Finance committee advances staff recommendation to send janitorial contract to full council despite wage and quality concerns

The Bangor City Finance Committee voted Feb. 15 to reaffirm staff’s recommendation to send the city’s proposed janitorial services contract to the full council for final approval, despite questions about past wage-and-hour violations involving the recommended firm and local complaints about cleaning quality.

City Manager Carolyn Lear told the committee the current vendor arrangement has existed for roughly 30 years and the contract was last rebid in February 2005. She said the city’s procurement lapse limited competition and deprived both the city and contractors of opportunities to update pricing and service scope. “One instance of compliance challenges doesn’t, in my mind, disqualify a vendor,” Lear said, but she recommended adding contract provisions requiring the vendor to comply with state, local and federal wage laws and to notify the city if any employee complaint is filed in any jurisdiction.

Why it matters: the existing janitorial contract has been effectively expired for years, and committee members said rebidding was overdue. Committee approval sends the staff-recommended…