POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Documents obtained by the Daily American Republic raise questions about how honest city leaders were in October when they led residents to believe the municipality did not have time to bid out a nearly $1.8 million technology project.
City leaders said at the time the purchase of a phone system needed to be fast-tracked to meet deadlines for the relocation of the Municipal Utilities office. That phone system became part of the $1.8 million project.
Invoices from July and other city documents show a phone system already had been bought when the statements were made.
About $32,000 in phone equipment was bought from Today's Computers of Poplar Bluff. Today's Computers was the low bidder for the system, winning the project over a St. Louis firm.
This system never was installed, according to city sources, who say it also was capable of serving city hall and four other city locations.
Three months later, the city bought at least $580,000 in new phone equipment from Information Systems Intelligence (ISI), a Michigan company, without bidding the project. It included 200 video phones at a cost of $629 each, invoices show.
The first system cannot be resold by the city because of a proprietary contract signed with its manufacturer, according to city sources who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to talk about the project.
Nothing was said about the first phone system when city council members voted Oct. 20 to buy the second system.
"Our first priority, obviously, is going to be the utilities, because they are on a very tight timeline to get everything in," city manager Heath Kaplan said at the meeting. "The system not only has to be ordered; it has to be brought in. It's got to be tested. It's got to be set up and probably tested again. We've got a lot of stuff to accomplish in a very short period of time."
Not mentioned was that Kaplan had worked extensively with ISI during his employment in Muskegon County, Michigan.
Kaplan said in October he wanted to take advantage of competitive pricing, but on a "very accelerated scale."
Local ordinance allowed the city, with council approval, to select a company without competitive bids, Kaplan said. That company simply had to meet or beat state contract prices for the items, he said.
He needed to hurry and get the equipment ordered, Kaplan said. It does not appear the local firm, Today's Computers, was considered for the project.
"We want to make sure we don't have any delay in meeting our timeline that the utilities need," Kaplan said.
Mayor Pro Tem Jack Rushin also cited the utilities' need for a phone system as a reason to move quickly.
"We have a timeline with the move of the utilities," Rushin said in October. "They were going to have to have a phone system anyway. If you're going to make the transition, make the changeover for everybody (all city departments)."
Rushin said Saturday he was unaware a phone system had been purchased in July. Department heads had the opportunity to come forward at the October meeting, he said.
The July purchase also was not raised by city council members Peter Tinsley and Ed DeGaris, who attend the utility advisory board meetings, Rushin said.
Messages left Saturday for Tinsley were not returned. Tinsley is the council representative on the utilities board, but minutes show he did not attend any of the July meetings.
Council member Ed DeGaris is not on the utility board but attends some of the meetings.
DeGaris said he was aware the utility had looked at phone systems but did not know one had been bought.
He said he feels the council was rushed into the purchase. The council should have been told a system had been bought, DeGaris said.
When asked why the city administration did not discuss the utility's phone needs with the utility department, Rushin said, "I don't have any idea on that."
It should have been done, DeGaris said.
It appears the October phone system is superior to the July phone system and capable of serving all city departments, Rushin said.
"We have to think about how we're going to have the infrastructure to meet our growth," he said.
When asked about the July phone system's ability to expand to other departments, Rushin said he is not an authority in the matter.
"I don't think any member of the council can answer that question," he said.
Rushin said he has been told everything from the July purchase except the phones is being used by the city now.
This includes the most expensive item -- a server valued at about $8,000, he said.
Invoices show the most expensive part of the July purchase, nearly $21,000, paid for a Barracuda phone system and its warranties.
City sources say this equipment is not being used by the city and cannot be resold because of a contract with the manufacturer.
They say the July purchase was done with the intent of moving into other city buildings.
The Barracuda system is capable of handling 500 calls at a time, according to city sources. It could have been expanded to include city hall, the water treatment facility, water department, street department and power department with only the additional cost of purchasing phones, they said.
About $6,000 in additional equipment was needed to expand the July system to the city court, police department and finance department, city sources said.
The city also considered expanding the July system to the fire stations and Black River Coliseum but decided before August to wait on spending the additional money, they said. Kaplan took over as city manager in August.
Former city manager Doug Bagby confirmed as early as November 2013, the city had begun conversations about buying a phone system that later could be expanded.
"I saw no benefit of putting a new phone system in a building that was falling apart," he said, referring to city hall.
At that time, he said, the city wanted to focus on the new city hall before taking on technology upgrades.
Bagby also said the phone system at city hall before Kaplan's arrival was capable of voicemail and call forwarding if the city had chosen to turn on those features.
Kaplan often has said he did not even have voicemail when he arrived.
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