Claypool OK's Police Vehicle Purchase, Explore Options for Broken Contract
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
CLAYPOOL – Town council approved the $27,829 purchase of a police vehicle Monday and wrestled with how to handle a consulting firm they say hasn’t delivered on a contract. Town Marshal Lou Mediano presented three quotes from area dealerships to replace an older vehicle with a repair bill higher than its worth. Council agreed with his recommendation of the quote from Kerlin Motors for a Ford SUV. He also noted installing police equipment will cost much less than the $8,000 originally expected. Council agreed as well to apply any money received for the old cruiser to the bank financing for the new purchase. Council earlier discussed their options for dealing with Bruce Carter Associates, which they say hasn’t produced work the town contracted with them for in 2012. Council signed a $6,000 contract with the environmental consulting firm in November 2012 for sending reports on wastewater treatment plant upgrades to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and to produce an operations manual for the plant. Council members agreed that they can send the reports to IDEM themselves, but the town must have an operations manual in time for the June 1 deadline for upgrades. Members heard that the employee in charge of the manual is no longer with the company, which has also attempted to bill them beyond the original contracted amount by $3,000, according to Clerk-Treasurer Connie Morgan. “They haven’t left a paper trail or anything. The work product – there’s nothing to approve or even see,” council President Niki Miller said. “My opinion is, they broke the contract. We should request to see their work product as well as get our money back.” Town attorney Tom Earhart advised council that suing Bruce Carter may backfire if the company claims they didn’t receive all the needed information, which the town insists was sent. The town may be forced to contract with another company for the manual if they don’t receive anything, though starting again from scratch will mean a lot of extra cost, they heard. Members agreed after some discussion to send a letter giving the company one more week to produce at least a draft of the manual before they seek an alternative, though they didn’t express confidence they would see it. Also Monday, council approved a trash rate amendment based on figures given at the last meeting when they renewed the contract with Advanced Disposal. The monthly cost per house will be $9 next year, $9.27 in 2016 and $9.55 in 2017. And council approved making an alley between the 100 blocks of Walnut and Section streets from south to north; and adopted a definition of “creditworthiness” for water customers who request a credit, saying they must be current on 12 consecutive months of payments. Morgan reported during the meeting that the mobile food pantry will return to town Friday, from 10 a.m. to noon; and the spring clean-up day is May 9. She also noted that Day of Caring information and applications are available in her office, and that water meters will be read this week with bills mailed out Friday.
