New Iberia City Council approves computer service contract

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The New Iberia City Council voted to approve a contract for computer service and maintenance at Tuesday’s meeting following an active interest taken by members of the council.

The contract for professional services went to Vince Comeaux LLC. for computer maintenance and service on 150 city computers and 16 servers at a rate of $8,750 per month.

The contract also stipulated that the company will also provide Huntress Endpoint Protection for computers at a rate of $5 per computer as well.

What would normally be a routine agenda item turned into several lines of questioning from newly elected District 5 Councilwoman Deedy Johnson-Reid, who said she was concerned that there was no non-performance clause or termination clause after the 30 day renewal of the contract.

“I’m just asking if we can get a little more meat to the contract,” Johnson-Reid said. “We have no out after 30 days.”

Mayor Freddie DeCourt said that Comeaux had already been performing some of the work and was already in a contract with the city.

“He’s been performing these services for awhile, we haven’t had a problem with it,” DeCourt said. “Not to be mean, but if we have a problem I’m not going to pay at the end of the month.”

After Comeaux said that the contract was his company’s biggest one, Johnson-Reid said that there was no guarantee of assurance that the company would be held accountable in case another contract popped up.

“Tomorrow if you get another big client you may not be here, we have nothing in here that says we get priority over another client,” she said.

DeCourt said that after the contract was approved he would work to add a non-performance clause in the contract. The ordinance passed unanimously.

In other business, members of the council expressed condolences to the families of the two young men who were killed following a gunfight earlier this week.

DeCourt said the shooting was a tragedy, and that he was “at a bit of a loss to know what to do.” The mayor added that the New Iberia Police Department was on the scene of the incident within one minute of it being reported.

“There are some things law enforcement can react to but can’t prevent,” he said. “Our society has changed as a whole to accept some things we should never be in a position to accept.