Group has asked city for a formal contract to replace informal agreement
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — The City Council has rejected the lone bid received in response to a unique request for proposals from vendors to show films at the city’s Justice Center.
The Friends of the Lambertville Library board show films there on weekends under an informal agreement with the city.
They call the space the Acme Screening Room, a nod to the Justice Center’s former incarnation as a grocery story.
For more than a year, they have asked the city for a formal contract to replace their informal agreement. The Friends want to “grow the program in ways that would only be allowed by the city under a contract,” according to a written statement released Sunday by the Friends.
Any interested vendor could have submitted a bid in response to the city’s call for proposals. Only the Friends responded, but their bid had to be tossed. Rather than responding to the city’s conditions, the Friends laid out terms of their own, according to City Attorney Philip Faherty.
For example, the city called for a one-year contract with the option of a one-year renewal, but the Friends’ bid countered by asking for a two-year term with the option of a two-year renewal.
Mr. Faherty said the city “spent a lot of time coming up with specifications. You either accept that, or you don’t submit a proposal. It could have been they did not understand the process. Any request for any kind of conditions negates those specifications.”
But the Friends said they believed if they did not respond to the call for proposals, it could have been misinterpreted.
”Given the apparent rigidity of the RFP, our only other alternative in response would have been to decline to present any proposal at all,” the Friends’ statement said. “We feared that might be interpreted as lack of interest.”
It remains unclear if the city will issue a second RFP to move forward with a contract.
”The mayor and council are now considering options,” acting City Clerk Cynthia Ege said.
The Friends want a contract that will allow them to have Internet access and install a computer-sized server that would allow first-run films via digital download. They also sought the use of a closet for storage and a set schedule for the building’s use.
”All of these items were not allowed under the RFP that was issued,” the statement said. “But they are all items essential to our providing a film program successfully and the main reason we requested the city issue an RFP initially, namely to grow the program in ways that would only be allowed by the city under a contract.”
Although the Friends requested a contract last year, the move to get the city’s RFP in place was a long time coming because the situation is unique, with a municipal building being used to show films. For months, the city consulted with the state Department of Community Affairs, looking for the correct way to frame a request for proposals.