Without Proper Approval, Phone Purchase Voided

Chatham Township Administrator Tom Ciccarone said by email Friday that he had "erred" in authorizing a purchase order for $63,661.46 without approval of the Township Committee.

The purchase order was for a new phone system for the . The current phone system runs on an underground copper wire with no plastic conduit or waterproofing, which has been in place for more than 20 years.

The current vendor is Data Network Solutions (DNS). Isaac Fajerman, the president of DNS, described the system as "residential" and not suited for business use, as well as ancient and outdated. Speaking on the record during Thursday's committee meeting, he recommended switching to FiOS and offered the committee $90 a month for the lease of a FiOS telephone system.

Fajerman said Ciccarone had signed a purchase order for a competing provider, Hunter Technologies, to buy a system for over $63,000. The order was not approved by the committee and never appeared on a consent agenda for a public vote.

Ciccarone wrote in an email Friday, "I erred in failing to have the [township] Committee approve the award of the new contract. That error is being corrected." He also said DNS remains the vendor.

Chatham Township Mayor Nicole Hagner said the purchase order was "something we are not aware of at this point," but it was up for a discussion item in executive session.

"[Ciccarone] is trying to cover himself," Fajerman said in a telephone interview Friday.

Committee Member Bailey Brower Jr. said Ciccarone had raised "some question of adequacy and response to problems in getting them solved" under the current vendor.

"The way Tom was describing it, he perhaps went off the deep end in ordering a new system before he had explored all the possibilities. That’s the only real thing that I know, except that nothing was authorized," Brower said.

According to Brower, the committee decided in executive session Thursday to examine leasing options instead of purchasing, because of the "ever-changing technologies. ... I think it makes sense to lease rather than own, even though you may pay a little more."

Fajerman said Friday that the $63,661 would cover the purchase of the system, but likely not the installation or other associated fees. "Once you start talking about that, it goes up to $100,000," he said.

Ciccarone said the purchase order has been voided. "We are starting over in our search for a new phone system, with a lease instead of a purchase being looked at as an option," he said.

Brower said Fajerman "was trying to protect his flank, that's what I think."

DNS currently also provided telephone service to the Chatham Township Police Department, which switched to FiOS two years ago according to Fajerman. He said the department has not experienced any service problems and was open during the late October snow storm. "Everything's working," he said. 

Ciccarone said DNS provided IT support for 15 years, but that the services "were terminated in June of this year." 

"I think he got fed up with this server and I think he had this other company come up. ... Should he have brought this before the committee before he acted, I don’t know," Brower said of Ciccarone. "Until Tom brought that up I’d never heard of it."

He also said he approved of the job Ciccarone has done as an administrator so far.

Ciccarone said in an email, "We are not going to respond beyond what was said [at the meeting Thursday]."