Hamilton County commissioners have settled a 3-month-old controversy over a furniture purchase. But some on the body think Chairgate may not be over.
The commission voted 7-2 Wednesday to pass a resolution put forward by Commissioner Joe Graham to spend up to $85,000 on replacement chairs for Hamilton County Criminal and General Sessions courts.
Graham presented the resolution as a late item in a recessed voting session from last week.
The vote seemingly ended a furniture fray that started in late October, when Criminal Court judges asked commissioners to replace 144 old and broken-down chairs they called an embarrassment to the county and a danger to lawyers, court audiences and jurors.
Commissioners were asked for $60,000 for the chairs, and the measure cleared the finance committee, which Graham leads.
But the following week, Graham said he had learned some more information, and the finance committee was going to hold the measure for some more vetting. He was concerned about the price tag, along with brand-specific and geographical bid requirements for the chairs.
By November, Graham said he wanted the chairs rebid. County Mayor Jim Coppinger said he was out of line, and that commissioners should simply vote the resolution up or down and move on. But in the following weeks, the chair issue remained tabled, despite efforts by Commissioner Marty Haynes to call for a vote.
Commission Chairman Jim Fields called that resolution dead Wednesday, and no commissioner challenged him — despite County Attorney Rheubin Taylor informing the commission that ditching the resolution would require a vote.
Instead, the commission passed Graham’s motion, which allocated up to $85,000 to buy chairs for both Criminal Court and General Sessions Court. Graham said he based the figure off the bids the county received on the last offer.
Graham’s resolution also has no brand-specific or geographic requirements for bidders.
But Haynes said Wednesday he is concerned the passage of Graham’s resolution only opened the county up for a lawsuit.
“I have been involved in a fair number of government contracts over my career over the last 30 years, and I think we are wading into dangerous territory, legally,” Haynes said.
Haynes said he has been on the winning end of lawsuits against governments that bid projects based on prices his company had supplied in previous bids.
“We should have voted the resolution down if we didn’t like the price and asked for a rebid,” Haynes said.
County Purchasing Director Gail Roppo said the chairs probably would cost more than $85,000 but Commissioner Tim Boyd said he would cover the rest with his District 8 discretionary funds.
Commissioner Randy Fairbanks also voted no, saying Taylor had warned them the process they were following could be a violation.
“I’m very much in favor of getting those chairs,” he said. “I just can’t put the county in that situation. It wasn’t a vote against the chairs. It was a vote against the process we were using.”
Contact staff writer Louie Brogdonat lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com,@glbrogdoniv on Twitter or 423-757-6481.