$ 6 000 for a notice board sign! Really ?? If Public works did site prep and installed and cut some cedar for it, then contracted out the work ....mmmmm ...2 or 3 days to put together at the most ....plywood - plexiglass cover ...maybe a small shake roof.....
I don't care about the price. I'm more concerned about the method of finding a contractor to erect the sign. Now I'm not saying that anything underhanded happened here......but let's put ourselves in the position of the person in the village office tendering the contract, and then let's assume that I'm the person in the village office and I have a friend who wants the contract. I'll need to offer the contract to a few potential candidates to make things look kosher......so I'll offer it to XXX Construction (cause I know they won't be interested in small jobs like this), YYY Ltd. (cause I know their entire crew is booked for the next year), ZZZ Bros.Inc (cause I know they don't want this kind of work), and, finally, to my friend who wants the job. Get the picture? It's easy to "rig" the bidding process, if I choose to do so. Why wasn't this job (and ALL public contracts) advertised to the general public, so ALL interested parties had an opportunity to bid on the job? Too difficult? (a simple classified ad in the Westerly should do the trick) Again, I'm not saying that anything underhanded is afoot here, things cost more than people realize. Insurance, taxes, fees, WCB,licenses; $6,000 isn't out of line, and the guys do great work. We certainly don't want an unsightly cobbled together cheapskate eyesore standing in front of the town hall. BUT, I do have issues with the bidding process. Even the illusion or possibility of corruption needs to be eliminated. A couple hundred bucks for day-to-day expenses is one thing, but when multiple thousands of the public's dollars are being spent isn't it important to do everything possible to get the best "bang for the buck"? And don't ALL local contractors deserve an opportunity to bid on the project? And even more important, isn't it vital that ANY hint of possible irregularities be eliminated, that EVERYONE plays on the same level playing field, that ALL are given equal opportunity to secure public contracts, and NO ONE can later say "Something about this smells fishy" Even the appearance or the possibility of public graft is something that needs to be driven from the district office, from council chambers, from our local government. Totally. Completely. Permanently. Promptly. As a citizen, I should not be needing to write this comment. I elected a council to watch over matters like this on my behalf. We just got rid of a senior district employee who surely has taught us that village staff require supervision, monitoring, and control. An accountable, transparent, open, public tendering policy would be a step in the right direction.
And why is the Recreation Programmer organizing signage when she should be focusing on recreation programming? Did the job descriptions get thrown out with the restructuring?
$ 6 000 for a notice board sign! Really ?? If Public works did site prep and installed and cut some cedar for it, then contracted out the work ....mmmmm ...2 or 3 days to put together at the most ....plywood - plexiglass cover ...maybe a small shake roof.....
ReplyDeleteI don't care about the price. I'm more concerned about the method of finding a contractor to erect the sign.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm not saying that anything underhanded happened here......but let's put ourselves in the position of the person in the village office tendering the contract, and then let's assume that I'm the person in the village office and I have a friend who wants the contract.
I'll need to offer the contract to a few potential candidates to make things look kosher......so I'll offer it to XXX Construction (cause I know they won't be interested in small jobs like this), YYY Ltd. (cause I know their entire crew is booked for the next year), ZZZ Bros.Inc (cause I know they don't want this kind of work), and, finally, to my friend who wants the job.
Get the picture? It's easy to "rig" the bidding process, if I choose to do so.
Why wasn't this job (and ALL public contracts) advertised to the general public, so ALL interested parties had an opportunity to bid on the job? Too difficult? (a simple classified ad in the Westerly should do the trick)
Again, I'm not saying that anything underhanded is afoot here, things cost more than people realize. Insurance, taxes, fees, WCB,licenses; $6,000 isn't out of line, and the guys do great work. We certainly don't want an unsightly cobbled together cheapskate eyesore standing in front of the town hall.
BUT, I do have issues with the bidding process. Even the illusion or possibility of corruption needs to be eliminated. A couple hundred bucks for day-to-day expenses is one thing, but when multiple thousands of the public's dollars are being spent isn't it important to do everything possible to get the best "bang for the buck"? And don't ALL local contractors deserve an opportunity to bid on the project?
And even more important, isn't it vital that ANY hint of possible irregularities be eliminated, that EVERYONE plays on the same level playing field, that ALL are given equal opportunity to secure public contracts, and NO ONE can later say "Something about this smells fishy"
Even the appearance or the possibility of public graft is something that needs to be driven from the district office, from council chambers, from our local government. Totally. Completely. Permanently. Promptly.
As a citizen, I should not be needing to write this comment. I elected a council to watch over matters like this on my behalf. We just got rid of a senior district employee who surely has taught us that village staff require supervision, monitoring, and control. An accountable, transparent, open, public tendering policy would be a step in the right direction.
And why is the Recreation Programmer organizing signage when she should be focusing on recreation programming? Did the job descriptions get thrown out with the restructuring?
ReplyDelete