The county commissioners on Wednesday voted 2-1 against authorizing officials to negotiate a contract for copiers, printers, scanners and related computer software with Toshiba.

Commissioners Leslie Osche and Kimberly Geyer voted against the motion to authorize James Venturini and solicitor Wil White to negotiate a professional services contract with Toshiba Business Solutions, and Commissioner Kevin Boozel voted in favor.

Osche said her concern is that references Toshiba submitted in its proposal were not checked.

Venturini said he is “very confident” that Toshiba was the right vendor for the county because the company offered more document management than other vendors that submitted proposals.

He said most of Toshiba's service technicians work from home and three of them live in the county and others live in neighboring counties.

Xerox, the current contractor, outsourced its customer service to a foreign country.

White said a committee of four people reviewed all of the proposals and recommended Toshiba, which proposed the lowest cost.

Osche said she respects the committee's work, but she believes in utilizing local vendors because they can be easily reached.

Geyer said the lowest cost from a local vendor was $4,196 higher than Toshiba.

Boozel said the commissioners must trust staff recommendations.

The current Xerox contact costs the county $196,456 and Toshiba's proposal totaled $107,175.

Venturini said a Butler company was among the other vendors that submitted proposals. The others are from Green Tree, Connellsville, Indiana and McKees Rocks. Commissioners said Axis Business Consultants is the Butler company.

White encouraged the commissioners to come up with an alternative soon because Xerox has already been told its contract won't be renewed.

The commissioners approved changes to Slippery Rock Township's 2020 Community Development Block Grant funding.A $6,807 change order to the township park project was approved for repair work that is needed because the contractor damaged an electrical conduit, sewer line, and propane and water service lines because their locations were not properly marked.The money was taken from the township's housing rehabilitation fund, which was left with $48,086. That amount can still fund two or three rehabilitation projects.

Commissioners agreed to reimburse Donegal Township $5,050 for the replacement of the Rattigan Bridge. The county has already given the township $50,000 for the project. Federal, state and township funding for the project totaled about $1.7 million.Commissioners approved applying to the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund for $250,000 for the Butler Acquisition Rehab Program to support housing alternatives for low and moderate income people and families, and using $150,000 from Optional Affordable Housing Funds Act money as the required match.

The commissioners also reappointed James Diamond to a five-year term on the Butler Transit authority board.