The Fayette County Housing Authority board on Tuesday awarded contracts for the upcoming fiscal year, including auditing services and the purchase of supplies.
The board, at a meeting held at Lemon Wood Acres Development, awarded the contract for independent audit services for fiscal years June 30, 2002, through 2004 to the Uniontown firm of McClure & Wolf Certified Public Accountants and Consultants.
Sonya Over, director of finance, told the board that a Request for Qualifications was advertised in April, and three firms originally responded, McClure & Wolf, Mark C. Turnley of Ambridge and a firm from Maryland. The Maryland firm was disqualified because of an incomplete bid.
Over said the cost of the three-year audit is $15,000, with an option to extend the contract for an additional two years.
Previous audits of the authority's financial department were done by Mark C. Turnley, but Housing and Urban Development has stipulated that the audit must be submitted within nine months of the end of the fiscal year.
Thomas Harkless, authority executive director, said Turnley performed audits for the past six years, but this small firm has had a difficult time meeting the required deadline. The contract with Turnley expired this year, and the authority opted to bid out the service. Harkless said the audit of the authority's financial department must not only be done timely but correctly.
Harkless said, "It doesn't matter what the price of the audit is, the federal government pays for it," and this expense is factored in to the authority's operating budget. Harkless said the federal government "wants the best auditing firm they can get, and they are willing to pay for it."
Other contracts for the fiscal year awarded yesterday:
— Plumbing, HVAC, electrical and janitorial supplies and construction materials to Maintenance USA of Jacksonville, Fla.
The Rev. Howard Dantzler, a board member, questioned whether the awarding of contracts to one company, Maintenance USA, would over time reduce the capacity for competition.
Over explained that Maintenance USA offered a 20 percent discount on its catalog price for supplies and offered a 24-hour turnaround time.
Board Chairman Kenneth Johnson indicated that if prices increase next year, the authority has the option to go out for bid on supplies.
The motions to award the contracts were approved by Johnson, Dantzler, Beverly Beal and Nancy Sutton. Board member Angela Zimmerlink abstained on all the votes because she had not received the entire bid packet before yesterday's meeting.
— Contracts for fixed-asset inventory and materials inventory were awarded to Accountable Assets Inc. of Allison Park.
— And the contract for office supplies was awarded to Fayette Office Supply of East Millsboro.
The board will not take its meetings on the road to its properties after Zimmerlink yesterday strongly objected to the meeting being held outside the confines of the authority office on Route 51.
While the board earlier this year decided to conduct an evening meeting the third Monday of every quarter, Zimmerlink indicated that no motion was approved to hold meetings outside the authority office.
Johnson said that he, as chairman, made the decision to hold yesterday's meeting at Lemon Wood Acres. He said the change in location would allow people to attend the meeting. No member of the public attended.
Other board members agreed with Zimmerlink's assessment.
Zimmerlink also indicated that information kept at the office is not accessible at the community site.
