At our last council meeting I discovered in the bills a purchase from Connecting Point computer Centers for almost $3,000.00. The bill was for three laptop computers and cases as well as some other computer ware. When asked about the purchase the Mayor responded that Don (our economic director) got a great deal and he decided to buy them without any council discussion. The Mayor along with our Superintendent of Public works and our Economic Director were treated to new laptops.
Please understand that the Mayor as well as our Public works director already had computers. These were upgrades for them. Don had been using his own laptop since he was hired so it was felt that we had to get him a city owned laptop. I still have some unanswered questions….
1 Why laptops when desk tops are cheaper and serve the same purpose…and before you tell me that they are mobile let me tell you that the mayor leaves his in his office at city hall. Besides we have survived with desktops just fine.
2. Why wasn’t this discussed on the floor before the Mayor decided to buy…what was the rush? We just discussed a $1,000. add on to a construction project the meeting before with the full council.
3. Why three? couldn’t we survive with one or two and give Don one of the remaining computers we already had?
4.Why wasn’t this shopped around for the Council to get some competitive pricing? The mayor said they used Connecting Point because we dealt with them before…so what?
Its amazing to me that the mayor can make some strides in reducing unnecessary spending one week and then go on a shopping spree with your money the next. He hasn’t learned yet that the checkbook belongs to the taxpayer not the Mayor.Before he buys again he should ask himself one question that we are faced with personally everyday in this economy…is this a want or a need? If its a want…forget about it.
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