BOC Charter Stops Vendors from Getting Paid

Chairman Sanford-Didn’t you know this day was coming? Why did you not have input?The Gilmer County charter states that if the county wants to spend over $20,000 with any one vendor in a calendar year they are required to do a Request for Proposals. They must advertise and collect bids on the products or services they wish to purchase.

During last Thursdays workshop Commission Chairman J.C. Sanford announced to the room that on advice from council, he had checks for two vendors he could not sign. He makes these comments as though he wasn’t aware this was coming. It shouldn’t be a surprise since Charter change discussions started in the beginning of 2011 at the BOC workshops.

Sanford was previously a post Commissioner who served with the former Chairman Mark Chastain. That should make him well aware of the on-going investigation into Chastain concerning the County Charter. Earlier in the year he mentioned a business by name and said what we do about the fact that they were coming up on the $20,000 limit.

FYN wonders what vendors are not being paid. What vendors have checks that Sanford cannot sign? How many vendors are close to the $20,000 mark? One would think that if council has advised Sanford not to sign those checks then the BOC would have to change the charter before these vendors could be paid.

Charter changes require a resolution, a public notice, and public hearings before the charter can be changed. This could take weeks before vendors get paid. Sanford may not be able to sign those checks for quite sometime. And if they do change the Charter to pay “certain” vendors – does that mean some vendors could be paid over $20,000 without a required Request for Proposal?

It seems the issue at hand should have been handled before it reached this point. Both Post Commissioners have made numerous attempts to handle this situation before it became an issue. Only to be met with resistance from Sanford.