Ken Runion

Guilderland News

At last months January 19, 2010 Town Board meeting, the team of Mark Grimm and Warren Redlich voted against hiring an appraiser so the Town of Guilderland Assessor could defend a lawsuit challenging the assessment of the Metro 20 Diner.

At the February 2, 2010 Town Board meeting, Mark Grimm interrupted the meeting to present an agenda item to hire an appraiser he had solicited.  Mark Grimm had sent out a copy of the bid from his appraiser by e-mail to the other town board members at 3:56 PM on the day of the Town Board meeting.  The bid proposal submitted by Mark Grimm was addressed to Mark Grimm and dated Sunday, January 31, 2010.  Neither Pat Slavick nor Paul Pastore had seen the bid proposal submitted by Mark Grimm by e-mail.  Mark Grimm never discussed with the Assessor or any Town Board member, other than possibly Warren Redlich, that he was soliciting bids.  Of course, Mark Grimm was fully aware of the other bids solicited by the Assessor.  This clearly was an attempt by Mark Grimm to secretly under-cut the low bidder.

At the meeting, Town Supervisor, Ken Runion, indicated that he could not be sure that the secret bid submitted by Mark Grimm was less than the low bid received by the Assessor.  The secret bid submitted by Mark Grimm had charges for travel expenses, an hourly rate to review other appraisals and a higher hourly rate for court preparation and testimony.  Town Supervisor, Ken Runion, contended that Mark Grimm's solicitation of secret bids to under-cut the low bid received the month before could place the Town at risk.  Mark Grimm's secret bid could appear to be collusive, unethical and possibly illegal.

In an interview of the Assessor by the Altamont Enterprise, the Assessor stated that what Mark Grimm had done here reeks of public bid rigging.  Mark Grimm in response claimed "he did not solicit any bids".  That is odd, as all of the Town Board members received a copy of the bid addressed to Mark Grimm and sent to Town Board members by Mark Grimm by e-mail.

Mark Grimm loves to state a famous quote of a US Supreme Court Judge that "sunlight is the best disinfectant".  This quote stands for the principle of open and transparent government.  We have noted in the past that Mark Grimm "does not practice what he teaches".  Here is a prime example.  In this situation, Mark Grimm secretly and "under the cover of darkness" solicited bids in an attempt to under-cut the low bidder.  This type of hypocritical, collusive and unethical conduct on his part should not be tolerated.  His denial of soliciting bids is preposterous.  The bid he solicited is in writing.  In addition, the Town Supervisor received a letter from another appraiser which Mark Grimm apparently solicited upset about the bid process.  Again, this was due to the deceptive and duplicitous activity of Mark Grimm.