Bedford County Financial Management Committee approved budget amendments Tuesday night and heard a complaint from a local firm about how the county obtains its copiers.
Copiers
State laws require that governments make major purchases by means of competitive bid. For a local government, that means one of two options: the local government can either take bids on its own or it can buy at the state-approved price from one of the vendors which have bid successfully for state government business.
Gary Bagwell of Bagwell Document Solutions on Elm Street appeared before the committee Tuesday night to complain that his company has not had the opportunity to bid on the county's copier business. Bagwell claimed that he can give the county a more favorable price than the out-of-town vendor the county is using under the state bid.
"We just want a shot," said Bagwell.
Finance Director Robert Daniel said the county hasn't bought any copiers in years. Bagwell then said the Circuit Court Clerk's office had recently obtained a new copier. Daniel said that copier was rented under the state bid price from Nashville-based Digital Business Machines. Harold Rose of Shelbyville, an account representative for Digital Business Machines, was present at Tuesday evening's meeting.
Daniel said writing bid specifications for rental plans is more complicated than writing them for purchase and that it was simpler for the county to deal with a state-approved vendor.
Daniel said the county prefers to rent rather than lease such copiers. Leases, according to state law, must be for a term of less than one year or else must be approved by the County Commission. Daniel said leases are also considered debt obligations on the county's audit. Daniel said the county can get a better model of copier under a rental plan than it would be able to through an outright purchase.
The committee directed Daniel to come back next month with a proposal for bidding copier rentals which the committee could consider.
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