Purchase of computers without board sign-off stirs contention in Grafton Township

An estimated $15,000 purchase of new computers for the Grafton Township Assessor’s Office from a vendor that was not approved by the Township Board has exacerbated months of infighting between trustees and township Assessor Alan Zielinski.

Although Zielinski said during July’s board meeting that he would sign off on purchase orders for seven computers and monitors from Excalibur Technology Corp. in Lake Barrington, Zielinski moved forward with an order delivered to the township offices days later from Entré Computer Solutions – a company the board was distrustful of after a problem with billing hours related to a firewall installation last year.

According to emails obtained by the Northwest Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request, Grafton Township Supervisor Eric Ruth advised an Entré representative that the purchase was not approved and that Zielinski would be installing the computers at his own risk.

Ruth later told Zielinski via email that trustees stated on several occasions that they did not want Zielinski touching the computers at all.

“You’ve ignored the board on this every step of the way and once again have created friction and potential liability at the township,” Ruth said in an email to Zielinski. “I don’t care how you do your job but I refuse to let you make a bad name for our township and its representatives.”

Zielinski, meanwhile, has maintained that there is nothing in the Illinois Property Tax Code or Township Code stating that an assessor’s office’s purchase orders have to be pre-approved by the board.

“Once [the township board] approves the budget, that is the approval process,” Zielinski said. “There is no stipulation, statute, regulation or insinuation that expenses have to be approved.”

Zielinski also replied to Ruth that if the board has an issue with how he runs the office, it can express those issues during depositions or in court.

“My actions won’t be what returns Grafton Township to the courts, making it Algonquin [Township] 2.0; it’ll be the board’s attempt to micro-manage a duly elected official,” Zielinski wrote.

Need for computers

In January, Zielinski said he approached the board about getting new computers in the assessor’s office to replace the 4- to 5-year-old systems he and the deputy assessors were using and was advised not to make the purchase until the budget year begins.

Leading up to the budget’s passage in May, Zielinski claimed his computer was going down at least twice a month, which made it exceedingly difficult to perform the 2019 quadrennial assessment, during which every parcel of land in the township had to be reassessed.

“All of that work that we put into getting the data, cleaning the data, painting the picture, analyzing it, it goes away, and you’re starting from Square 1 there,” Zielinski said.

Zielinski emailed Entré in April and requested nine computers for the assessor’s office’s five-man staff but was budgeted for seven computers in May. Zielinski changed his purchase order from Entré at the subsequent board meeting to reflect seven systems, but trustees were skeptical of moving forward with Entré after the township was billed for extra man hours during a firewall installation from Entré, which was recognized and eventually credited.

Ruth and other trustees said they would sign off on new computers but wanted some time to research Entré and ensure that they had the lowest bid for the computers.

A day after the May meeting, Zielinski notified McHenry County’s chief county assessment officer, Bob Ross, that he likely would not be able to submit assessment books by the June 15 deadline. As of Thursday, only two of the county’s 17 townships had submitted their assessment books, according to the county website.

Zielinski also emailed Ruth to notify him of additional computer system crashes, later saying that the board has formally known about the system failures since January, and delaying the approval of purchase orders puts the townships at “a pointless risk.”

Ruth responded that he would not be taking responsibility for the failures of a system that Zielinski put together and defended for years even when the township board and IT professionals disagreed.

Vendor debate

At the township’s June 17 meeting, Zielinski presented purchase orders for the seven computers from Entré, stating that the company had the highest-quality systems. However, trustees voted to amend the price and vendor of the purchase orders to Excalibur, whom trustees felt was the lowest bid.

The purchase orders to Entré in the June board agenda totaled $16,888.02, which was higher than Excalibur’s quote. However, a June 21 quote from Entré for seven computers, which was cut down from the June 10 quote for nine computers was for $15,184.19.

Zielinski argued that although Excalibur’s material costs were less than Entré, they would offer an estimated $2,000 expense for installation as opposed to Entré, whose computers would be ready to plug in and use once delivered.

Although Zielinski did not voice objections after the board voted to move forward with Excalibur, Trustee Sean Cratty emailed Zielinski days later saying he received a message from an Excalibur representative who advised him that Zielinski was referring the purchase to him.

“I really thought we had come together as one on this one and even mentioned that to a board member on the way out, but it takes you less than a week to screw it up,” Cratty emailed. “I will expect this to be resolved by early next week and an email from [Ruth] with your update as to where we are with progress.”

On July 3, Zielinski asked Grafton Township’s legal counsel, Joe Gottemoller, whether there was anything in the state statute that would prevent him from ordering from Entré or creating a sound and valid legal basis for the board to deny payment. Zielinski said he did not receive a clear legal opinion about whether the board could amend a purchase order from the township assessor during the June meeting.

Gottemoller replied that the board took action on the matter and if he did not want to follow its decision, he should talk with the board, saying in a separate email that he would not be used as a battering ram.

Zielinski replied to Gottemoller that his lack of response would provide another “incendiary log for the [Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission] pyre.” Gottemoller said that he no longer would respond to Zielinski’s threats or questions unless otherwise instructed.

After the board rejected another set of purchase orders to Entré at their July meeting, Zielinski moved forward with ordering from the consultant.

With the system installed, Zielinski said he expects to complete the assessment by mid-September.

However, progress may be slowed after the sudden departure of deputy assessor Dave Knutson, who quit Aug. 2, according to an email from Ruth to Zielinski.

Zielinski said in a reply to Ruth that Knutson’s issue at hand was one of basic comprehension and not realizing the difference between certain computer applications.

Knutson could not be reached for comment.