Report: Greenwich officials did not bid for diesel, other purchases

Town was in violation of its own rules and state law, Dinapoli finds

A state audit has found that during a 14-month period, the town did not adhere to competitive bidding procedures for a majority of its purchases, violating both the town’s policy and the state’s general municipal law.

The audit from the state comptroller’s office, which examined purchases from Jan. 1, 2019, to Feb. 29, 2020, indicated that town officials did not seek the required bids for 28 of 50 purchases that totaled nearly $88,000. It also found that the town spent 7.55 per

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cent more than it should have on $35,474 worth of diesel fuel that was also not competitively bid.

“It should have been easily determined that the cost of this commodity would require competitive bidding,” the audit read. “The Highway Superintendent stated that the town solicited bids for diesel fuel several years ago and awarded the bid to a vendor that the town continued to use. We found no evidence that the town solicited bids or otherwise sought competitive prices for diesel fuel since the town last awarded the fuel bid.”

Supervisor Don Ward was not available for comment on Tuesday. But in a letter to Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli, he wrote that the town will address the issue.

“The town of Greenwich concurs with the findings of the auditor concerning the deficiency of the town Highway Department to adhere to the procurement policy by failing to provide adequate documentation and believes that the recommendations given by the auditor will be beneficial to the town in moving to a more business-like approach,” Ward wrote on Feb. 3.

He also wrote that “there were several issues that were addressed throughout the audit that were consistently being overlooked in previous years.”

Ken Mcphail, the highway superintendent since November 2020, said on Tuesday he doesn’t know anything about the audit. At the time the audit was conducted, Stanley Mattison was in office.

According to the audit, state law requires competitive bids on purchases greater than $20,000 and public works contracts greater than $35,000. It said the town’s purchasing rules are more restrictive, calling for competitive bids on purchases of $10,000 or more and $20,000 on public works contracts.

The comptroller’s office recommended the town clarify its purchasing policy and procedures, verify that the policy and procedures are followed and ensure that bidding statutes and policies are followed and documentation filled out and retained.

“When town officials do not procure goods and services in accordance with the board-approved purchasing policy, they are not ensuring that quality goods and services are being obtained at the lowest cost to the taxpayers,” the audit concluded.