Gina Cerilli says Doug Chew contradicts position on bidding Westmoreland County contracts

Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli on Thursday accused a fellow commissioner of breaking a campaign promise less than one month into his first term in office.

Cerilli, a two-term Democrat, said Republican Doug Chew’s vote to award seven contracts, to upgrade and install new air conditioning units at locations throughout the county that house 911 radio towers, was a contradiction with his position to withhold support for deals that are not competitively bid.

Chew and Republican Sean Kertes voted in favor of the contracts, which add up to more than $103,000. Cerilli cast the lone opposition vote.

“I see Commissioner Chew wanted to bid everything out and this was the first time we had an opportunity, and he broke his promise. We’ll see what other promises he breaks,” Cerilli said.

During campaigning for county commissioner, Chew was an outspoken critic of Cerilli and multiple times during the election season criticized her for supporting the awarding of contracts for government work without seeking bids or proposals from multiple vendors.

Chew rejected Cerilli’s claim and conceded the county itself did not seek bids for the tower work. Huckestein Mechanical Service Inc. of Pittsburgh, the contractor selected for the jobs, was among multiple firms that bid on work through a state contract process, Chew said.

“Bids were already in place,” Chew said.

Cerilli suggested the county might have been able to identify through a competitive bidding process a contractor willing to work for less than the costs approved Thursday.

In a separate board action, Chew cast the lone vote against rejecting bids the county had received to inspect and repair a fire suppression system at Westmoreland Manor.

Commissioners were initially expected to award a $134,000 contract to Siemens Industry to perform the work after a second company’s proposal was rejected because it did not include properly signed documents. Earlier this week, Chew suggested new bids be sought instead of awarding the contract to the remaining contractor.

Cerilli and Kertes agreed and altered the wording of the proposed vote to reflect that both bids were rejected.

Chew said Thursday he did not properly read the revised agenda item.

“I voted erroneously,” Chew said.