ELYRIA — Law Director Scott Serazin has voided a slew of contracts for the city’s copiers that were signed by former Mayor Bill Grace in late November, and he has recommended the city adopt an interim agreement until a more formal — and legal — pact is reached.
As of now, the city has 11 copiers and no contract to cover their operation or service.
“I think it’s best at this point to get an interim agreement in place, and while that is in place, the administration can determine what to do for the long term,” Serazin said.
Serazin said a meeting with MT Business Technologies Inc., the company that provided the copiers, will take place in the coming days to discuss an interim agreement so a disruption in payments and service does not take place.
“Right now, we don’t have a contract, and without inviting a state audit finding, we don’t have the authority to pay them,” he said. “Payments for anything related to the copier contracts are on hold until the agreement is in place.”
The contracts that Serazin voided were brought to his attention after an evaluation by new Safety-Service Director Mary Siwierka. Siwierka said the contracts for the copiers — more than 60 pages — are very detailed, and she wanted Serazin’s interpretation of them.
Grace negotiated and subsequently signed the contracts with MT Business without seeking public, competitive bids from other vendors.
The contracts outline a five-year lease agreement between the city and the Avon Lake company for 11 machines, as well as the service of said machines. Serazin said the contracts — when added together — exceed the $25,000 threshold for spending that the mayor can authorize without a formal public bid.
“There is a base monthly agreement and an overage rate and, really, the contracts are very difficult to evaluate for overall cost because each department makes a different number of copies and have a different overage rate,” he said. “But I can say they are way over $50,000 a year as a base rate and that is over the state spending level.”
Serazin said the contracts totaled roughly $240,000 over five years with 2012 being the highest year because the equipment is newest. Each year the contract value decreases some to reflect the life of the machines.
However, each year the city is charged a lease rate for the machines includes a set number of copies and the city is charged extra per additional copy.
Don Cole, general manager of MT Business Technologies, said the city’s annual base agreement is $60,075 for this year, which is down from roughly $67,435 in 2011.
“We have multiple contracts with the city, but for just the copiers, which is the issue the Law Director has, the agreement is for $60,075 this year,” he said. “We were able to upgrade the city’s equipment with this agreement as well as lower the cost to the city.”
Beyond the copier contract, MT Business Technologies has three other agreements with the city for the lease and service of other equipment. In total, the city spent $97,638 in 2011 with the company.
Grace maintains he did nothing wrong in signing the contracts, but respects Serazin’s opinion as to how Mayor Holly Brinda should proceed. He said he inherited the process when he took office. He said, if anything, he improved the contracts because he was able to streamline start and stop dates so contracts expire at the same time. He also pushed hard for energy-efficient machines to help cut costs.
“In the end, MT Business Technologies put together an exceptional package for the city of Elyria,” he said.
Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121
or lroberson@chroniclet.com.
http://chronicle.northcoastnow...rs-copier-contracts/
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