Carson’s New Computer Pact Ruled Invalid

The Carson city attorney said this week that a $258,000 contract for computer services signed by Mayor Michael Mitoma on Jan. 29 is not valid because the contract was not approved by the City Council.

City Atty. Glenn Watson said the council can approve the contract to validate it.

City Administrator Jack Smith said he would put the contract on the agenda for ratification Tuesday. He said the council should have approved the contract before it was signed.

“Technically, that is probably the law. They should approve the contract,” he said.

He said he thought it was not necessary to obtain prior council approval because the council had approved preparation of the agreement and the contract does not bind the city to an immediate financial commitment.

The contract specifies that the city has a free, 60-day trial period and then 15 days to decide whether it likes the computer system. The firm providing the services, Ultimate Intermountain Inc. of Orem, Utah, began the trial period Feb. 5.

Watson said Smith was wrong.

“The City Council had not seen the written agreement and a contractual document differs from a proposal even though the (Nov. 21) minutes show approval in concept as proposed,” he said.

“In my opinion, sending the proposed agreement to the mayor for signature without first submitting it to the City Council for approval was not the correct procedure, since the contracting authority of the city is vested in the City Council.”

Mitoma said he had not read the contract when he signed it and still has not gone over it. “I haven’t read it,” he said in an interview this week.

He said he signed it after seeing that Assistant City Atty. Kevin G. Ennis had also signed it.

“I sign probably on the average of 60 contracts or agreements or minutes a month. . . . It was just in with everything else that needed a mayor’s signature,” he said.

Watson said Ennis’ signature was meant to imply only that the contract was correctly drafted, not that the council had approved it.

The city’s goal in the contract is to update the existing computer system. Among the elements the city wants are:

An electronic mail system throughout City Hall and additional word processors.

A comprehensive database for the Building and Safety, Planning and Community Development departments that would include detailed information about all properties and buildings in the city.

Spreadsheet programs for city finances to enable officials to track revenues and spending with greater ease.

Computer equipment for the Carson Community Center and Department of Parks and Recreation.