BOARDMAN Township will buy vehicles from a state program

The township will buy nine vehicles.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township trustees have authorized the purchase of eight new vehicles and a fire safety trailer, but none of those vehicles will come from area dealers.
Two weeks ago, trustees were set to buy a car and utility truck from an out-of-town dealer as part of the state's purchasing program until a township dealer requested the cars be bought here instead.
Chris Flynn, a representative of Donnell Ford, told trustees Donnell wanted to bid on the vehicles. He said the dealership is local and could competitively supply the township with the needed vehicles.
Trustees had tabled any decision to buy the vehicles until Monday. They decided to buy the car from Springfield Ford of Springfield, Ohio, and the truck from Charlie's Dodge of Maumee. Trustees also approved the purchase of five police cars and one police SUV from Statewide Ford Lincoln Mercury of Van Wert.
Total cost of the vehicles is more than $169,000. The fire safety trailer will cost $39,972 and will be bought from Surrey Fire Safety House of Napoleon.
Concerns
Trustee Tom Costello said trustees would like to buy the vehicles locally whenever possible. He said legal concerns in procedure blocked the local purchase of the fire car and utility trailer.
"There was a tremendous amount of research done that came back and basically said we would have had serious problems had this been done the way it would have been done two weeks ago," he said.
One of the problems, Costello said, is that not all local dealerships were given the opportunity to bid on the vehicles -- a requirement if trustees elect to go outside of the state's program.
Costello would not say what the township will do for future vehicle purchases. He said the issue may be revisited at a later time.
Trustee Kathy Miller said vehicle purchases should be routinely opened for bid to local dealers. She agrees that the fire car and truck in question could not be purchased locally two weeks ago because bids would have to have been accepted from other dealerships, but she said those bids should be accepted in the future.
Support state program
Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson and Administrator Curt Seditz maintain that the township should make vehicle purchases through the state's program. They said the procedure for buying outside the program does not make it financially prudent to do so. They also said the township has saved money using the state's program.
Patterson said six cruisers bought from a local dealer outside the state's program earlier this year did not meet specifications found in cars bought in the state's program.
jgoodwin@vindy.com