A clerical error by Orange’s administration resulted in Village Council’s ratifying a contract that was actually signed more than a year ago.
Orange Police Chief Michael Roberts explains to Village Council how a five-year contract with Flock Group Inc. for the purchase of license plate reader cameras, software and attendant services was signed in error by the former mayor in December 2023.
Council ratified the contract Wednesday .ORANGE, Ohio – A clerical error by the village’s administration resulted in Village Council’s ratifying a contract that was actually signed more than a year ago. On Wednesday , council ratified the execution of a five-year contract with Flock Group Inc. for the purchase of license plate reader cameras, software and attendant services for a total cost not to exceed $112,500. The contract covers the cost of nine LPR cameras for the Orange Police Department for a total of $22,500 per year, Police Chief Michael Roberts said. The issue is that the village has an ordinance that requires council approval for contracts that exceed $15,000 in a given year. Former Mayor Kathy U. Mulcahy signed this five-year contract in December 2023 because the invoice reflected a $9,500 discount for 2024 that resulted in the village being charged $13,000 for that year only, Roberts said.“The Flock cameras originally came to us in 2021 for a two-year contract, at $22,500 per year,” he said. “Over that two-year period, Detective Sgt. Attewell determined that we weren’t getting all of the service that we should have for the terms of the contract.” Attewell brought his concerns to Flock Group, Roberts said. Flock agreed that the terms of the contract had not been met and provided the police department with LPR cameras for 2023 at no cost.“At the end of 2023, said, ‘We will lock you in at $2,500 per unit price for the next five years if you sign a five-year contract.’” Roberts said the police department had village Law Director Stephen Byron review the contract. He did and sent it to Mulcahy, who signed it, Roberts said. “Then in 2024, we received our invoice, which reflected a discount of $9,500 off the $22,500,” Roberts said. “I emailed Flock and reminded them that they gave us the year 2023 free and asked, did they also intend on giving us the financial break. They emailed me back and said they did.”Mayor Judson Kline, who succeeded Mulcahy as mayor in January 2024, felt this amount was within his spending authority and did not require council’s approval, so he signed the contract for renewal last year, according to Roberts.“This year, when we received the invoice for $22,500, it became apparent to us that when it was originally signed by Mulcahy, the contract didn’t appear in front of council first ,” Roberts said.Roberts said Treasurer Dana Kavander discovered that the finance department didn’t have the contract when the bill came due this year. “Dana said it was budgeted but didn’t see the contract, and she said, ‘Wait; something’s wrong,’” Roberts said.“We’re just disclosing that and moving on,” he said. “The Flock cameras are very valuable and worth every penny, and they are a viable option for us. We want to continue the relationship.” Council President Brent Silver acknowledged that the approval in 2023 was “a clerical error and oversight.”“No one is trying to pull a fast one here,” he said. “We’re working to make this right.Councilwoman Kim Ullner expressed concerns about the process that allowed this error to happen. “I am suggesting that we need sort of check and balance system so that this doesn’t happen again in the future,” she said. “Dana, Chief Roberts and Mayor Kline were right to bring this forward to council for our intervention and endorsement now, when it was noticed. “But I am concerned that this was not caught at the time in 2023 and that there clearly is no system of checks and balances in place.” Roberts, who was appointed police chief last August, said he believes Kavander is now providing that system under his administration as he’s learning this new role. “I understand it’s over my authority; I go to Dana first,” he said. “If this happens again, the buck stops with me.”“But we have other departments as well, and I just think it’s something that would be good to have,” she said. Silver said this was the first time he can recall something like this happening in his six years on council.Ullner replied, “But it’s not the first time that we’ve been asked to vote on something after the fact, and it should have been voted on .”“If we have a procurement policy of any kind in the village, we can review that as a council, maybe the language and how the steps are laid out,” he said. Kline said as this incident unfolded, it became clear to him that the village does need “a more clear check and balance system available to all of our departments – not just the police department – and our finance department is really the conduit through which all that needs to pass at some point.” “Dana and I have sat down and identified the mechanism by which that will happen so that we don’t have these kinds of incidents pop up as they relate to internal and administrative activities, particularly where there may be a council intervention that’s appropriate,” he said.Kline added that the village needs to maintain “both transparency in what we do and integrity in how we do it.” “It’s my intention to have that integrity, and to the extent that there is a written set of guidelines for these kinds of activities, I will bring that forward, and we’ll have that discussion,” he said.In an interview, Byron – who did not attend the meeting Wednesday – said it was an “odd circumstance” that led to his sending the original contract to Mulcahy and her signing it. “This was a mistake that was made, but easily remedied for a good service that the police department uses,” he said. “The clean audits that the village consistently gets speak to the high quality of operations of the finance department.”In other action, council authorized the purchase and installation of PCM boards for HVAC units in the administration area and council chambers at Village Hall from Trane Technologies for an amount not to exceed $15,028. In a related move, council authorized the mayor to accept a 2025 Energized Community Grant from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council . Service Director Bob Zugan said the village will receive $9,697 via the NOPEC grant, so the out-of-pocket cost to the village will be just over $5,000. “It ties into our building automation system and really provides us the most efficient operation,” he said.“If it goes down, we’re going to have some problems,” he said. “So we’re getting this replaced now.”If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.
Orange-Village-Council Flock-Group-Inc. License-Plate-Reader-Cameras Orange-Police-Department Michael-Roberts Kathy-Mulcahy Judson-Kline Stephen-Attewell Stephen-Byron Dana-Kavander Brent-Silver Kim-Ullner Ryan-Bilsky Orange-Village-Hall Pcm-Boards Hvac-Units Bob-Zugan Northeast-Ohio-Public-Energy-Council Energized-Community-Grant Trane-Technologies
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