KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Construction continues on the future home of the Lycoming County Coroner’s office on Wahoo Drive in Williamsport.

The request from the coroner’s office for over $63,000 to buy furniture for their new building on Wahoo Drive was ultimately tabled until next week, but not before the Lycoming County Commissioners offered their opinions on why the county doesn’t need to be paying that much for the furnishings.

“My concern is we’ve denied judges some chairs. And I’m looking at all these desk chairs at $522.63 a piece. I know Mr. Metzger sits on a chair that cost $180,” said Commissioner Marc Sortman.

Prices quoted were from Supply Source, which is a validated vendor for the county.

“There’s one list here where I think it’s ten chairs I saw, not sure where the 10 chairs go, but there’s ten chairs at $425 apiece,”he added.

Kathryn Kiessling, chief deputy coroner, who presented the request to the commissioners noted that the chairs were for a conference room. The county had purchased a property at 3341 Wahoo Drive for the coroner’s facility and is adding on to the existing building.

“We denied that for our planning department when they requested the same amount be spent on chairs. Side chairs at $378 a piece-I’m not sure what we have in this building left over from either the gas industry or our Executive Plaza. And then some leather chairs at $965 a piece. I see the conference table in here at $2,177 and again, I just don’t understand why we can’t use a conference table that we already own,” Sortman continued.

Kiessling stated that the conference table had been proposed over a year ago with electrical specifications that are in the floor. Sortman replied that a table could be retrofitted.

“We used Supply Source because they were a validated county vendor for lots and lots of furniture. So that was the guidance provided to us before,” Kiessling explained.

“I understand that Kate, but this guidance was provided by previous boards that I just don’t think we looked at things. You know, nothing against Supply Source, but when I look at desks costing $500 and $1,000 and that these are pieces that then…get put together, and then seeing installation costs…of $6,000. I’m not sure that our own team can’t install the stuff for a lot less money than that,” Sortman said.

“Not that supply source is not a reputable company, that’s a local that I appreciate we’re working with local people. But I just think the numbers are incredibly high,” he added.

The discussion continued after the agenda item was tabled until next week’s meeting with Commissioner Scott Metzger.

“I will tell you one thing that there is no reason why we should be spending $500 on a chair.

I expressed that to the courts, got an apology from the courts,” Metzger said.

He also related a time when a planning department requested 20 chairs at about the same price.

“We turned that down. So we had to go back to the table, and either they give us a lower price or we go elsewhere,” Metzger said.

“We can buy that chair, probably at Sam’s Club for $59 or something. So to buy $314 chairs for side chairs-how often is anybody sitting on them,” Sortman said.

When Commissioner Mark Mussina stated that companies often think that government will just sign for whatever, Sortman was quick to stress that he was not picking on the coroner’s office or the vendor.

“I’m picking on government in general, in the way we spend money, in the way we look at things, right? I just don’t think we do a good job at it. You don’t need to spend, you know,” Sortman said.

“So even here in this room, these are leftovers from the gas industry, which I don’t know what if we have any investment in them whatsoever, the chairs that we sit at, they wanted to throw away and buy brand new ones, and the three of us stopped that, because there’s nothing wrong with the five chairs we’re sitting on, but government waste was throw them out. We got a new building. We need new chairs. We don’t,” he added.