No-bid deal for Delco 911 Center sparks confrontation
EAST LANSDOWNE » Partisan divides on Delaware County Council hit the road as members met in East Lansdowne Borough Hall Wednesday night. Factions sparred over a no-bid contract for 911 telecommunications service.
By a 3-2 vote on party lines, Eddystone-based Radio Communication Services Inc. was awarded a $2.1 million contract to purchase, install and maintain the county’s 911 call center hardware and software for six years. The equipment that will be installed will make the county compatible with state and national Next Generation 911 requirements by moving over to a Motorola-based system. The update will allow text messaging accessibility with the 911 center.
Democratic councilmen Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek voted against the deal and expressed concern with not soliciting bids for the contract through the Request for Proposal process. They also questioned the financial ties of RCS owner Dale Petrovitch to the Republican Party.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Petrovitch donated $17,500 in 2015 and 2016 to the campaigns of Republican lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-6 of West Goshen, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., former U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-7 of Chadds Ford, and the Trump Victory PAC. Another $13,900 was donated to Costello, Toomey and the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania since January 2017.
Zidek suggested that the deal was not put out to bid because of Petrovitch’s contributions.
“If we don’t bid it out, and we have a no-bid contract to a significant donor to a political party, that’s a bad look for Delaware County,” said Zidek.
Republican council Chairman John McBlain disagreed.
“Fortunately, we had a very vigorous discussion (at Tuesday’s agenda meeting),” McBlain said in addressing Zidek’s comment on the services RCS were eventually approved to provide. “It’s unfortunate that all of that was just a pretext to a political attack.”
“Mr. Chairman, I take issue with that,” added Madden, the second Democrat elected to council last November. “I don’t think it was a political attack. It was something that … I saw to be inconsistent with the process that we typically take. We’re not accusing anything, and I don’t want to speak to Mr. Zidek, but, personally, I think the addition of that fact point makes it even more important that this be bid out.”
Madden and Zidek said they would have no problem awarding the contract to RCS if they were viewed to be the best vendor through an RFP process. They also proposed voting to table action on the contract, which failed.
Eleanor Smith, the county director of 911 telecommunications, said political contributions were not her concern, only the lives of county residents. She said the county’s VESTA Refresh system in place at 911 is nearing the end of its life. Of RCS, she said the county has been working with them at the 911 center for more than 10 years with an on-site service provider to help with system issues and she would trust them with her family in the case of an emergency.
“We’re in a situation where every moment counts,” said Smith. “We don’t have time to be any company’s training position or proving ground. Anyone can come in and say they can do the job, but we don’t have any proof that they can. We have proof for 10 years or better that Radio Communications has serviced us impeccably and they have my total support.”
McBlain said the RCS was helpful in working with a previous system when there was a malfunction in June 2016 that interrupted a 911 service call when Folcroft Police Officer Christopher Dorman was shot seven times.
“I’ve always been very impressed with their service and their ability out there,” said McBlain. “What I’ve heard from our department heads and staff who we rely on to be our eyes and ears in these things is that RCS has done tremendous work and are very responsive to the needs there.”
McBlain said there was a reported $470,000 in savings RCS was proposing to the county in this contract.
Council was unanimous on other voting matters at Wednesday’s meeting, including the advertisement of an RFP for trail development drawings for phase two of the Chester Creek Trial project. Preliminary designs and engineering schematics are being requested to extend the walking trail approximately 1.5 miles from Creek Road in Middletown Township to Bridgewater Road in Aston.
County Planning Development Director Linda Hill said more recommendations on the project will be brought to council in September for its consideration.
The 1.5-mile extension will add to 140 miles of public and private walking trails in the county.
On a similar note, council adopted a resolution to support the Circuit Trails initiative, which will complete 500 miles of recreational trails in the greater Philadelphia region by 2025.