March 17, 2003 Minutes

Members in Attendance:

Diane McKenzie, City of Allentown
Hope Potter, L3P/PA League of Cities and Municipalities
April Lenhart, Berks County
Renee Carpenter, Berks County
Diane Cowan, University Area Joint Authority
Sabina Wilson, Bucks County
Ferne McGrath, Bucks County
Kelly Laubach, Lancaster County
Chris Parnau, Northampton County
Mary Ann Ramey, Whitehall Township
George Nader, Lehigh County
Judy Cole, South Whitehall Township
Lenore Horos, South Whitehall Township
Mary Jo Reed, City of Bethlehem
Stephen Suder, Delaware River Port Authority
Kimberly Sangster, School District of Philadelphia
Bill Lyle, Bucks County
> Barry Hitchcock, Lancaster County
Pete Navarro, Chester County
Ann Wertman, Lehigh County

Guests in Attendance for Roundtable Luncheon:

Donald T. Cunningham, Jr., Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of General Services
David Yarken, Deputy Secretary for Procurement, Pennsylvania Department of General Services

Meeting Location: Ramada Inn, Whitehall, PA

Meeting Host: Mary Ann Ramey

President George Nader called the General Meeting to order at 10:15 AM.

The newest PAPPA member, Kimberly Sangster, Chief Procurement Officer for the Philadelphia School District was introduced.  Diane Cowan of the University Area Joint Authority was also welcomed to her first PAPPA meeting.

Special recognition was given to Maureen McIlvaine for her recertification as CPPB, to Price Morris on being named Vice Chair of NIGP’s 2003 Diversity Committee and to Kimberly for recently obtaining her CPPO certification.

The Minutes of the January 27, 2003 General Meeting were reviewed.  Hearing no modifications, the minutes were approved following a motion by Mary Jo Reed and a second by Barry Hitchcock.

The Board Minutes of the January 27, 2003, were noted as being approved after the addition of  “NIGP Presidential visit for the” on page 3, 4th bullet, between the wording “Comments on the” and “May 2004 Regional Conference.”

Treasurer Chris Parnau distributed a reconciliation detail sheet that listed the PAPPA bank statement balance as of March 5, 2003, as $11,739.01.  The updated balance of the checkbook as of March 16, 2003, was $ 11,929.06. Mary Jo’s motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report was seconded by Ferne McGrath and followed by the approval of all in attendance.  April Lenhart offered audit advice stating each reconciliation sheet should contain original signatures of the Treasurer and President.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Awards - April, Committee Chair, expressed appreciation for the input by Ferne, Steve Suder and Price Morris on the draft version of the Membership and Longevity Awards Program.  April explained the changes recommended by the Board at their meeting earlier today.  The Committee will have a new draft for the May 19th PAPPA Meeting which will separate the awards to Membership Recognition and Achievement Award.  Membership Recognition will be based entirely on the number of year’s membership has been held while the Achievement Award will incorporate attendance, participation, volunteering and payment of dues.  April also announced the Committee has had no applications for Professional Buyer or Purchasing Manager of the Year awards.

Finance - Judy Cole, Committee Chair, commented on the two year period during which the Chapter has been in contact with and is still waiting for action from Chip Watkins of NIGP to process our 501C3 and 501 Letter applications.

Legislative - Ann Wertman, Committee Chair, announced we are now looking at legislation introduced into the new 2003-2004 Session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.  Also, she noted that the Legislative Report that she distributed has been diversified to include schools/universities and Commonwealth procurement in that all these entities are covered in our membership.  A copy of Senate Bill 354, PN 426 was circulated with the bill listing.

Marketing - Mary Ann, Committee Chair, commended Price and Kelly Laubach on their assistance in creating the Scavenger Hunt Contest to celebrate March as Purchasing Month.  Mary Ann thanked everyone for participating and the winners were announced as:

George Nader, 1st Prize, $35.00 Red Lobster Restaurant Gift Certificate
Ann Wertman, 2nd Prize, $25.00 Barnes and Noble Gift Certificate
Ferne McGrath, 3rd Prize, $20.00 Regal Cinema Gift Certificate
Steve Suder, 4th Prize, $20.00 NIGP Bookstore Gift Certificate

Membership - Steve, Committee Chair, reported that the majority of the 2003 dues have been received.  He noted that Wendy Pyott of the Commonwealth DGS has retired.  George asked that contact be made with Ginger Bucher and Veronica Ulrich, both listed as recently certified CPPBs.  Steve also expressed appreciation for Ferne’s assistance in the Committee’s functions.

Operations Guide - Diane McKenzie, Committee Chair, expects to have the updates issued within the next month and at the request of the President will include a cover summary to include page numbers that the updates will replace.

ProD - In his absence, Price, Committee Chair, forwarded his report to the President.  A CPPB Review was held in Pittsburgh on March 12th with 9 enrollees.  Basic Legal Principles of Public Purchasing will be held in Philadelphia on March 31st with 29 enrollees.  While the class will be held, General Public Procurement, scheduled for Morgantown on April 14-16th, would benefit with additional attendees to reduce the current loss calculation to PAPPA.

Website - In the absence of the Webmaster, Price supplied the President with an update on the website hits.  Since January there have been 300 visits bringing the total since inception to over 2700.  George added that the PAPPA Scavenger Hunt article could now be eliminated from the site.

By-Laws - Diane, Committee Chair, had no report to offer; however she will research whether or not the Awards programs are already addressed or need to be added.

Chapter Liaison - In his absence, Price reported there are no additional details available on the Region 1 Conference to be held this year in Annapolis, Maryland.

NIGP Liaison - With Bill Irish unable to attend, the President requested Chris to ask Bill for the status of the mentoring program.

Newsletter - April Lenhart anticipates the third PAPPA newsletter will be available by the May 19th Chapter Meeting.  She will be enhancing future newsletters with the addition of Clipart to her editing tools.

Strategic Plan - The President is targeting a review in the month of May.  He will be forwarding the existing duties and requirements to each committee chair for review and input.

OLD BUSINESS:

Having received approval from NIGP for a Presidential visit during our Spring 2004 Region 1 Conference, the President asked for volunteers to serve on a Planning Committee as well as a Committee Chair.  Kimberly, Renee Carpenter, Ferne, Kelly, Steve and Diane volunteered to serve.  The committee will be finalized at the May 19th meeting and a Chair will be named.  A brief discussion on locations followed; Kelly recommended Morgantown be considered as it is used as a centralized location for educational seminars. Mary Ann noted the importance of early planning if a vendor fair is to be included, allowing these companies to insert this promotional expenditure into their budget well in advance of the event.

The President thanked those who responded to Diane Cowan’s request for rental/lease information on a track hoe.

The President thanked April for conducting the audit of the 2002 financial statements.  April commended Scott Brodt, the immediate past Treasurer, for his organized and overall good performance.  Her report included various inconsistencies and observations that will be addressed by the Board.

George noted that during the gap between our meetings many of the NIGP Press Releases become outdated.  He will begin e-mail/fax broadcasting as necessary between our Chapter Meetings so that everyone receives this information on a timely basis.

NEW BUSINESS:

Appreciation was expressed to Hope Potter for her willingness to include the PAPPA brochure in her L3P Newsletter.

Mary Jo Reed presented her selections for the 2003 PAPPA shirt, following requests to have a selection available in sizes for both men and women.  A short sleeved 100% cotton navy polo shirt with tan trim was selected.  The order must be between 15 and 24 pieces to obtain the following pricing:

Men and Women’s Sizes – Small, Medium, Large, X-Large - $ 22 each
Men and Women’s Sizes – 2X-Large, 3X-Large - $ 24 each

Diane McKenzie will again coordinate the shirt orders and payment.  Diane will e-mail the members for their orders.

George highlighted the contents of the available handouts which today included:

*"Webinars" are now a Training Option
*Early Registration for 58th Annual Forum & Products Exposition
*Candidates for At-Large Board Seat
*Seven (7) Public Agencies Receive Agency Accreditation
*Nominations for International Award
*US Communities adds Electrical Supplier
*NIGP Salutes Veteran Members
*NIGP & IFPMM announce International Essay Contest
*Nominations for International Award
*Nominations for Best Practices Award
*Representatives to LES Board

A communication from Brennan Environmental, Inc. requested our membership listing for the purpose of invitation to their environmental procurement conference.  It was decided we would not share our membership listing.

The meeting was now opened to “Coffee Talk” and included discussion as follows:

Question as to whether elected officials should be represented on an RFP evaluation committee?  After some discussion of the subject the focus shifted to the issue of voting procedures. Verbal votes were being used to select vendors which could easily alter the perceived stand of a member by the pressure of knowing the other votes cast prior to their own vote.  Many in attendance base their decision on points only and never use a show of hands or verbal voting procedure.

Compliance with Right to Know by release of bidder lists or budget estimates was another issue.  One municipality required the release when requested in writing unless such disclosure was determined to be detrimental to their operations.  The majority does not release this information prior to bid award.

Question on the progress of US Communities legally meeting the bidding requirements of the County Codes in Pennsylvania.  The question hinges on whether or not the bidding procedure used by US Communities meets the requirements of Chapter 19 of Title 62 and at the same time applies to Commonwealth municipalities.  This will be discussed with today’s speakers.

Question on Purchasing employees accepting tickets or other favors from vendors when Purchasing is not dealing directly with this vendor knowing full well that other employees or elected officials within the same entity are accepting these offers. It was the consensus that all doubt is avoided by refusing such offers since everyone in Purchasing is making financial decisions for their municipality while others in the same entity may not be involved in financial decisions.

Mary Ann noted that the Chapter’s participation in Purchasing Month was rewarded by NIGP with the rulers that each person received today.

Kimberly Sangster announced the entry level buyer’s position in the Philadelphia School District with a salary range of $30,000 to $46,000.  One year is allowed to establish the required residency for this position.

Renee Carpenter also has an opening for Contract Coordinator for a detail oriented and assertive individual.  The scope of work includes the ability to negotiate legalities and has a salary range of $38,360 to $45,000.

Being close to noon, the group broke for lunch as our Speakers were scheduled to participate in a roundtable lunch discussion.  David Yarken, new Deputy Secretary for Procurement for the Commonwealth will address improving the State contract process, usage of WSCA, etc.  Donald T. Cunningham, Jr., new Secretary of the PA Department of General Services will address the cooperation of State and Municipal Purchasing Agents.

A very informative two-hour roundtable left the Chapter members with the impression that a new window of opportunity has been opened.  Both Deputy Secretary Yarkin and Secretary Cunningham welcomed our input and expressed the need to have the same dialog with our Western Pennsylvania counterparts.  Our input as to the pros and cons of specific PA State contracts will be evaluated so that the weaknesses and strengths of the current system can be addressed.  The legalities of using US Communities and WSCA will be studied as well.  Emphasis will also be placed on a system which will allow the Commonwealth to track actual PA State contract usage by municipalities so that more attractive bidding quantities will be available for future contract bidding.

At the close of the presentation, George and Steve presented both Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Yarkin with Honorary PAPPA Chapter membership as well as Chapter pins, padfolios and carry bags.  Both were appreciative of these tokens and expressed the value of today’s forum.

The President briefly reconvened the General Meeting.  Emphasis was placed on providing the President with the information requested by our Speakers.  In order that PA State contracts can be made more attractive and useful, we need to provide as many examples, favorable and unfavorable, as possible by the end of next week or Friday, March 28, 2003.

With no additional agenda items the motion to adjourn was approved after a motion by Steve; with a second by Mary Jo.

Post Meeting Attachment:

In reporting our shirt selection to the vendor, it was determined we were provided with incorrect pricing.  Your notice from Diane McKenzie will reflect the corrected pricing which appears below as well as order deadline and payment arrangements:

Ladies:
S-XL $22.00 less $4.00 or $18.00 cost to member
2XL  $24.00 less $4.00 or $20.00 cost to member

Men:
S-XL  $23.50 less $4.00 or $19.50 cost to member
2XL  $25.50 less $4.00 or $21.50 cost to member
3XL  $27.50 less $4.00 or $23.50 cost to member

Copyright 2001-06. All rights reserved.
Pennsylvania Public Purchasing Association
E-mail webmaster: webmaster@pappainc.org
http://www.pappainc.org