Highlands Borough Hall- Sitting Down on the Job

It is neither fair nor accurate to say Highlands  borough employees and municipal leaders will be sitting down on the job in the new Highlands borough hall. But if the present furniture proposal is approved, there will 145 opportunities to do so, and in style!

 145

145 … that is the number of chairs included in a furniture proposal submitted by Soyka-Smith  Design,  a company that advertises it “thoughtfully manufactures seating and tables,”  that ‘support engaging conversations in offices…”

The Mayor hasn’t got a clue

Mayor Carolyn Broullon, who can certainly be relied on to know what’s going on in the borough, seemed unaware of a $563,016.24  furniture proposal when first asked after Veni VidiScripto secured information about it through an OPRA.  I might add, that I received this information after multiple attempts.

VeniVidiScripto has yet to learn who requested the proposal … The Mayor didn’t know, and the Administrator hasn’t responded to my query yet. However, it clearly says it  belongs to Soyka Smith Design Studios, was done for the Highlands Borough Hall. But the OPRA did not include information on the resolution, person, or action that prompted Soyka-Smith to submit the proposal. The company made it clear it was prepared  “at great expense and represents considerable time, effort and expertise.”

  Borough Administrator?

Borough Administrator Michael Muscillo, who, like borough clerk Nancy Tran, is attentive and swift in responding to questions for information or OPRA requests, has not yet responded as to who or what initiated the Soyka-Smith Design Studios proposal. The document  obtained through OPRA does not include any dates, signatures, or approvals but is a part of official records.

Yet it clearly says, “Such access to this material is confidential and no information herein can be used except as consented by SSDS and photocopying, duplicating, or disposing of the information in an …..” that sentence is not finished. Rather sloppy in a more than half million dollar furniture proposal.

Is Soyka-Smith saying the public does not have the right to know what’s in this proposal?

$563,016.24 in Furniture??

If it weren’t such a serious matter, and if the latest furniture estimates turn out higher than the $563,016.24 documented in this proposal which is dated Dec. 22, 2022,  it would be downright entertaining to read the entire nine pages of furniture in the proposal.  This cost is separate and apart from the construction cost

  Buy Canadian?

Soyka Smith apparently solicits prices from other companies…in this case, nine pages of furnishings from nine different companies…. than packs it all together for the borough, or whomever their requester was. The vast majority of chairs in this proposal comes from All Seating, a 40 year old Canadian company ….can’t we buy American ?

At least Thirty-seven chairs the Borough of Highlands is considering to purchase from this out of country company for a few hundred thousand dollars..

Chairs that can drop from a tall building

Emeco  is a proud American company, privately held and located in Hanover, Pa.  They’re well known for their Navy Chair, an un-upholstered chair that they have been producing since the 1940s. The chair itself is kind of interesting. The company apparently designed it during World War II when the  Navy  needed a chair for the deck of battleships that could survive sea air and a torpedo blast to the side of the ship.  They had eye bolts under the seat, so they could be attached to a ship-deck using cables.  

When competing for that war contract, the company in demonstrating it, allegedly  tossed the chair out of an eighth floor window of a Chicago hotel to prove its durability. It bounced back, but did not bend or break.  Great story anyway.

There’s another story that it also proved it could withstand the depths of submarines with no problem. That’s probably a good thing, because so can our Sailors and Marines for that matter.

Two of them are on the list for Highlands purchases….Soyka-Smith says they cost $738.43 each. The company website does not show a CH 7 model as listed for Borough Hall. But they do show the Navy chair, brushed aluminum, for  around the same price. The chairs on the Highlands list also include an additional $80 for freight.

The list goes on

The list goes on, there are another 41 chairs from Fluid Concepts, five from Arcades,  and two from Hale.

But my favorite, so long as I’m not paying the taxes, is the Keilhauer Company, another Canadian company that is family run. It also has representatives all over the place. There are two in New Jersey, some in at least 18 foreign countries from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirate to the United Kingdom, and of course headquarters in Ontario, Canada.

The $4,826.21 Chair

The Highlands Borough Hall list includes the famous, I suppose,  “Danforth High Back Executive chair black with Upholstered arms wood sleeves and Base, Carpet Casters Wood Finish, its fabric to be determined  The list has two of them, listed separately so it appears they will be going in two different offices in Borough Hall. The cost.  Just one of these comfy chairs for doing borough business is a mere $4,826.21. And the list has two, for a total of $9,652.42.  Two chairs for the price of Nine Thousand Six hundred Fifty-Two Dollars and forty-Two cents … all to do the work of borough business.

Clearly, Mayor Broullon did not know about  that. Nor does she want it for herself, so it certainly doesn’t seem like she put in any requests. The mayor said she can sit on any kind of seat, her interest is just in getting borough business done.

It’s my guess she’s checking out all this new information as you read.

NEXT: More on the furnishings story,