FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday, with newly elected Chairman Gary McGrane of Jay opposed, to not pay $1,500 to Bunker & Savage Architects for services rendered.
McGrane had brought the firm in to check out the jail to see if a part of it could be renovated to be a new dispatch center.
“We didn’t sanction it. We don’t owe anyone anything,” Commissioner Fred Hardy of New Sharon said Tuesday. It was McGrane’s decision to bring in the firm and it did not go through the commissioners as a whole, he said.
Commissioner Clyde Barker of Strong concurred.
McGrane told commissioners Dec. 6, 2011, that he hadn’t agreed to pay the firm for the work it would provide.
He reiterated Tuesday that he didn’t believe he spoke about compensation with the firm.
“I didn’t enter into anything contractual,” McGrane said.
Craig Boone, an owner of Bunker & Savage, sent McGrane a letter dated Jan. 3 that said the firm agreed to provide the conceptual drawings and designs to renovate a portion of the jail to house the dispatch office on an hourly basis.
“While we provided concept drawings without a written agreement, we were rather surprised by your statement that we had provided these services for free,” Boone wrote. McGrane brought up on Dec. 20 during the firm’s presentation that they were doing it without compensation.
“We have approximately 12 hours in the conceptual drawings which do not include any travel time or mileage for the two trips,” Boone wrote. “This represents approximately $1,500. Can this be worked into your budget?”
Boone wrote back to McGrane on Jan. 12 in an email, which McGrane read out loud Tuesday.
“I was informed that the letter sent to you on Jan. 3 is being reviewed as an invoice. It is not intended to be an invoice. If we were sending an invoice, it would be on our form we use for invoicing,” Boone wrote. “It was simply a question only. As we discussed, the study was mainly to provide you with information for this project and that there was not funding approved or available for this study. We are sorry for the confusion.”
McGrane told commissioners it sounds like there is no obligation. The firm was just asking if there was money in the budget to be paid for the work they did, he said.
McGrane said he opposed not paying the firm because there may be money left over in the budget at the end of the year that could cover those costs. He agreed there was no contract but there was a gentlemen’s agreement. He wanted to support the county to be able to work with businesses without a contract, he said.
Boone said on Jan. 11 that he and his partner, Jim Pelsor, talked with McGrane about if the jail renovation project was approved, then the firm would be compensated for its work.
But the project did not get approved, so there is no compensation needed, Boone said.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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