Copiers cause latest strife between council, mayor
WOONSOCKET – It was Black Friday at the office supply store, but the City Council sent Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt shopping without the cash to close a deal to replace City Hall’s worn-out copying machines.
That was the upshot of action taken by the council at its Dec. 21 meeting in response to a request for approval of a contract with Aztec Office Solutions for the purchase of 10 new copiers. City officials said the no-bid “promotional” deal included 10 copiers, plus a free printer with each one. The new supplies would replace copiers at City Hall and the Water Department, some of which date back to at least 2009, if not longer.
But the administration asked the council to approve not one, but two measures to complete the transaction, including the transfer of $51,660 from the city’s contingency account to cover the costs.
The requests touched off a series of votes, marked by sometimes testy debate focusing heavily on the purpose of the contingency. Earlier this year, the council beefed up the rainy day fund, scraping dollars from a multitude of operational accounts in anticipation of a budget squeeze amid the economic chill of coronavirus.
Councilman James Cournoyer became the catalyst for the debate when he portrayed the transfer request as the latest example of poor budget planning by the administration. If the existing copiers are as tired as members of the administration say they are, then city officials should have had plenty of time to proposing replacing them in the course of an ordinary budgeting cycle as part of a capital equipment plan, he argued. The contingency is for emergencies.
“I’m hearing these copying
machines go back to the Menard administration,” he said, referring to former Mayor Susan . Menard. “I don’t know why this stuff isn’t in the budget. Charging contingency isn’t how we should be doing this.”
e said the council faced similar requests in the past on replacement motor vehicles for the inspection division and real estate appraisal software.
espite the obMections, the council voted 6-1 – the first time – to approve the contract with A tec. The only no’ vote came from Council 3resident an Gendron. ven Cournoyer voted in favor it.
The dynamics quickly flipped, however, on the vote for the contingency transfer, which failed on a 6-1 vote. At that time, Gendron threw his weight behind Cournoyer’s position.
“I didn’t support the purchase, I’m certainly not going to support the transfer,” he said. “It’s not the way we should be doing business.”
Raising the issue of C29I -1 and the continuing uncertainty on revenue forecasts, Gendron said now is not the time to be tapping the contingency for items that should have been in a capital planning budget.
“ e’re sending out motor vehicle ta bills to people that quite honestly, I betcha some of them aren’t e - pecting some of those bills,” he said. “ e may see a very low collection
rate. e may have to tap into the contingency to supplement shortcomings in different areas. “
“%ecause there was not proper planning,” he added. “I cannot find it practical, responsible or reasonable to take the money out of contingency.”
inance irector Christine Chamberland was among those who pushed back against Gendron. She seemed taken aback by his remarks, suggesting the council was reneging on its promises regarding the contingency account.
“ hat we were told was that money was going to be there when we asked for it,” she told Gendron, her voice rising audibly on the oom videoconferencing platform.
Councilman avid Soucy, who
cast the only vote in favor of the transfer, defended the request. e said there appears to be a genuine need for the new equipment and the council should approve the transfer since the funds are available.
“I don’t think it’s frivolous,” he said. “ hat’s the alternative...out of spite, not to fund something like that I don’t see that being a practical thing to do.”
Gendon hotly fired back at Soucy, telling him his position was good business sense, not an e pression of spite. Councilwoman enise Sierra, too, came to Gendron’s defense, telling Soucy his comments were “fighting words.”
“These are fighting words,” she said. “These are hurtful words.”
uring the back-and-forth, several members of the council pointed out that the administration is free to purchase the copiers. It Must has to find savings somewhere in the non-contingency portion of the budget to pay for them. 2ne suggestion was the inspection division, where he building official’s position has been vacant for several weeks.
The tenor of the debate apparently gave Councilman Roger G. Jalette second thoughts about his earlier vote to approve the contract with A tec. At his request, the council took the matter up a second time, at which point Jalette reversed himself and the proposed purchase ended up passing on a - vote.