MALONE — The Town of Malone apparently didn't follow state guidelines when it recently advertised for a consultant to administer a small-business-loan program.
Malone was awarded a $200,000 grant to create a micro-enterprise program to start or support at least 10 small businesses through the Community Development Block Program of the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
But the request for proposals seeking someone to administer it was apparently not filed according to the agency's guidelines, so the town may have to start the process again.
REQUIRED STEPS
Repeated Press-Republican calls over several days to community-renewal officials at offices in Syracuse, Albany and New York City, as well as the Governor's Office, seeking a clarification of the process were not returned.
But the grant-administration manual and information on the agency's website details what steps recipients are expected to follow.
The notice must include, among other information:
▶ A brief description, location, purpose and time frame for the project.
▶ Services the consultant is expected to provide.
▶ A budget for the scope of those services.
▶ The expected deadline to complete the work.
▶ An evaluation procedure and criteria on how the proposals will be rated.
▶ A submittal deadline.
Once the stated deadline passes, a committee can take up to 45 days to evaluate the proposals, interview the applicants and score each proposal based on the advertised criteria.
TOWN'S AD
But the town's published notice asked for little of the required information. The entire ad that ran stated that "the town board is requesting proposals for the administration for the micro-enterprise grant that has been awarded to the Town of Malone; with the proposals to include administration, reporting and a local, professional representative, office and supplies."
That notice resulted in four written proposals and two oral presentations from two additional firms invited to a Town Council meeting by Town Supervisor Howard Maneely.
PREVIOUSLY FIRED
Following a brief executive session at that meeting on Jan. 25, the Town Council announced it would hire Boyce Sherwin, the former director of the now defunct Village of Malone Office of Community Development.
Sherwin was fired May 31, 2002, by former Mayor Richard "Joe" Gokey and the Village Board for not carrying out the duties asked of him.
The Office of Community Development was dissolved a short time later.
LOCAL EMPHASIS
Town Council member Jack Sullivan defended the town's hiring decision, saying, "We decided up front that, all things being equal, we were going to go with someone who was local to keep the money locally.
"Basically, it was two things that made us decide on Boyce Sherwin. First, he is local, and he has experience grant writing," Sullivan said. "And he used to work for the village."
Sullivan said he knew Sherwin had been fired, but "I was told a lot of it was because of a personality conflict between him and the former mayor."
LESS EXPENSIVE
He said Sherwin's proposal was also favored because his prices were cheaper than other applicants.
"We were told the state allows certain expenses for the grant, and they are very liberal," Sullivan said.
"The others, as far as I could tell, were out-and-out greedy and trying to find an opportunity to make money off the applications that were going to be over the state allowance."
FUNDING LIMITATIONS
The state guidelines say administration, program-delivery and training costs cannot exceed 25 percent of the total grant awarded, and of that 25 percent, administrative costs cannot exceed 5 percent of the total award.
The total cost allowance for Malone's grant would be about $26,000, and any expenses beyond that limit would have to come from the town's general fund.
In his proposal, Sherwin said he would charge $500 a month, up to $10,000 for administration; $1,200 each for completing at least 10 business-grant applications, up to a total of $18,000; and $700 each for training the 10 applicants, for a total cost of about $35,000 for his services.
NO FINANCIAL DETAILS
Camoin Associates of Latham and ComLinks of Malone, the two applicants who made oral presentations to the Town Council, said, when asked, that they would comply with the state-funding limits and charge less than $30,000 for their work.
The other applicants — Cartier International Strategies of Malone, Avalon Associates of Glens Falls and Shelter Planning and Development Inc. of Queensbury — did not submit specific financial projections in their plans because the legal notice did not ask for it.
They told the Town Council that they expected a second, more-detailed request for information would be published to allow them the opportunity to provide financial details.
UNANIMOUS VOTE
But the town did not offer a second ad and hired Sherwin in a 4-0 vote from Sullivan, Maneely and Town Council members Louise Taylor and Paul Walbridge.
Council member Mary Scharf abstained because she said she has a close, personal relationship with Sherwin and his family.
Scharf wrote the original request for proposals that was published and also sits on the Town Council's Grants and Policy Committee with Sullivan.
'DISAPPOINTED'
"It seems like there was a lot of confusion over the RFPs (requests for proposals)," ComLinks Executive Director Brian Cassini told the Press-Republican.
"There was no enough information to go on, but we put together a package and estimated a percentage of the costs without any real numbers to work with.
"We had a great proposal, and we're local," Cassini said, adding that the agency has experience working with Franklin County on a Community Development Block Grant for a micro-enterprise program in the past.
"We were happy with the opportunity to present the town with a proposal but disappointed, like the others were, that we didn't get chosen."
Email Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
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