Council waived its usual procurement policy to award the job of producing the township’s 2017 Mapleton Community Guide to a local printing and publishing firm.
A staff report presented by economic development coordinator Jaclyn Dingwall at the Oct. 25 council meeting recommended council waive the policy and approve a quote from the Wellington Advertiser and Fergus Printing in the amount of $8,839 for the publication of Mapleton Community Guide 2017.
The report explains the company was awarded the contract to produce the 2015 and 2016 guides for the quoted price of $7,773.
The arrangement also saw the township receive 85 per cent of $8,700 in advertising revenue.
“The Wellington Advertiser and Fergus Printing have exceeded the expectations of the 2015 and 2016 Community Guides, from their design concept through to proofing stages and printing,” the report noted.
“It should also be recognized that a good strong relationship has been established between the Wellington Advertiser and Fergus Printing, stakeholders, and staff allowing for opportunities to further improve and enhance the guide,” the report notes.
“Re-procuring may result in having to start each of the processes over creating additional efforts by staff and stakeholders.”
“I’m not in favor of this whatsoever,” said councillor Lori Woodham, noting a formal tender process would not be required. “I just don’t understand when its just an informal quotation process, surely we can get three?”
Woodham also objected to the inclusion of a dollar amount for the quotation in a report requesting waiving of the procurement process. She stated it “ties our hands” because the vendor’s quote is made public.
Woodham asked that such information not be included in future reports and suggested the project be re-quoted for a two year period.
“That way the vendor is not penalized.”
“My concern is simply process related,” said councillor Michael Martin. “I love our guide the public loves our guide – but I would echo councillor Woodham’s concerns about the process … I’m not in a position to know how hard or easy it is.”
CAO Brad McRoberts pointed out, “Part of the challenge is if you change vendors now it creates a significant workload on staff.”
He added, staff can’t simply go to a new printer and say “Here’s the guide. We want to replicate it. It’s a lot of work.”
Woodham suggested it would be possible to “go to a company that has already that template, and has produced a community guide.”
“I respectfully disagree,” said councillor Marlene Ottens, noting there are factors besides price and work flow to consider.
“If you’re switching printers all the time because this year this one’s cheaper and next year that one’s cheaper, then the look is going to be different too.”
Mayor Neil Driscoll noted, before calling the question, “We’re dealing with a resolution and there’s been a lot of issues raised that have nothing to do with the quote. These are procedural issues.”
The resolution to waive the procurement procedure and accept the quote was approved in a recorded vote by a 4-1 margin, with Ottens, Driscoll and councillors Michael Martin and Dennis Craven in favor and Woodham opposed.
Woodham then put forward a motion to direct staff to revise the procurement policy in order to ensure quoted amounts were not included in reports requesting waivers in the future.
Martin questioned the wisdom of implementing such a policy across the board, as the quoted amount would generally be an important consideration.
McRoberts explained that it could be done as a two-stage process, with a request to consider waiving the policy presented first without numbers.
The motion was approved with Martin, Woodham and Driscoll in favor and Craven and Ottens opposed.
