Towns form collective purchasing initiative
Toolbox
By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: November 17, 2009
MANCHESTER – Several local towns have come together to form a new buying collective that will represent 10 towns with a combined population of about 17,800 people that hope to find savings through uniting their purchasing power.
Manchester Town Manager John O'Keefe said the group will be called the Southwestern Vermont Municipal Association. The first meeting, which took place last week at the Manchester town offices, drew representatives from Manchester, Arlington, Danby, Dorset, Londonderry, Shaftsbury and Winhall.
While they were unable to send representatives to attend Thursday's meeting, Jamaica and Peru have also indicated their interest in being part of the association, O'Keefe said.
All of the towns are in Bennington County except Londonderry and Jamaica, which are in Windham County.
The purpose of the association is simple: By buying collectively, the towns hope to see more vendors with more competitive prices offering to supply them with items they all use like paving materials, sand or diesel fuel.
Dorset Town Manager Robert Gaiotti said he thought Thursday's meeting was "positive" with a good showing from various municipalities that wanted to be part of the association.
"Our hope in Dorset is that we will be treated like a bigger town when it comes to purchasing. Obviously, we're a small town and some of the purchases we make are pretty nominal in the eyes of some vendors," he said.
Buying together, the municipalities may be able to cut costs through bulk purchases with the association instead of by cutting back.
"Anything we can do to lessen the burden on the taxpayers while we still get the same level of service is a plus for everybody," said Winhall Town Administrator Dennis McCarthy.
According to O'Keefe, the collective populations of the towns, about 17,800 people, will make the association among the top municipal buyers in the state.
McCarthy said he was pleased to see the association was planning to work together for the good of every member.
"One thing that (O'Keefe) really stressed is not any one town will be the 'big town.' We're all in this together," he said.
O'Keefe said the representatives of the various towns seemed to be supportive of the collective purchasing concept so more time Thursday was spent figuring out how it would work than persuading anyone to join up.
McCarthy said the people at the meeting decided to move forward with paving materials as its first collective buying project with the intent of moving on to other materials in the future.
The first goal of the association is to create a Web page that will include the necessary information for the collective bids. Each town will provide information about, for instance, its diesel fuel needs like how much diesel fuel it needs per year, where it would need to be delivered and which municipal agent would be responsible to take delivery.
O'Keefe said the information, which will be posted on the Manchester Web site for the near future, would allow vendors to easily access the information needed to submit complete bids.
With positive momentum from the first meeting, O'Keefe said he hopes the association will be able to make its first purchase shortly after Town Meeting Day.
The group is planning to meet next on Jan. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Arlington town offices. O'Keefe said he believes once the group is up and running its members won't have to meet more than three or four times a year.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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