IT contractor earns over half million in seven years
By Charles Sercombe
In our third and final installment of a look at the invoices of four major contractors with the city, this week we review ADR Consultants.
The company provides computer and IT support for the city. Since 2005, the city has paid out a little over $545,000 to the company, which is located in West Bloomfield.
That amount of money breaks down to about $77,000 a year.
In the past few weeks, The Review has published invoices from Platinum Landscaping and C.P.I.
We obtained the invoices through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Review attempted to get the invoices from the city’s legal firm, the Allen Brothers, but City Attorney James Allen denied the request, saying the invoices are protected under the attorney-client privilege.
All four of the above contractors were subject to a financial review by a private company, SRR, which was hired by former Acting City Manager Erik Tungate.
Tungate was looking for ways to save the city money. The SRR findings found that about $40,000 from the invoices of Platinum Landscaping and C.P.I. were incomplete because they did not match the terms of their contracts.
The invoices of ADR could not be reviewed because no contract with ADR could be found.
ADR’s relationship with Hamtramck goes back to 2001 when state-appointed Emergency Financial Manager Louis Schimmel was running the city. The company’s initial fee was $145 per hour, but in 2010, at the request of the city, ADR agreed to take a cut in pay to $130 an hour.
ADR recently submitted a contract from 2001 as proof of a current contract, but that contract was for a specific project.
Acting City Manager Kyle Tertzag said he will present a temporary contract for ADR at the next city council meeting. Tertzag also said he will ask the council to rebid the IT contract.
In an Internet search of the President of ADR, Barry Ellentuck, The Review discovered that recently he was employed with Highland Park as Interim Water Department Director and also with the City of Detroit as program manager in the Demolition Department.
We asked Ellentuck if he still held those positions, he replied in an email:
“ADR is a full service consulting organization with clients throughout Michigan. Resources are available to support multiple engagements simultaneously and have supported 86 branch offices for a banking client,” Ellentuck said.
“Depending upon the need, resources and personnel are dispatched to execute client requirements 24 x 7. Hamtramck alone has had up to (4) individuals onsite at a single time to execute project requirements when needed such as the recent network conversion to support the new BSA software and hardware deployment. Client engagements are distributed throughout multiple public and corporate organizations across multiple disciplines with one unified purpose, executing the objective on time and on budget.”
According to city hall sources, Ellentuck is frequently in the building working on computers and other devices.
Most of the invoices listed describe the work performed with the phrase: “Professional I.T. Services.”
Ellentuck, in an email, told The Review that all invoices are “very detailed and clearly indicate a service date, description of the problem / service task and person name where service was performed if applicable. There are no generic or vague charges.”
