Council vote split on IT services contract

By a split vote, the Red Oak City Council has finalized a new agreement for IT services for the City of Red Oak.
City administrator Brad Wright said the new agreement was needed as the arrangement the city had made in the interim with Montgomery County Memorial Hospital was nearing its end.
“We’ve been having services provided by hospital IT  staff since the county did their own thing around July 1 of last year, and we’ve been getting that service at no charge. Obviously the hospital has informed us they cannot continue to do that, and of course, we knew it was not going to go on forever,” commented Wright.
Wright said they had been seeking other opportunities and options, and brought forth a contract for the council’s review from Midwest Data of Iowa, located in Stanton, at a cost of $1,484.99 per month.
“That is the remote part of the contract. Obviously they can do a great deal of the work remotely. As far as on-site work, that would be charged $100 per hour. That’s estimated for the first three months at 32 hours per month, and after that, the estimate is a maximum of 16 hours should cover it. Again, they will do everything they can remotely and we’ll only have them on site when needed,” explained Wright.
Wright said former county IT director Ryan Ernst, who works for Midwest Data, would be overseeing things and was very familiar with the systems. While he might not be the tech on site, Wright said he would be involved.
Council Member Brian Bills asked if the county had put out requests for proposals for the contract. Wright said they had not, said he was not aware of other options in the area, and said the city was not obligated to. Bills disagreed.
“It’s a three year contract. I feel we need to put this out for RFP. As a matter of fact, I think we should put everything out for RFP. I know we’ve bypassed that in the past but I feel it’s important,” stated Bills. “I’m not saying anything against Ryan Ernst. I appreciate everything he does for us, but I feel we owe it to the public to put it out for RFP and see what’s available. I think Ernst and Midwest Data are both great, but based on the length and amount of the contract, I feel we need an RFP.”
Wright said there were several things that needed to be done that the hospital had not done for the city, and that Ernst was aware of them.
Bills said there hadn’t been a sense of urgency in the past, and he didn’t see why there was a need to circumvent RFP procedure.
Council Member Tim Fridolph asked the time frame of receiving proposals if the city submitted a request for RFPs. Wright said it may take a month to six weeks before proposals would be received by the city, and his recommendation was to proceed with the Midwest Data contract.
Council Person Jeanice Lester made the motion to approve the Midwest Data contract, and stated she trusted Ernst tremendously, had seen the work he had done, and felt under the circumstances, the hospital was ready for them to approve an alternative.
The council approved the contract by a 3-2 vote, with Billsand Fridolph voting no.
Red Oak resident Beau Boeye also expressed his disappointment in the council’s decision regarding IT services.
“I’m disappointed, and even offended as well. Not that I was interested in bidding on it, more so about our discussions back in February about making some changes to the website, and how you guys thought that something like that needed to go out for a request for proposal, which would have been substantially less than the contract you are looking at. After hearing that, I had to voice my opinion,” Boeye said.

The council also approved an application for a $100,000 Community Catalyst Grant.