Gardner committee backs reappointment of purchasing director after report on contracts, parking enforcement

The Gardner City Appointments Committee recommended confirmation of Josh Cormier as the city's director of purchasing and civil enforcement on a voice vote Friday after Cormier summarized his office's work and recent results.

Cormier told the committee he has served as director since 2019 and described the department's role as ensuring that purchasing and solicitation follow federal and state law and local ordinance. "We're required to have a fair and open and competitive process," he said.

Cormier gave a numerical account of recent activity. He said that "from FY23 to FY25, we did 7,202 purchase orders for $130,525,000 and some change. In FY26 so far, we've done 955 purchase orders for $22,000." He also said the purchasing office handled 260 contracts totaling nearly $13 million from FY23 to FY25 and 21 contracts for just over $1 million in FY26 to date. On contracts and purchase rules he referenced state procurement frameworks, saying the office reviews everything under "30B, Uniform Procurement Act, 30-39M" and what he described as "149" for vertical construction.

Citing process changes, Cormier said the department moved to a paperless system about five years ago and has tracked paper savings. "Over the last three years, we've saved the city 8,637 sheets of paper at minimum," he said, noting that figure excludes supporting documentation. He described a transition to DocuSign for contracts and said online execution has sped approvals and reduced delivery steps.

Cormier also reviewed the city's recent parking-meter program and enforcement. He said the department issued 2,003 parking violations since his last reappointment, 645 of which came this calendar year, including 225 for parking on sidewalks. He said the city has received 1,794 payments totaling "a little over $55,000" and that civil enforcement receipts across codes (building, health, fire, police) amount to "$71,000 and some change." He described early problems during the parking-meter relaunch tied to meter connectivity and app-entry errors that produced abatements for some tickets. "Some of those violation abatements we've done because of human error as well," he said.

Council members asked about public outreach for the parking changes. Councilor Hedlund said the meters and new payment app were challenging for some residents and suggested repeating public messaging around the holiday season; Cormier said the city had issued a press release and posted information on the parking webpage and in city blasts. "We did a press release. We also have it on the website," he said. Cormier told councilors the city temporarily paused enforcement when it discovered not all meters were working and abated tickets in the first week or so while issues were corrected.

Cormier described internal staffing changes: he highlighted hiring Amy Levasseur as an administrative assistant who earned MCPPO designation and was later promoted to executive coordinator to provide continuity when Cormier is absent and to assist with procurement-card and emergency purchase approvals. He also described a GovDeals auction the department ran with DPW that sold 23 items and brought in about $39,000.

Mayor (unnamed) introduced Cormier's reappointment and praised his work, saying Cormier "has really made sure that every I gets dotted, every T gets crossed" and that Cormier helped bring a state procurement office event to Gardner. After committee discussion a motion to recommend confirmation moved and passed by voice vote.

The committee also discussed appointment timing and filing dates after Cormier noted his prior appointment had expired; committee members and the city solicitor's interpretation clarified that reappointment terms are tied to the date a certificate was filed. The committee voted to recommend confirmation; the item will move to the full council for final confirmation.

As a forward-looking note, Cormier said he plans continued emphasis on contract compliance, supplier diversity outreach and digitizing processes to speed procurement and reduce costs. "Efficiency and cost effectiveness...that's what purchasing should be about. We're trying to save—we're protecting the taxpayer dollar," he said.

Ending: The committee recommended Cormier's confirmation; the full council will act at a later meeting. The department will continue monitoring parking-meter issues, public outreach and procurement metrics and return to the committee as needed.