Employee disciplined over fuel contract

An El Paso County employee overstepped his bounds by brokering a 2009 diesel fuel deal without the commissioners' approval, triggering a disciplinary action and a review of county purchasing procedures.

The county has since renegotiated the contract for $80,000 less, and commissioners approved it this week.

County Attorney Bill Louis called the incident unusual, noting it's the first time during his 11 years with the county that staff contracted with a vendor without proper authority.

"The county took this matter very seriously and dealt with it accordingly," he said.

Fleet director Praim Mangar agreed in October to lock in a price of $3.03 per gallon with Acorn Petroleum Inc. of Colorado Springs, records show, for 504,000 gallons - making the deal worth $1,527,120.

But Mangar's boss, Public Services Director Tim Wolken, red-flagged the agreement, because county policy bars employees from entering into deals of more than $25,000.

Only county commissioners can do that.

County officials said Mangar was disciplined but didn't give details.

Louis deemed the contract void because Mangar lacked authority to act on the county's behalf, but he said the county decided to negotiate with Acorn to avoid possible litigation, settling on $2.87 per gallon for the year.

The new deal costs $80,640 less than Mangar's deal, but the county has agreed to pay up to $85,000 in price differential should the price of diesel rise above $2.87.

AAA Colorado's Web site reported diesel selling Wednesday at $2.33 per gallon at the pump, which includes 44.9 cents sales tax, which government agencies don't pay.

Diesel sold in Colorado Springs a month ago for $2.63 a gallon and a year ago for $3.32 a gallon, AAA reports.

Louis said the county generally pays a higher price for a long-term deal than spot market prices to assure adequate supplies, so heavy-equipment operations, such as snow-plowing, aren't interrupted. Intermittent diesel shortages in the last four years haven't caused the county to run short, however, Wolken said.

Because of the market's volatility, whether the county's new deal is a bargain won't be known until year's end, county officials said.

"Time will tell," Wolken said.

"It may end up being a very, very good price."

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com