The City of DeKalb claimed that the hiring of Laura Pisarcik fulfilled recommendations made by Executive Partners, Inc. (EPI). This is what the EPI report recommended:

DeKalb would benefit from a proactive centralized procurement program. [p. 19 of Benchmarking section]

Definition of procurement, from Wikipedia:

Procurement is the acquisition of goods and/or services. It is favorable that the goods/services are appropriate and that they are procured at the best possible cost to meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location. Corporations and public bodies often define processes intended to promote fair and open competition for their business while minimizing exposure to fraud and collusion.

This is what we got:

[The Finance Director] [a]dvises the City Manager on the availability of revenues and the allocation of expenditures within those revenues; assists the City Manager in preparing a balanced budget for recommendation to the City Council; and, manages the City’s accounting, treasury, receivables, payables, parking, payroll, reception, and utility billing functions. The division’s goal is to provide the citizens of DeKalb with a comprehensive and uniform financial management system that conforms with financial standards set forth by such organizations as the Government Finance Officer’s Association and the Government Accounting Standards Board.

Laura Pisarcik, then, is no procurement person but just another assistant city manager. We’ve been had. Read the rest of this entry