By DAVE SCHULTZ
The city has put together a financial package to purchase a $198,000 computer server that will serve all city departments.
The purchase, from Reliance I.O. Technology Group, has been discussed for several weeks by officials in the Whicker administration, the Bluffton Board of Works, and the Bluffton Common Council. Reliance, which has a presence in City Hall and serves as the city’s information technology provider, was the only company to submit a bid for the server.
Bluffton has hired a new director of information systems, Karen Morris, who was tasked with examining the bid and making a recommendation to the city. Some officials expressed the opinion that $198,000 was too much money for only one bid.
However, Morris was present at one of Tuesday’s meetings — the city’s usual Tuesday Board of Works and Common Council meetings — and deferred to Tami Runyon to explain where the money was coming from.
The decision was made, by both the council and the Board of Works, to take $9,250 from the city’s Rainy Day Fund and $90,750 from the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The rest of the money will come from the city’s utilities — $32,666.66 each from the Electric Fund and the Water Fund, and $16,333.33 and $16,333.34, respectively, from the Wastewater Fund’s Contractual Service and the Wastewater Fund’s Miscellaneous Expenses-Collect line items. That total comes to $198,000.
The decision was ratified by both the Board of Works and the Bluffton Common Council Tuesday.
daves@news-banner.com
