RFP Analysis A Challenge

The reassurances offered Monday regarding the benefits of outsourcing the Planning Division have not been enough to allay fears of hidden costs that will only come out after the in-house staff is gone.

The RFP responses are in the form of detailed brochures for each of the four companies, I found out after filing an OPRA request. I took home copies of the fee schedules, but comparing them to get a bottom line is beyond my ability. There are add-ons such as travel expenses that make the costs open-ended, and the complex array of daily tasks in the Planning office does not neatly fit on a grid. The respondents can only set forth a projection and after that billing is extra.

As commenters have said, once the staff is dismissed and the shift to outsourcing takes place, the city will not easily be able to revert if things don't work out.

One of the city's chronic problems over recent decades has been a failure to honor the notion of stewardship. Each administration wants to make its mark, and there can be a tendency or sometimes an outright mission to dismiss what went before. Economic development took a big hit when a roster of projects in 2006 was ignored in favor of some dubious new ones, like the 93-parcel Netherwood scheme that was reduced to 16 properties before stalling altogether, and the idea that two existing plus two defunct train stations could result in Plainfield having four transit villages.

The worst legacy of the immediate past administration may have been the flipping-off of fiscal responsibilities that is now requiring major remediation. Based on comments from supporters of the current administration, the proposed outsourcing of Planning could tip the the Good Ship Plainfield into a maelstrom instead of guaranteeing smoother sailing on the seas of development.

The "nothing ventured, nothing gained" crowd may prove to be right in the end, but people are also puzzled by the council contrarians' embrace of this one change when so many others have been dismissed outright. It is being perceived as a negative marker by some.

Finally, the timing of the proposal - just before an election - is adding to the uneasiness of some observers. The administration only has a couple of loyalists on the council and both have expressed concern over the outcome. The reaction to the administration's soothing reassurances Monday echoes an old New Yorker cartoon in which a mother tells her child, "It's broccoli, dear," and the youngster responds, "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it."

--Bernice