds, though he said he did not know exactly who solicited them.
"We don't get involved in the fundraising at all," he said.
