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State Use Meeting Minutes - April 9, 2014
April 9, 2014 Minutes
- Call to Order
Chairman Loftus welcomed the Committee 1:45 p.m.
Chairman Loftus asked Brynn Henderson to do the roll call.
- Roll Call
Present at the meeting were the following members: (see attached)
Mitzi Loftus
Seymour Bryson
Christine M. Dickey
Richard W. Gloede
Dan Strick
Chairman Loftus announced that there was a quorum present.
- Approval of the Minutes of the February 7, 2014 Meeting
Chairman Loftus asked if everyone had a chance to read the minutes and if there were any corrections, The Chair called for a motion to approve the Minutes from the February 7, 2014 Meeting.
Motion to Approve: Member Gloede
Second: Member DickeyTally of Votes: Members unanimously approved the February 7, 2014 Meeting Minutes.
- Review of and Vote on Proposed Contracts ( see attachment for list of contracts)
Chairman Loftus asked if everyone had a chance to review the list of contracts and request letters to be voted on today.
Member Dickey stated that the committee had.
Chairman Loftus asked if there were any question.
Chairman Loftus called for a motion to approve the list of contracts read aloud by Corrie Smith
Motion to Approve: Member Dickey
Second: Member Strick
Tally of Votes: Members approved the contracts read aloud by Corrie Smith. - New Business:
Chairman Loftus stated that she would like to suggest having individual votes instead of all contracts on one vote sheet. She thinks it would be cleaner; there have been occasions where a member could not vote on his own contract, she is open to suggestions. She has discussed this with Ben Bagby and Matt Brown from a procurement stand point and believes that they are good with this way of voting.
Member Strick does not see a problem with this way of voting, he feels that Chairman Loftus is correct, that if someone has to abstain from voting, they would not have to abstain the whole vote sheet just a particular contract and feels it would be cleaner.
Chairman Loftus stated that we don’t know why someone would abstain; it could be that they didn’t like any of the contracts on the vote sheet or a particular one. She also stated that if there is no objection, next time we will do it that way.
Member Bryson stated that you are talking about it being cleaner, if a person does not want to vote a particular way they can ask for that contract to be removed from the total group and vote individually.
Member Strick gave an example to Dr. Bryson. We have a IDOT Rest Area janitorial contract, when it comes up for renewal, I have to abstain the entire vote sheet, where this new system I can abstain that particular contract and still vote yes or no on the other contracts.
Chairman Loftus stated that she is going by what Corrie and Brynn have said, it has always been done in the past and has always been done as a group effort for the vote, this is why I am bringing it up now, if it was brought up, it was not implemented. Chairman Loftus stated that we could bring this issue up again if anyone has a problem with it.
Member Bryson said that he does not have a problem with it.
Chairman Loftus appreciated the comments, and stated that she is not trying to make changes for the sake of changes; she just thinks it would be a cleaner process and as Member Strick was saying, if he has to abstain from one, he doesn’t have to abstain from all of them.
Member Bryson stated that you have to be careful when you say cleaner; some people may think that there have been problems in the past when you say cleaner.
Chairman Loftus apologized and stated that she did not mean it that way; she thinks it would be a good process to have your own opinion and their right to vote yes or no on each and every contract and not to abstain from one they agree to.
Chairman Loftus asked if anyone else had new business, she stated that Corrie Smith asked if we could possibly have another meeting in late April or early May and asked Corrie if that was still the case.
Corrie Smith answered yes.
Member Bryson asked why we have to postpone issues that we could be talking about today. If we have issues, we could discuss them now.
Chairman Loftus stated that this was about contracts that were not ready and asked Corrie Smith if this was correct.
Corrie Smith answered yes, there are more contracts that need to be voted on but the agencies were not ready to have them added to the vote sheet today.
Chairman Loftus asked if these contracts could not be voted on the June 18th meeting.
Corrie Smith answered no, some of the contracts have a May start date.
Member Gloede stated that he does not have a problem with a May meeting; it will also give him time to think about the new voting procedure. He would like to know how this procedure would work.
Member Bryson stated that for some of you it is easy to attend the meetings, you just walk downstairs, but for me it is difficult and then to have to wait a half hour before the meeting starts and then we don’t discuss the issues while we are here.
Chairman Loftus stated that it is not about issues, it’s about contracts to be voted on, and they were not ready. We would not postpone it just for an issue, we possibly could, we only have this room for an hour, if we don’t have anyone knocking on the doors and we could potentially have extended the meeting for other issues. We have new contracts to vote on and unfortunately it is the nature of procurement, if someone has a need and they have a need that has a certain start date, we want them to get the contracts, so we have to have the votes. I don’t know any other way around that, if the agency has a certain start date and they miss an opportunity to get it in the current meeting.
Member Bryson stated that it was getting to the point where it’s becoming problematic, if all we are coming to do is vote and then the meeting is over.
Chairman Loftus stated that the policies and procedures were brought up one time, enough for us to finish our external stuff and you guys don’t care about how we do our inner dwelling of our work and we had you look at the piece we agreed upon.
Member Bryson mentioned that at one time he asked for a special statement, separate items that need to be changed and couldn’t be changed, do you recall?
Chairman Loftus apologized and said she did not. I’ll make sure it gets on the agenda. Actually, the next time we work on the agenda, I’d like to reach out to the Committee and ask for input on the agenda because it is a burden to bear to try and come up with the agenda that the Committee would like to speak about. I would like to ask a week or week and a half with a two day turn around so that Corrie and Brynn can get it on the agenda, we could talk about anything and it will also dictate how long we reserve the room for.
Member Gloede asked the committee what day in May they would like to meet.
Chairman Loftus stated that our next meeting will be May 14th at 10:30.
Chairman Loftus stated that we had a member of the public and was observing the meeting today; she also asked if anyone else wanted to speak.
- Future Meeting Dates
Chairman Loftus stated that the next meeting is scheduled for May 14th, 10:30 a.m.
Future dates:
June 18th, 1:30 a.m.
July 9th, 2 p.m.
October 8th, 1:30 a.m. - Adjournment
Chairman Loftus called for motion to adjourn.
Motion to Approve: Member Dickey
Second: Member Gloede
Tally of Votes: Members unanimously approved the motion to adjourn.
Chairman Loftus announced the motion to adjourn was approved and adjourned the meeting at: 2:15 p.m.