Waivers leave two with bitter taste

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday June 19, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD - At the Town Council’s June 11 meeting, 54 bid waivers — from nine departments and one miscellaneous item from the mayor — were on the consent agenda, which is used to quickly deal with items that normally don’t warrant discussion. But not all councilors agree that bid waivers are good business.

“This is the start of the next (fiscal) year, so we have ongoing contractual issues for most of these, if not all of them,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said. “You want to start the new year able to pay bills and utilize services without having to come before the council with every issue.”

All the bid waivers were approved, but two councilors voted against them.

“This bid waiver thing, I don’t like,” Jason Zandri said.

Zandri, a Democrat, is running against Dickinson, a Republican, in the upcoming mayoral race. Town Councilor Nick Economopoulos, a Democrat, also voted against the waivers.

“I’m just not going to go with that,” Economopoulos said.

There’s a chance that, if certain services are put out to bid, the town could save money, Zandri said.

An example he used earlier this week is the Independence Day fireworks. The fireworks are no longer funded by the town, but were four years ago. Zandri said the town went out to bid for the show every year and always used the same vendor, paying about $40,000 a year. But now, Zandri said, he raises money through his own efforts, and can put on the same event for about $25,000 by using different vendors.

“Just because it’s something we’ve always done for simplicity’s sake, why not once in a while pick apart all of these to see if we can save something?” Zandri asked.

The town looks to waive the bidding process because, in certain circumstances, “only one vendor can provide the service,” Dickinson said. Such services included in the latest round were computer maintenance and telephone services, he said.

The mayor gave an example. If the town had a truck that could only be serviced by one company, he said, there’s no point in putting the job out to bid again.

Dickinson said there is history and rationale behind every waived bid.

Councilor John Sullivan, a Democrat, said he understands Zandri’s point, but added, “there’s a time and place for bid waivers, obviously.”

Sullivan said that if Zandri and Economopoulos were concerned, they should have had the bid waiver items removed from the consent agenda. Councilors can request before council meetings that items be removed from the consent agenda.

Councilor John LeTourneau, a Republican, said the town is always looking to save money. He said he feels confident that if there were a way to save money by putting services out to bid, it would have already happened.

“It’s not stuff you’re going to find big price variances in,” Councilor Vincent Cervoni, a Republican, said of services for which bids were waived.

Councilor Craig Fishbein, a Republican, said he has objected to specific bid waivers before, but had no issue with the waivers passed last week.