Delco controller raises red flag on hiring consultants
As Delaware County Council hired a consultant for a variety of project management needs, Delaware County Controller Joanne Phillips cautioned about the optics that sends to county employees.
“I want to reiterate my concern or just caution as we hire consultants that we are careful that ... the amount of compensation that goes out to consultants, be concerned or aware of the message it sends to the people that work in the county,” the controller said.
By a 4-0 vote Wednesday, county council hired Cebele Rodriguez for an amount not to exceed $125,000 for project management services to integrate staff and facility needs including developing and designing contracts related to the launch of the county Health Department and the redevelopment of the county Medical Examiner’s Office, while also providing support regarding the scanning of mail for contraband at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility. County Council Chairman Brian Zidek was not present at the meeting.
This move comes two weeks after council approved the $95,000 sevenmonth hiring of a Washington lobbyist - with the potential to pay them more - and a year and a half after council has spent nearly $1.1 million on consultants. Some of those costs will be recovered by federal and state funds as they relate to specific purposes.
In addition to the Holland & Knight hiring earlier this month, council has approved paying IHS Markit $90,000 to conduct an economic impact study of setting up a county health department, a study required by the state to open the department; $100,000 to Marianne Jackson for five months to serve as interim Director of Elections, following an August allocation of $20,000-a-month contract for the same services that expired the end of the year; and $100,000 to Christine Perrone for five months of project management services related to the May primary, reviewing the Medical Examiner facilities and operations, the establishment of the county health department. Perrone had previously been hired last August for $50,000 to coordinate the move the Election Bureau and Voter Registration Department to the Wharf at Rivertown in Chester.
In December, council also approved hiring CGL Companies for $385,000 to oversee the transition from the private management of the county prison back to county control.
In June 2020, council hired the Witt O’Brien firm to maximize federal and state grant reimbursements, related to costs associated with COVID-19. It was anticipated that Witt O’Brien’s $150,000 fee would be reimbursed by such grants. And, a month earlier than that, council hired Gorenflo Consulting Inc. for an amount not to exceed $44,978 to create a strategic plan for the health department creation.
On Wednesday, the controller issued concern about impacts of these hirings.
“In the recent past, we’ve been hiring individuals and there’s also some concern that we’re training people that are not going to stay with the county and it takes a lot of resources to do that too,” she said. “I’m hoping we can build on our education for people and their experience and they’ll be here in the long run.”
County Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer spoke to the circumstances around these hirings, including funding available to Delaware County from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and the American Rescue Plan.
“These are extraordinary times,” she said, “and in this three year period, we have been granted $200 million to invest in our infrastructure and our rebuild and that’s not recurring money.”
Schaefer conceded that alone, these expenses might be eye-raising but, in this environment, are chances to invest.
“If you look at it in a vacuum, it looks like we’re going crazy with these consultants and all of these projects but it’s the circumstances,” she said, adding however, these contracts will allow the county to invest in creating a health department, in changing the Medical Examiner’s Office and others.
County Councilwoman Christine Reuther spoke on both perspectives.
“One of my concerns is that we not lose the in-house expertise,” she said, adding that Rodriguez’s particular contract is for certain offices that need to be restructured. “It is not something we want to have to go through on an annual basis. It’s not something we want to go through all that often.”
However, Reuther added, “I do think it is incumbent on council … we will have to start making some decisions about prioritizing.”
Yet, she said planned and unplanned events are behind these contracts over the last year and a half and sometimes, people are only needed for a short period of time for specific tasks.
“I do think so many things have been driven by external requirements – the 2020 elections, because of the primary, election law, we’ve had issues trying to build a health department, which was always a main objective of this council and then try to do it during a pandemic, trying to de-privatize the prison,” Reuther said. “These are things that we ran on that really matter to us.”