Town awards contracts under 'fair and open' law BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer EAST BRUNSWICK - The township this week named a new auditor and reappointed its municipal prosecutors after a lengthy period of advertising and review. Township Attorney Michael Baker said Monday that although the council makes appointments to the positions each year, this year involved a "more complex" process, and the selections were made later than usual. The Township Council voted unanimously to appoint Wiss & Co. Livingston, as the new township auditor, and to reappoint Shamy, Shipers & Lonski, New Brunswick, as well as the firm of Bob Smith & Associates, Piscataway, to perform municipal prosecutor services. Baker said the township received numerous responses from auditing firms interested in the job and had a "review committee" made up of attorney Anthony Iacocca, Business Administrator James White and mayoral assistant Jacqueline Eaker to go over the responses. Finance Director L. Mason Neely also reviewed the responses. The committee and Neely chose Wiss & Co., which also turned out to be the lowest bidder. Baker said the township advertised on four occasions before deciding which firms would receive the professional contracts. The contracts were awarded through the new Fair and Open Process that was enacted under township ordinance. The township advertised the positions on four occasions between December and April, each time issuing a request for qualifications (RFQ). However, Councilwoman Catherine Diem said Monday that the council received no information on the responses other than the one from Wiss & Co., to which Baker responded that he only asked his associate, Anthony Iacocca, to provide that information. Councilman David Stahl said the information he was provided only gave an estimate on how much the auditing work would cost this year. Neely said the $55,000 fee is what the firm will be paid for its work, adding he is "confident" that the complete audit can be one for that price. Stahl was unmoved though, asking if the contract can be written to ensure that the work does not cost more than $55,000. However, Neely said that if the council decides during the year that it wants the firm to do more work than was agreed upon, the town would not want to be locked under contract to that cap, or upset figure. "It would be inappropriate to set an upset figure," Neely said. Stahl said the township recently had an issue with an auditor and had to pay more than was estimated, which is why he wanted to see the upset figure included. Baker said the contract will be amended with a "not to exceed" quote for the $55,000. Other firms that responded to the township included Hodulik & Morrison, which formerly did the township's auditing work; Samuel Klein & Co.: Louis Mai CPA & Associates; Lerch, Vinci & Higgins; Carr, Daley, Sullivan & Weir; Bowman & Co.; Mercadien; and McEnerny, Brady & Co.