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November 10th, 2009 at 7:13 am
“Also, I am sure some will forget that previous City Manager’s extended the ambulance contract with little notice and will ask, why didn’t this go out to bid? The answer is simple: Ambulance services along with some other types of contracts are exempt from the State procurement law (Chapter 32B).” Ok- I understand that legally it didn’t have to go out to bid. But why on earth wouldn’t you put it out to bid to see how much you could get? Wasn’t the last proposal 150k over three years (50k a year), and now it has swelled to 230k + 6.5% each year (totalling well over 600k!). If no bid was put out, how do we know that the city couldn’t have gotten more?
November 10th, 2009 at 7:39 am
jk: because it is ILLEGAL to “get more money” from people bidding, that’s why.
Here’s how it works: the city has costs associated with running the emergency call center which emergency services use. When the city picks an ambulance company, they are supposed to prove “here are our costs, and here is your portion.” Sort of like dividing a phone bill with your roommate. It is GOUGING a company to ask for more than that share. Now, you can as a city decide to take less than what you deem is the provable cost of those services, for whatever reason, but you can’t just open it up to bid and take the bidder who offers the most money. Which is what that *other* company apparently wants the city to do, illegally, when they say “hey we’ll offer $300K.” That’s not how this contract has to work. In other cases, yes, great, but in this case it’s considered, basically, extortion.
Likely this is the reason this sort of contract (as well as the tow contract) are NOT forced to go out to bid - because going out to bid in the traditional sense will wind up putting you in violation of rule which applies to this situation.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am
That makes sense Lynn, I hadn’t thought of it that way. But what are we basing the current number on, the 230k number? Just the use of the call center? What about the unreimbursed cost of the police and fire department providing first responder medical services? Isn’t the cities cost probably ALOT more?
November 10th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Starting tonight, Councilor Kazanjian will reintroduce some of his signature motions of the past two years:
1. My friend, who doesn’t lie, told me about a crime wave at the library
2. My friend, the architect, wasn’t consulted on the Hamilton Canal District plans
3. My friend, the accountant, wasn’t hired as city treasurer
4. I give to charities, because I wasn’t paying Sandy Ames to work for me and I didn’t have to pay any fees to tie in to city services so I have a lot of money left over to give to charities out of a sense of guilt and shame over my business dealings and I colluded on the towing contract a few years ago and paid the city only $1.50 per tow.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I’ll take bets that Kaz will attempt to make Bernie’s life miserable for the next two months. He will ask the same inane questions over and over just to be a jerk.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:50 am
What is LZ Nunn thinking!?! What kind of message is she sending to the youth of Lowell - making Micky Ward the Grand Marshall of the City of Lights Parade (see page 28 of this weeks City Council Packet (link above).
Isn’t Ward under indictment on assault charges? Nice message to the kids - “Be a Thug…..Get Rewarded”
November 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I assume the city has done due diligence on the costs and likely included every item that is supportably applicable to the ambulance calls. The City first responder services are supplementary to the ambulance efforts, so it is unlikely those costs could be allocated to the ambulance contract. In order to get the contract approved, the City must show that only costs directly applicable to supporting the ambulance company are included.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Elisha Bartlett is their really a need to kick a guy this hard while he’s down?
He lost and he will finish out his term and my guess will serve it out graciously. I have yet to read where he has made any excuses or blamed the Blogs (unlike Mike Hayden who accuses LIL of being mean and spreading his own words against him)for his loss.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Gerry it’s about time someone has said they’ve had enough. Obviously Elisha has decided that she must express her disdain for Alan beyond the election. It’s a shame that she doesn’t really have all of her facts together on MY FRIEND though. And “Right in Lowell” is another “Nostradamus of the blogs” I can see…hmm I wonder if between him and Elisha they can offer up six numbers to the mega millions tonight so I can really praise and rejoice in their names?
November 10th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I really like having the CC packet posted here on LiL. Can we make this a feature?
Case in minutia is all this action over a series of new cell towers being put up here and there. Note Baacke’s response to C.R.Mercier’s Motion. This has kept the zoning board busy. Folks luvs them some cell phones, but in Belvidere they got a mad case of NIMBY. (That ain’t a flu, btw)
Seems the Lowell Mission Church, which recently moved to the vacant place of worship at 403 Andover St. has found a steady revenue stream via a new wireless service provider, Clear Wire. They want to build a new steeple on the existing church. This steeple will fully enclose the “cell tower.”
Apparently our neighbors are not down with this idea.
Point of interest: C.Millinazzo is an abutter.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Gerry: no, his supporters are just blaming the Lowell Sun for a take-down. Where do you think they are getting the memes they are spreading? LOL
Two things coming from the GOB apologists: look at our new Bernie-run puppet city council, and the Lowell Sun was out to get Kazanjian and got him.
It’s really cute to see them scramble for the justifications…
November 10th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Lynne,
They may in fact be scrambling and listening to Pat McCarthy on CAP the other morning was a joke. But Mr. Kazanjian has publicly taken the high road and for that he deserves to be complimented.
Early on I stated he should have resigned, he chose not to and the people instead voted him out, democracy at its finest.
So I say let the man continue to serve out his time with the dignity he has shown since his defeat without continuing to blast him and especially to blast him for having friends who aren’t as dignified. (Blast them instead, as I did Tarsy)
November 10th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
“So I say let the man continue to serve out his time with the dignity he has shown since his defeat…”
I’d say sure, but as of yet we haven’t had a council meeting since his defeat. As such, we have yet to see how he ’serves’ since his defeat let alone ’serve with dignity’. He can be an outrageously freindly guy and be outrageously dignified, but as long as he uses his vote on the council to play games, people should call him out on it. He hasn’t left yet. If he does go forward as the lame duck that his defeat makes him, great. But until that happens the potential for playing games with the City’s government with that vote of his is still there and while he may be ‘dignified’ in the media since his defeat, he has yet to be ‘dignified’ with his vote on the Council. When I see that I’ll encourage temperance in criticism, but until then I see no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt, given his history.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Jack:
Good idea about the packet. As soon as it is posted, we will comment on it and link to it. And thanks for the headsup on the Zoning Board. Did not know this information.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
And Big Dog, what did Elisha say that was inacurrate? If you had been watching for the past 2 weeks, you will notice that everything she said is true.
Furthermore, it is not the Sun that sunk his candidacy but actions such as the ones outlined by Elisha.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Mimi, I haven’t been here for two weeks sorry to say! I was pointing out that Elisha’s “4 star rant” (see # 4)just appears to be more rants and raves….why keep beating a dead horse for Christ sakes? The man’s gone…finished….out…bye bye…so why keep wasting the time to keep the “dead ball” rolling? What purpose does the acid tongue serve? Take on another issue that is current and has some merit now, that’s all.
I’ll ask this simple question….has Elisha met Alan? Has she been in his presence? Does she know the man at all? I say no! She’s another one that see’s and hears “things” and automatically it’s all true….well grow up and realize that if you knew this man at all…you’d know enough to shut your mouth without knowing the facts about him!
November 10th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Jack, cc packets are available to anyone interested on the City of Lowell website:
http://www.lowellma.gov/depts/officeofthecitymanager/city-council-meeting-packets
November 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Thanks for the heads up, dmg.
I’d still like it become a fixture here. The packet generates comments. That’s a good thing, imo.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Elisha took a computer vacation day on the 11th, but would like to follow up now. Elisha may have gone a little overboard with #4, sort of like Jon Stewart(tongue in cheek) or Glenn Beck(head up butt). Elisha doesn’t know why he is writing in the third person. Elisha has met Alan in personal and professional arenas. Alan, and Mike Lenzi, have been playing games on the council for the last two years in a less than dignified manner. Now suddenly they deserve dignity and respect? Elisha used to work for the city so he has “seen” and “heard” things. Oh, and Elisha is a man.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Well Big Dog thinks that Elisha is truly one strange “dude”…another disgruntled city employee lol…figures.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Well Big Dog, if an associate of Alan thinks I am strange and disgruntled, then in the same vein that Councilor Milinazzo used to respond to Alan earlier this year I’ll consider that a complement.