Legislature Looking at Possible Ethics Violations

The Erie County Legislature is looking into possible ethics violations involving the pending approval approve a $90,000 contract from Volland Electric, a company in which County Executive Chris Collins is part owner.

“As far as we know, any contract over $10,000 needs to come through the legislature. The aspects of this contract are different than all others, including the way it was signed and who it was sent to.” said Legislator Dan Kozub.

Normally contracts are stamped with Collins signature and then hand signed by Erie County deputy executive Al Hammonds. This contract was stamped and signed by Hammonds, not Collins as per usual protocol.

This contract was sent directly to the commissioner of Sewers, also unusual as most contracts are first sent to the deputy commissioner before being sent over to the legislature.

The contract, a $90,000 electrical motor repair contract for an Erie County sewer district, was awarded, as it shows on page 9, to vendor 6.  Vendor 6 is Volland Electric, an electric company co-owned by Erie County Executive Chris Collins.

See contract request here

Volland Electric was the last bid to come in for the contract to fix the engine, and while they were the lowest bid on the hourly rate, Volland was not the lowest overall bid.

Grant Loomis from the County Executive Office released this statement to WNYMedia yesterday afternoon:

“Volland Electric was the lowest bidder on this particular contract after a sealed, formal bid process conducted by the County’s Bureau of Purchase.  The County Executive is a minority owner of Volland Electric and, as promised, ended his involvement in day to day operations upon taking office.  This particular contract was required by law to be rebid for 2009.

Volland Electric has successfully bid on county work – on and off – since the 1940s.  As one of the few remaining electric motor repair shops in Western New York, Volland Electric does business with both the public and private sectors.   This contract represents less than 1% of Volland Electric’s total annual business.

According to County Charter and municipal law, this contract – along with the majority of contracts executed by the Division of Purchase – does not need Legislature approval.

Once again, the Legislature has shown more interest in playing political games than working with the County Executive to move this community forward.”

Kozub spoke to Mr. Collins over the phone who expressed anger that his integrity has come into question.

Kozub says, “It’s okay for him (Collins) to go on tv and downright degrade this legislature, but not okay for us to shed light on some potential ethical violations that effect erie county taxpayers. “