City Council balks at paying bill despite savings

John Howell
Posted 12/11/14

Some members of the City Council are saying they won’t pay the bill, even though the work has been performed as requested and, evidently, at a savings over what was budgeted.

At stake is an …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

City Council balks at paying bill despite savings

Posted

Some members of the City Council are saying they won’t pay the bill, even though the work has been performed as requested and, evidently, at a savings over what was budgeted.

At stake is an $18,000 invoice from The Apex Technology Group of Cranston for assuming operations of the city website after e-government specialist Robert Martin left his City of Warwick job last winter. Martin’s departure came within weeks of Apex being awarded an $88,000 contract for management, support and consulting “for any and all areas related to information technology functions performed by the City of Warwick.”

When Martin left, then-chief of staff Mark Carruolo turned to Apex to take over web operations, a job that was not defined as their responsibility under their contract. Apex took on the job for an hourly fee, and that’s the genesis of issues with some council members.

On Monday night, after nearly an hour of debate, the council agreed to postpone a vote on the invoice until their legal counsel, John Harrington, had the opportunity to research whether the administration violated the charter and the facts of the case.

Under the charter, expenditures of more than $2,500 require council approval. The exception is emergency situations, which was not the case here.

Furthermore, Ward 9 Councilman Steve Merolla contends that Apex is serving as director of the city’s MIS (management information systems) department, which presents an inherent conflict when it comes to taking on additional work for which it will charge the taxpayers. Merolla called the arrangement a “violation of the charter” and a conflict of interest.

But the primary beef the council had is that neither Apex nor the administration brought the issue of additional work sooner or to them for approval at the point it would exceed the $2,500 threshold.

“They went and did it on their own, without approval,” Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur charged on Tuesday. He doesn’t plan to vote for approval of the payment.

“That kind of thing has got to stop,” he said.

On Monday night, Ward 4 Councilman Joseph Solomon alleged Apex “assumed they were going to extend the contract,” likening it to an employee choosing an expensive restaurant knowing it was going on the bosses’ tab.

“The taxpayers of Warwick don’t want to pay for any banquets,” he said.

That’s not the way the administration views it.

Bruce Keiser, of the mayor’s office who attended the finance committee meeting prior to the council meeting, said it appeared questions about the payment had been addressed and he saw no need to sit through the council meeting. He noted that, when Martin left, others in the MIS department, as well as departments that regularly post meeting notices and other data to the website, did not have the training to do the work. He said that emails show that Carruolo asked Apex to take on the job in addition to the work they had been contracted to do.

He said the retention of Apex is “a case where privatization yields a cost savings and brought in a greater range of talent.” He doubts the city could have found an individual with the diversity of skills Apex brings to the city for $88,000.

“This is in the best interest of the taxpayers. The work was requested by the operations department. None of it the contractor determined or defined,” he said.

Michael O’Connell, who manages Apex operations for the city, appeared before the council. He pointed out that the city is saving Martin’s budgeted salary of $54,000 and that the work had been performed for $18,000. There was some debate by the council whether that could be considered savings since Martin’s salary was split between tourism and MIS. It was also noted that Apex ceased services on the website in September and that John Perra of MIS, and other department employees who have now been trained in updating and posting to the web, have assumed responsibility.

Solomon questioned what had taken Apex so long to bring the matter of the additional work to the council’s attention. Unlike the purchase of commodities needed to complete a job, Solomon said Apex performed 176 hours of work at $110 an hour.

“That’s not a mistake. John Q. Public looks to us to spend that money wisely,” he said.

Ladouceur said he hasn’t seen an itemized invoice from Apex, although he doesn’t plan to approve it if he does.

Comments

3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • bendover

    Who's on first, what's on second, I don't know is on third...What a way to run an airline or any vendor contracting operation. I get a feeling Cushman's presentation should be eye opening into how messed up the city really is on the financial front. I suppose hiring a full-time IT or MIS person long ago would have made too much sense for the second largest city in the State? Just look at some of the ways money has been spent in the last 10 years and how much could have been saved if we had our own IT person in house over that time period. Quite mind numbing.

    Friday, December 12, 2014 Report this

  • Unionthug

    Bendover.... There is already a full time MIS department in city hall with multiple people. Ray McKay is the head of it..

    Friday, December 12, 2014 Report this

  • bendover

    Well thank you UT...Sounds like you may have uncovered another example of the illustrious RI personnel system...Hire someone to do a job and then when the job needs to get done, hire a consultant to do the job...Been a fact of life at the State level for years and you wonder why this State is in so much economic turmoil.

    Sunday, December 14, 2014 Report this