Who would have thought that chairs would be a contentious issue?
First meeting: https://ferndalemi.granicus.com/player/clip/821
Second meeting revised quote: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/928765/Council_Chamber_Chairs_Info.pdf
I know how pedantic I came across by pulling the chairs from the consent agenda a second time. In the grand scheme of things, this 20k one-time purchase request is a blip.
My issue is that I've spent years going to other cities for their council meetings (usually whenever there is a topic involving rats or chickens). I've seen a lot of different council chambers, some incredibly impressive and others a simple non-descript room.
When the topic first came up, I started thinking about the chairs I've sat on. I also started thinking about how few people come out and STAY at a council meeting (note: usually people come out en mass only when there's a hot topic, otherwise you may only see 10-20 people at a council meeting).
And, because I am pedantic, I pulled pictures to see how ours would stack up. (Gallery below after comments)
Farmington has some very plain metal-framed stacking chairs.
Royal Oak currently has a metal tube frame chair with basic cloth seats.
Eastpointe has metal-framed hard plastic chairs, as does Madison Heights and Berkley.
St. Clair Shores has metal-framed chairs with a cloth seat, so does Northville.
Pleasant Ridge (hard to see in pics) has some old-school restaurant chairs with vinyl cushioned seats, and a metal frame.
In the future, Royal Oak plans on having some fancy metal-framed chairs with cloth seats and a mesh back.
There's a theme here, right? Metal frames, simple (except for future Royal Oak), and some basic fabric covering.
Immediately I questioned why we would opt for wood frames. Council was told they are sturdier, which I have a hard time believing- but at least with wood there's the ability to repair them.
As part of our standard process we put out an RFQ for chairs via BidNet, which is a great tool to solicit bids, and it is free for vendors to use/bid on RFQ's. Unfortunately, that still limits who responds, and what kind of cost we face. Much like the wedding industry, anything that touches a government entity costs about triple what it would your average B2C buyer.
As part of the offer from the vendor for purchases over 15k, we have a lifetime warranty for the chairs, but only on the wood frame. Fabric is not covered. Which do you think has the greater chance of failing? https://www.nationalbusinessfurniture.com/Customer-Services/Lifetime-Guarantee I spoke to a rep at the company and they did clarify that they will send replacements as long as the chair series is available, and the Lesro series by Lenox has been in production since the 70's so we're probably safe there.
Choice of wood or metal aside, I was uncomfortable with the cost. At over 20k for 100 chairs, I felt the cost wasn't equivalent to what we could get through a simple order from a vendor rather than through RFQ. Doing searches for stacking chairs I found countless examples of heavy-duty chairs in a wide range of styles, some with incredibly low price tags. For example, these: https://www.bizchair.com/FD-CH0221-4.html?dwvar_FD-CH0221-4_configColor=Dark%20Gray%20Fabric%2FSilver%20Vein%20Frame&cgid=stack-chairs#start=1
100 of those chairs cost $4,759.00. At that price, we could replace the entire set 4 times before hitting the price for the chairs the vendor quoted. And that's just one example.
I take every single dollar we spend seriously. Maybe too seriously. As a child who grew up spending every day with a grandmother who survived the Depression, big price tags make me nervous and I will always question if there's a better deal. I think in terms of how many households worth of taxes these line items cost, and if there's a true value our residents will realize from the expense. That's why I keep a notecard on my corkboard above my desk with our 2018 media tax value, and a rough estimate of average taxes.
In this case, are we going to see such a net benefit to residents to warrant 7 homes worth of taxes to be spent on council chamber chairs? Does paying more than triple the cost we could get from another vendor make sense due to the lifetime warranty on chair frames? Is wood a better value than metal frames? I couldn't answer those with a definitive yes, and so I voted no. It's that simple.
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