Fayette County commissioners debate copier contract
The Fayette County commissioners Tuesday debated how the county’s next copier contract will be obtained after a local company asked the commissioners to bypass the bidding process.
Jerry Shimko of Ford Business Machines of Connellsville and a contingency of about a dozen Ford Business employees attended Tuesday’s agenda meeting to ask the county to approve the next copier contract using the state’s cooperative purchasing program instead of seeking bids.
Shimko asked the commissioners to enter into an agreement with Ford Business using the COSTARS program, of which the company is the only approved copier vendor. County manager Warren Hughes said the county has always put the copier contract out for bid in the past.
COSTARS is a cooperative purchasing program which uses the purchasing power of local entities to obtain more competitive pricing and choice than individual purchasers might be able to obtain on their own.
Earlier this year, the county authorized the issuance of a request for proposals for the county’s 40 copiers, but it has not yet been issued. The current copier contract is with Ricoh Business Systems of Bridgeville, and expires in March.
When the current contract was approved in 2007, Ford Business was unsuccessful. At the time, Ford Business argued it was the lowest responsible bidder but assistant county solicitor Sheryl Heid issued a legal opinion that Ricoh was the lowest and Ricoh received the contract.
Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites and former Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III voted for Ricoh, while Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink voted to award the contract to Ford Business.
Shimko said the contract should be kept local, adding that Ford Business has 32 associates that live and work in Fayette County.
Zimmerlink said the county wants to get the best possible rate, and asked if both the bidding process and COSTARS could be used. Vicites said doing both wouldn’t be a fair approach because the COSTARS prices are published.
“This is an opportunity to hire local,” said commission Chairman Vincent Zapotosky. “There’s much more to a bottom line than a dollar.”
Zimmerlink said the county has to make sure it gets the best possible price, adding that last time she voted for Ford Business.
The proposal Ford Business is presenting is $5,600 a month. Although Hughes said the current payment is $3,500 a month total, Shimko said the county pays an additional $1,225 a month to Ricoh.
Hughes said when Ricoh was selected for the current contract, the commissioners selected the lowest price of those that met the qualifications.
Vicites agreed with going with Ford Business, adding that he thinks it is an advantage to retain a local company.
After Zimmerlink made a suggestion to put the action on next month’s agenda, Zapotosky and Vicites voted to place on Thursday’s agenda a motion to rescind the action to request proposals and to proceed using the COSTARS program.
In another discussion, the commissioners heard a request from human resource director Dominick Carnicella of Felice Associates of Greensburg to look into the creation of an on-site wellness center for county employees.
Carnicella said he is looking at ways to battle against high insurance costs, and having a place where employees could go to a doctor for non-emergency and pharmacy services should do that. He said the site, which likely would be rented by the county, would be used for preventative medicine rather than emergency visits.
Carnicella said the county would pay a fee each month to cover the costs. He added that he wants to talk with companies about it. He said similar programs are popping up in Florida, and Highmark operates a site in eastern Pennsylvania.
Vicites said he thinks it is the wave of the future, while Zapotosky said he would like to get a model to see what it would look like.
While the commissioners didn’t take action, they directed Carnicella to further investigate the concept.
“I am looking to save more by doing this, but even if we broke even, I think it’s beneficial,” Carnicella said.