It was an expense that popped off the page – a contract “to support Department of General Services locksmith services” whose price tag was set to jump from $1,025,211.35 to $4,436,148.97.

Alerted to the more than 400% increase found on page 208 of the Board of Estimates agenda by The Brew, City Council President Zeke Cohen yanked the item off the agenda yesterday.

His action came just an hour before the spending board was scheduled to approve the $3.4 million hike as part of a contract renewal with a private security firm.

Cohen told The Brew that he would request a briefing from the administration, and the board would defer any decision on approving the expenditure until its January 7 meeting.

“We just missed this one,” he said in a later post, adding that he has been pushing for locks on public school classroom doors. He agreed that City Schools has its own procurement budget and wouldn’t likely be covered under this contract.

Ghosted by Agencies

Mayor Brandon Scott controls three of the board’s five votes. Based on a statement issued last night, the mayor backs the increase, even though his spokesman could not describe how the money would be spent except to say that “the proposed contract expands services citywide, and the increased contract amount is proportionate to the expansion of work.”

The mayor’s response and the absence of information from the agencies that submitted, reviewed and approved the proposed new spending leaves several questions unanswered:

• How did a contract for repairing and installing locks and keys in city buildings – approved for $164,200 in 2023 and set to last until March 2026 – expand to $1 million by the end of 2025?

• Why did DGS propose to extend the contract by a year, to March 2027, with the additional spending authority of exactly $3,410,937.62?

There is no description, spreadsheet or supporting evidence in city records about how the $3.4 million would be used, except that it would “support” locksmith services for DGS, which is responsible for the upkeep of City Hall, city courthouses and other municipal property.

The Brew submitted questions to General Services, Bureau of Procurement, Bureau of the Budget, Department of Finance and Comptroller’s Office about the contract.

So far, none of the agencies have responded.

A Modest Beginning

The spending trail begins in February 2023 when Easter’s Lock and Access Systems, which bills itself as “Maryland’s largest independent security systems provider,” submitted a bid to DGS for locksmith services.

The bid included the basic rates charged by Easter’s for qualified locksmiths (up to $110 an hour) and for lock parts from Kwikset, Yale and other commercial producers.

The Baltimore County company was the only bid submitted to the city. On March 1, 2023, the spending board approved the expenditure of $164,200 for a three-year period, ending March 6, 2026.

A year later, DGS came back to the board, requesting $100,000 more on the contract for unspecified security services requested by the Department of Recreation and Parks. This was followed by a small ($4,690) add-on for the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development.

Then came two increases in August and October of 2024 that went substantially above the original price.

The first was for $156,321.81 and the second for $600,000.

The expenditures were unanimously approved by Mayor Scott, Zeke Cohen, Comptroller Bill Henry and the two appointed members of the spending board.

Board records do not disclose where the new funds were going, except to note a July 2024 request for $300,000 for locksmith services by Recreation and Parks (see below).

Millions More

The latest proposed increase in the locksmith contract began in August with a memo by Matthew Rappaport, chief fiscal officer for DGS. He requested a one-year renewal with Easter’s with the following spending authority:

“The current Contract amount is $1,025,211.35, The change following this will Extend and Increase the Contract to 3/02/2027 and $4,436,148.97. This request is being made to support Locksmith Services for DGS” (see below).

The request went to the Department of Finance, Bureau of the Budget and Procurement, all of which approved the request without comment or questions, according to city records.

The item was then placed on the BOE’s routine agenda for December 3 and posted online by Comptroller Bill Henry.

The agenda was accompanied by a summary sheet called “Items of Note,” which Henry describes as “transactions we find interesting or may be of interest to the public.”

The $3.4 million boost to the locksmith contract was not included on the list.

• To reach a reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com