Bad business: Vicites, Hardy acting behind the scenes
One of the long-time problems in Fayette County government was that too many decisions – and often their unsavory ramifications – were made and carried out behind the scenes. Often times no one found out until later, after the damage was done. That’s how the county wound up using at least three different tax assessment systems simultaneously, prior to the reassessment implemented in 2003 that put all property owners on the proverbial same page. Now, recent decisions by two of the three Fayette County commissioners are evoking memories of the “good old days.”
Away from the public eye, in papers shuffled between their offices, Democrat Vincent A. Vicites and Republican Joseph A. Hardy III have approved spending $6,100 from the county bond fund to fix the roof at the training building operated by the Fayette County Firemen’s Association. In another move not taken after disclosure, discussion and vote at a public meeting, Vicites and Hardy have cosigned a $300,000 mortgage taken out by the Fayette County Fair Board.
The principle at stake is not helping out those two groups. The fair board and the firemen’s association deserve the county’s support and it’s quite acceptable for Vicites and Hardy, as duly elected county commissioners, to make such decisions. They could put a million-dollar roof on the fire school and cosign a $50 million loan to pave the entire fairgrounds with gold if they wanted to – but it should be done at a public meeting.
Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink, obviously kept out of the loop on both matters, is correct to make her objections known to the public she serves. How else would we know what actions a majority of commissioners are taking on spending county money or on making the county financially liable?
County solicitor Joseph E. Ferens Jr. gave some bad advice in noting that regarding the mortgage Vicites and Hardy cosigned for $300,000, “the county can ratify their decision at any board meeting after the fact.” That may be legally true, but it’s not the way any conscientious public servant should want to do the people’s business.
The explanation Vicites has given for the $6,100 fire school roof repair – that the procurement complied with county code requirements – is equally weak. Wasn’t it Vicites who said in the prior administration that he favored bidding out every bit of county business, so everyone could have an equal chance at earning the work? Meanwhile, County Manager Warren Hughes said that G&W Roofing of Eighty-Four, Pa., was asked for a price quote because they were putting a roof on the courthouse at the time.
The county code requires that the county obtain at least three written or telephone quotes for jobs costing between $4,000 and $10,000, and Zimmerlink said she’s never seen that list. Either it’s being kept from her, which is inexcusable and shows that political gamesmanship is alive and well in the courthouse, or it wasn’t obtained in the first place, which means the county code is once again not worth the paper it’s written on in Fayette County.