$400,000 furniture purchase scrutinized

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BY DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

The Public Building Commission recently hired an outside attorney to look into allegations that a new city-county building was improperly filled with $400,000 worth of furniture without soliciting bids.

Former City Attorney Bill Austin concluded no laws were broken and the furniture didn’t have to be bid out. However, the city-county purchasing agent, who wasn’t involved in the purchase, disagreed with Austin’s assessment.

Nancy Kraft, who has sold furniture for 15 years, has doggedly pursued the issue since late 2007, when she saw the furniture inside Courthouse Plaza — an office building across from the County-City Building. The Public Building Commission bought Courthouse Plaza three years ago for city and county offices. Kraft works for Office Interiors & Design, but has pursued the issue, she said, as “Nancy the taxpayer.”

She is now considering taking the case to the state auditor.

Don Killeen, administrator of the building commission, furnished Courthouse Plaza with furniture from All Makes Office Equipment Co. without soliciting bids, which Kraft says would have saved money.

Killeen contended bids weren’t necessary because the furniture fell under the umbrella of a 10-year contract with All Makes (signed in 1997) to furnish the new County-City Building, and other public buildings, to ensure compatibility. All Makes won competitive bidding for the 1997 contract.

Further complicating the issue, Kraft is married to the city-county personnel director, Don Taute, an attorney who is transferring to the city attorney’s office. That’s why the city attorney’s office recused itself and the building commission hired Austin to look into the matter.

On Tuesday, Austin told the building commission some of the furniture fell under the 1997 contract and other purchases didn’t have to be bid since they received government discounts. A small portion of the furniture did not receive a large enough discount, Austin said, and All Makes will make “adjustments” for that.

Kraft said Austin did not sit down with her and go over her wealth of material before forming his legal opinion.

“He didn’t do any research into what took place,” she said. “I think they wanted a legal loophole and they got it and they can hang their hat on it. At the end of the day, I think they were still fiscally irresponsible with taxpayer dollars.”

The city-county purchasing agent, Vince Mejer, believes the purchases should have been made through his office and were a violation of the county purchasing act.

“They just took the vendor’s word that they were getting the best price,” Mejer said. “The bottom line is it appears procedures weren’t followed.”

During the building commission meeting, Mejer said the furniture in the new building is not the type required by the contract and is not compatible with the furniture in the County-City Building. Killeen said “small parts” of the furniture are compatible and Commissioner Larry Hudkins said “our maintenance said it is, so that’s all we can go by.”

During the meeting, Hudkins, Killeen and Austin disagreed with Mejer. At one point, a clearly irritated Hudkins said, “So what’s wrong with that, Mister Purchasing Agent?”

Mejer — who is a stickler for details — said the furniture was only to be exchanged if the original type wasn’t available, and only if the commission accepted a “substantially equal” replacement, which he said never happened.

“Well, we obviously accepted it,” Hudkins said, then softened his stance, saying, “If we did something in error,” it was unintentional.

However, Austin contended the building commission can waive provisions of the 1997 contract that are for its benefit.

On Wednesday, Mejer said, “The building commission hired an attorney to tell them whether it was right or wrong and the attorney gave them his opinion and I have to respect that opinion. … I’ll move onward and upward with other procurements.”

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.