Dear Editor:
This letter was submitted to Jefferson Focus by resident Christian E. Barranco. Mr. Barranco sent the letter via certified mail to the Mayor and all Council members; however, to date, none of the issues raised have been addressed publicly or in response to Mr. Barranco.
Dear Administration,
I write to you today as a property taxpayer and resident of Jefferson Township. I would like to shine a light on a Township business practice that has come to my attention.
Per Local Public Contracts Law Regulation Manual, Subchapter 8, 5:34-8.3(f), Notes 1 thru 4. This regulation controls the rules as applies to aggregation which means the continued procurement by a municipality or “local authority” from a single repeat vendor. This is concerning the bid threshold as established by “Appendix A” of the regulation. This law was created so that an elected body of Councilmembers can oversee the spending patterns of their local government’s administration. If and when an aggregate spending stream exceeds the established bid threshold the township administration needs to produce a resolution to be adopted by the Council to give permission to spend an aggregate amount to a repeat vendor before the procurement is to be made.
Over the course of the last 7 years, our Township administration has produced (8) large, intermittent, round-numbered resolutions to the exact same vendor, Atlantic Communications:
#18-142 – $300,000
#19-58 – $150,000
#20-62 – $150,000
#22-55 – $150,000
#23-92 – $150,000
#23-292 – $60,000
#24-80 – $240,000
#25-266 – $240,000
Totaling $1,440,000 which now cannot be traced to any Purchase Order template nor are we the taxpayers able to reconcile these monies to any specific items or services except to know that they were spent at Atlantic Communications.
The purpose of adopting resolutions made to be approved by the Council for aggregate expenses above the Appendix A bid threshold is so that we can know down to the penny the specific purpose for the aggregate purchase and the itemized costs of each item and/or service procured. Also, the round nature of the resolution amounts would lead one to believe that the administration is, in fact, attempting to absolve itself of exceeding the bid threshold before Council has the legal opportunity to oversee and approve the aggregate expense.
Either way what I am attempting to convey here is a rational need to be able to keep a real accounting of our public treasury. In my experience with other municipalities, Council resolutions created to authorize aggregate expenses are very concise much like the one produced by this administration in 2024. #24-256 in the amount of $231,262.93 which was adopted by Council for the procurement of the Zetron 911 call answering system.
This is an example of a properly executed, accountable Resolution that can be reconciled by taxpayers. This process is necessary for the image of transparency for us to be certain of what our administration is doing with our public treasury.
Christian E. Barranco
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