Fireworks in Rochester! Mayor and City Council disagree- World does not end
OK - where to start. This is the tale of 2 ambulance companies. Monroe Ambulance and Rural Metro. There is 911 service in Rochester - this service is worth having. Rural Metro has the contract. There was a bidding process. Monroe was recommended for approval based on a set of criteria. Approval means the Mayor and the City Council need to actually approve. Mayor Duffy recommends Monroe. City Council, in a bullet proof veto majority, sticks with the existing contract - Rural Metro. D&C predictably writes an editorial about lack of open government and process in City Government.
I’ll be the first to admit not knowing all there is to know about the ambulance debate but I look for a couple of flags to help steer me through lack of inside information. I look for mixed data, change simply for change, and effectiveness of checks and balances.
Based on this, I think City Council is right and Duffy needs to work with City Council to address the issue. The D&C? Well, they are wrong - although I’m guessing I’ll have to dissect that editorial in another post.
From the D&C news article write-up
Duffy’s argument is that there was a bidding process and Monroe Ambulance “won”. Therefore they get the contact.
Mayor Robert Duffy had recommended the switch to Monroe, saying the local, woman-owned business offered faster response times, newer vehicles and equipment and a computer-aided dispatch system linked to the city’s 911 center
and by rejecting Monroe
Duffy told Miller and his colleagues they had created “a chilling effect” and “irreparable harm” to the open bidding process.
OK - But City Councilmen Dana Miller counters with this
Miller said City Council — all but City Council President Lois Giess, who voted for Monroe — picked Rural/Metro because it was a known commodity with experience in the city, was accredited, employs a more diverse staff and more city residents, and has a union, showing a commitment to fair labor-management relations.
An this this
Further, he said, an administration claim that Rural/Metro violated its prior contract by not providing the computer hook-up with dispatch was found to be untrue.
Duffy?
“It is not about individuals. It is not about any one company over another. It’s about process,” Duffy said. “This process here (Monroe) won. They won it fairly. They won it equitably.”
Duffy had relied on the unanimous recommendation of a panel of City Hall’s top public safety, finance and legal experts. After the vote, he also questioned the decision to override those officials, whom council otherwise relies on for advice.
“We are turning our back on these experts for reasons I don’t know,” Duffy said.
Got that? Duffy is practicing speaking out of both sides of his mouth. See, Duffy is about process unless it is not in his best interest. Process? Well - what does City Council do? They get input and make decisions. In this case they rejected the “experts”. Who are these “experts” ? - most likely many people Duffy appointed. They are probably Duffy’s people.
But more inportantly, City Council received input via a recommendation and rejected it. That is their right as the approval authority. Their job is to analyze recommendations NOT RUBBER STAMP THEM.
Finally Duffy’s argument is that
The administration has alleged Rural/Metro amended its proposal during the council review, though company officials and council members insist all Rural/Metro did was clarify.
So what do we have here?
Mixed data - Duffy claims bids were amended, Miller and City Council says no. Miller says no evidence that Rural Metro violated its contract with the computer hook-up. Where did this assertion come from and, if it is backed up by fact not innuendo, then how could City Council not have come to the same conclusion. Sounds like there is something else here.
Change simply for change - why are we changing? Is there data to support change? What of the integrity of this data? I mean has Rural Metro not provided the services? Rural Metro has been around since 1952.
Checks and balances. - Duffy says listen to “my” experts. Who is that blue ribbon panel appointed by Duffy? Miller says they considered factors like labor relations, diversity residency. Duffy? Rochesterturning says - maybe Duffy’s “experts” should have considered these things as well. Besides - Isn’t the City Council supposed to act as a check and balance to the Mayor?
One more thing. What does “winning” a bid mean? The bid is not “won” until is turns from “recommended” to “approved”. The City Council is the approval authority. Maybe most of the time something recommended to them should be approved - In this case sounds like they didn’t like the recommendation so they went in a different direction.
Actually - sounds like City Council did its job.
i would like to point out that monroe is a local company owned by a woman and rural metro is an outsider. monroe used to have the city contract, so they have experience too. also, rural/metro said that if they didn’t get they contract they would fire their 200 local employees. so they blackmailed the city and won. yeah, that is a fair process. for once, i agree with duffy. i wish the council would show more backbone on other issues.
Which part do with Duffy do you agree? The my way or the highway part? the My experts are better than or experts part or the I’m the mayor I don’t need any oversight part? Maybe it is the misrepresentation of the computer hook up? Which part.
Oh - Woman owned business. OK - Personally I think that really is great. However, I have seen with other companies that to qualify for a contract someone puts their wife or someone in charge so they can claim woman owned. I’m not saying that in this case that is what happened but I have seen it some much in the past that woman owned needs to be defined better here,.
Firing 2 hundred employees and blackmail. Monroe is much smaller and would have had to grow substantially to handle the call volume. most if not all of those employees would/could have been absorbed.
Rural is an outsider? Weill is was founded here in 1952 and bough by someone in Arizona. Outsider? So is Harris Corporation (ne RF Communications), Bausch and Lomb, Frontier telephone, RG&E, etc. Heck - maybe the Amerks if Buffalo buys them outright.
monroe had the lowest bid. and yeah, they would have probably taken the 200 fired employees into their fold, all the reason to let whiny rural/metro leave. and when bob stevenson says, they were good when they took my skeletor ass to the hospital last week i counter with the fact it took 2 rural/metro ambulances to get bills t.e. kevin everett to the hospital because the first one broke down.
to be sure, i don’t tend to care for duffy’s republicanesque policies, but what is the point of a bid process if in the end it is ignored? if a company is owned out of town, that is generally where the profits will end up, since we both agree the employees will be here either way. if all things are equal, why not go as local as possible?
You are assuming the bid process was ignored. I’m arguing it wasn’t . I’ve participating in putting contracts out to bid. it is not always about the lowest bid.
Finally - City Council approves a contract not rubber stamps so there must be something else going one here.
RE profits going out of town. Let me simply add - Applebees, Walmart, Red Robin, the Hyatt, etc etc etc. As you said, the employees are here - they are spending money here.
Why not local? Well, the city council in their wisdom decided that rural was capable of delivering the same service and per Miller
“RE profits going out of town. Let me simply add - Applebees, Walmart, Red Robin, the Hyatt, etc etc etc. As you said, the employees are here - they are spending money here.”
I am not going to going to go down the argument of rural vs. Monroe. However, companies that have headquarters here grow opportunities here. Its nice to see representation in non-profits where the board is made of COTB, board members, presidents and CEOs rather than general manager, regional vp, local spokesman, store manager. The HQ’s contribute to organizations like the United Way, WXXI, sponsor local events. They don’t have to ask mommy (out of town HQ) for permission. People can aspire to their highest dreams at locally owned company. Locally owned companies buy out other companies and bring those management positions here. And that is how Rochester will grow (not waiting for all the small companies to bring one extra person on board). All things being equal, go local.
I’m not disagreeing with local vs non-local. All things equal fine.
Rural metro/Ambulance all things were not equal.
i wouldn’t frequent any of those places you mentioned. i avoid dinosaur bbq in favor of beale st to keep it local. city council should not be a rubber stamp, but they picked on odd issue to stand up for themselves. although miller sounds like a guy justifying staying with a girlfriend he isn’t entirely happy with but prefers the routine over the fear of dating again. in any case, they should put their new found scrutiny to other issues like zero tolerance or the curfew. monroe had a cheaper bid with better technology. to me that stands for efficiency and value at a time when we need them most.
Ok Mr Shamrock - Where the heck are you coming from with this?
The lowest bid is not always the best. It doesn’t mean that someone is low balling a bid so they can make it up later in offsets or CRs (change requests).
Frankly that sounds a little naive.
RE Technology. What exactly are you referring to? I need help understanding yoru point so help me understand it.
If it is the computer hook up well, It exists unlike Duffy asserted and City Council found out that it does exist.
It does sound as though City Council made a reasonable attempt at understanding the issues at hand.
Dana Miller’s letter states, “In order to ensure that we had an adequate understanding of these complex issues, Council convened a series of workshops designed to provide sufficient background to enable an informed decision.” Then he lists the workshops. Dana follows up with “…additional sessions were held with representatives of the Administration’s review committee…The committee provided substantial and detailed responses to a series of questions that Councilmembers had posed. Following the review of this information, Councilmembers had additional Work Sessions in which the merits of the two proposals were discussed along with the various clarifications that had been requested from both companies.”
They then lay out the rational for each side’s (Administration and Council) decision. Basically, Rural Metro clarified that they would meet the parameters that Monroe Ambulance said they would provide. Hence, City Council decided that many other considerations (which are listed in detail), which weighed in favor of Rural/Metro, were relevant to the final decision.
It doesn’t sound like they went about this willy nilly. Dana’s letter appears quite balanced, in contrast to Duffy’s self-promotion letter. I also don’t agree with Duffy’s assertion (in his letter) that the process he used was transparent, open, or scholarly. Basically, it sounds (from his letter) as though he had 5 self-appointed experts meet with him in a room and tell him what they thought was best. Talk about Bushesque.
Not necessarily…money talks…it’s Rural Metro that has the GOP loyalty…take a look at their roster. The newly dethroned Mayor of ER Bonacchi is on the payroll, switched after having to quit RGRTA. The list of playas should be run through the old political contribution machine, and we should be able to see the “truth”…
http://www.ruralmetro.net/Contacts.htm