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Residents urge legal review after public records show website-vendor negotiations and automatic-renewal clauses
Summary
Multiple public commenters raised procurement and ethics concerns about a proposed municipal website contract and related ad-hosting arrangements; speakers asked the council to direct a legal and ethics review and to consider suspending administrative staff certifications pending investigation.
During the public-comment period several residents raised concerns about the township's procurement process for a municipal website, arguing public records show the vendor correspondence and contract language were negotiated while an official still held office and that the vendor engineered administrative execution to avoid council consideration.
Michael Sheldon read from public records and argued the correspondence showed negotiations occurred between municipal purchasing staff, the CFO and a vendor representative while the former mayor still held office, and said the proposal "was offered on the explicit understanding that it would be executed solely by the CFO and QPA administratively without being submitted to the township council for consent, approval, or action." He urged the council to direct the township attorney to investigate potential ethics and contract-law violations and to consider administrative suspensions pending the review.
Manager Banda (administration) replied that the town received formal notice from the incumbent vendor on 05/13/2026 and that staff proceeded to solicit and evaluate RFP responses; the manager said the administration had narrowed responses to a recommended vendor (CivicPlus) and that procurement timelines and certifications will be followed. Councilmembers asked for a fuller briefing and asked the attorney and CFO to provide documentation and legal analysis at a future meeting.
