Late Addition: Today's Record

There is an excellent story in the Troy Record (You remember, the place where idiots work according to some bloggers.) which details the mess in Water 14. Read it here and and read their Editorial on the Water District mess here.

Miner's Contract Actions Makes Bid Meaningless


Conservative Committeeman and head of the Building Department Michael Miner wrote a memo to Conservative Supervisor Mark Evers explaining why he believed it was ok to authorize payments to his Conservative Chairman's company and their Water 14 contract which exceeding the bid price without change orders. (For the record, there was one change order for approximately $13,000)

We have scanned just a couple of pages from the memo written on January 25, 2007 which more than detail how his interpretation of the "supposed" bid and contract of 6.4 million dollars made the bid amount meaningless. Under Miner's interpretation, change orders were not necessary unless a "unit price" was exceeded. No thought was given that the sum of these unit prices might exceed the agreed to contract price of 6.4 million because in his opinion, a "contract price is not a firm price but a "supposed price"". Wow, we wonder if he would do business this way when buying a house for himself? Would he sign a contract in which the seller could alter the price he agreed to because the price is not firm? That's one for Mark Evers to take to his real estate classes.

Bill Clinton was famous for asking what the definition of "is" is. Mr. Miner may go down as famous for interpreting a complicated contract in a way in which hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the agreed to and stipulated bid price was expended to a company which has his Party Chairman as a principal. Incredibly, Miner never once consulted with a Town Attorney for advice while administering and approving these payments. When they saw the contract, they disagreed strongly.

When Miner became sensitive to charges of a conflict of interest by approving payments to his chairman's company, he stopped representing the town which was paying his $45 plus salary and the Supervisor approved the payment of claims without his required signature. It is also noteworthy that he did not sign any of the applications for payment numbers 16 through 20. Number 15 which exceeded the contract price was signed by Miner.

Miner was one of those folks terminated in the 2006 transition then rehired. Just 7 months later he would authorize Vendor Claim and Application for Payment Number 15 for more than $326,000 which brought the spending in Water 14 approximately $200,000 over the agreed to bid and contract price. The paperwork he and Evers authorized without the Town Comptroller's signature brought the spending up to $6,631,826.17 on a contract that was supposed to cost the taxpayers 6.4 million.

While Evers was clearly complicit, the pair told no other town board member that the contract was being exceeded. The excuse is basically found in the CYA memo written to Evers on January 25, 2007. A "contract price is not a firm price but a "supposed price".

This is the gentleman who heads the Union in town hall and is part of the bargaining unit rather than a member of management who supervises the employees. Yet he is also the manager of his unionized employees. What an arrangement!

Well North Greenbush, Evers got them back on the payroll and you wound up paying for right through the English language all the way to your empty wallets.