AATA Janitorial Contract Approved

At its Dec. 16, 2010 meeting, the board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority approved a three-year contract at $72,000 per year with JNS Commercial Cleaning to provide janitorial services for the Blake Transit Center. The contract with the current vendor expired on Oct. 31 and was extended through Nov. 30, 2010. On a split vote, the board had postponed consideration of the contract at its November board meeting, amid concerns that the bid from JNS – a new vendor – had come in at a cost a bit more than half of what had been budgeted for the year: $72,000 compared to the budgeted $126,069. Board members had concerns about how the cost savings were being achieved.

The concern about wages of contractors being unreasonably low has also prompted the AATA to explore adopting a living wage provision for its vendors, similar to the living wage ordinance that applies to city of Ann Arbor vendor contracts. The ordinance does not apply to the AATA. The board passed a resolution at its Dec. 16 meeting to investigate a living wage provision.

This brief was filed from the board room in the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library, where the AATA board meets. A more detailed report of the meeting will follow: [link]