Whatever happened to supporting ‘local' merchants

To the editor: So let me see if I have this straight: We have a village trustee and the mayor signing off on a lease contract for some trucks that should have gone out for bid? How can the mayor "okay" this knowing that it is against the law to do so without going to other companies for bid? Better yet, how can a village trustee even put in for something like this knowing full well that it is an obvious "conflict of interest" since he works for the company he did the paperwork for? This is unbelievable! Whatever happened to supporting "local" merchants to help keep them in business? Here we have some Village Board members and a mayor signing off on a lease contract for Ford trucks when we have a local Ford dealer of our own. I find this disgraceful that a village trustee would do this knowing that it is against the law for local government to accept a contract from a business without sending it out for bid. This is a total lack of judgment on Mayor Newhard's part for okaying this contract and for George McManus for even suggesting that the company he works for be considered for a lease contract with the Village of Warwick. Both people are aware of the laws yet went and did this anyway. Someone should be held accountable and reprimanded big time for this. Now we have to spend taxpayer money to investigate something that never should have been approved. What's going on? Joanne Pascal Warwick