West Mifflin approves controversial I.T. deal

The cost of services was negotiated down after last month’s meeting.

West Mifflin Area School Board passed a proposal from Ford Office Technologies Thursday evening despite resident backlash.

The proposal would provide I.T. management and other I.T. services from July 1 through June 30, 2030. It will cost $198,000 for the first year, with 3% annual increases. The item on the agenda last month with a starting price of $210,000.

The recommendation for the proposal was made by the district’s technology committee, and the district currently has several technology employees.

Some residents were upset that the board didn’t look for other options.

Resident Theresa Sekely said a vote was taken last month to solicit bids for the contract, questioning whether Thursday’s decision was legal. Resident Diane Stanesic also accused the board of not sending a Request For Proposal.

“Is this something that we want?” Sekely said. “I thought that everyone wanted to look for consistency, what was the better option? And there are plenty of other companies that are out there that I’m sure would put out a bid for this, so I would hope that this would be tabled until the RFP is sent out which you all guys voted on at the last meeting.” There was no formal vote last month to put out an RFP. However, there were discussions about it, and they said they could keep the Ford contract if they wanted to after further consideration. There was a formal vote to table the motion.

Board members had the option to put the proposal back on the agenda, but first they had to decide if they would need to put out another RFP or to just hire in house.

Resident John Collins, who addressed the board last month about the same issue, accused those who voted for the Ford proposal of not caring about the district.

“I just want to know why we didn’t reach out to other companies for an actual quote, or look internally, to our actual I.T. department,” Collins said. “If we are pushing this inconsistent I.T. company that had six directors over five years, I hope, again, that this fails and we seek to find an actual IT director. Hire one, don’t rent one.”

The board passed the motion by a 6-2 margin with directors Judith Ahern and Gina Englert voting no and director Janelle Kopay absent.

Ahern, Englert, Kopay, Joe Gajdos and Mark Yuhas voted no last month, while Matthew Blazevich, Mark Donahoe, Anthony DiCenzo and Kevin Squires voted yes.

Yuhas said he has a friend who works in the I.T. business, and that the price for any RFP would be the same as the Ford contract. He decided to support the motion because he believes the Ford contract is the better option for protecting the school district.

Blazevich and Donahoe said there was no formal vote last month because putting out an RFP wasn’t on the agenda. Squires said Superintendent Jeffrey Soles negotiated a new deal for the proposal.

“There was a discussion as to whether or not there should be an RFP sent out,” Donahoe said. “However, a follow-up technology meeting was put together. I was not part of it. The bottom line was, one of the situations that we had at the previous month’s meeting was that the week before, during the week before the meeting, there were committee discussions and nothing was brought up about it. It only came up at the formal vote meeting and there were concerns.”

Donahoe added that the turnover of directors has also been steady the past few years, and he has been pleased with the performance by Ford in the past.

The follow-up technology meeting was called to discuss the issues and concerns, according to Donahoe.

“This isn’t just one guy’s salary,” Squires said. “We aren’t voting on paying one director, one salary. There are a massive amount of services that are being provided by Ford that would cost us substantially. And to have those services either paid for somewhere else or paid for in house, it would be a big financial burden as well. To me, this is the most financially stable option to make.”

In other business:

• The board passed all motions Thursday, including terminating a roughly $62,500 lease agreement with Kennywood, relinquishing all claims of the park.

• Board members agreed to a $73,000 settlement agreement with Moonbeam Capital Investments, owners of the former Century III Mall property, regarding claims related to the amended bankruptcy plan from May 7, 2020.

• The proposed 2025-26 Allegheny County Intermediate Unit (AIU3) program of services budget in the amount of $2,361,050 was also approved.