County auditor reports anonymous-hotline contract terminated; staff presented vendor bids

Internal auditor Anjali Chatel briefed the council on the status of the county's anonymous reporting hotline and recommended next steps after terminating the prior contract.

Chatel told the council she terminated the contract with the Council of Ethical Organizations on Dec. 31, 2025 because the contractor had not filed required registration with Maryland SDAT and had not produced an exemption. "When the contract was first created, there wasn't anything told to me that they had to be registered," she said, adding the registration issue surfaced when the finance department tried to process invoices.

Chatel said the county solicited bids and received proposals from six companies. She said the lowest bid was $8,881 (a vendor not yet registered with SDAT but willing to register if contracted), while the lowest registered vendor quoted roughly $15,000 per year. Chatel explained that higher-cost quotes reflect a service with live agents and a web-based case-management system; a bare-bones prior contract was roughly $1,140 per year before telephone-number and system costs.

Councilmembers asked for follow-up information on which bidders were registered in Maryland, whether the county should prefer a Maryland-based vendor, and for trial samples or demonstrations of the vendor platforms. Chatel said she would provide the requested registration checks and screenshots and that the budget implications would be reflected in the proposed FY2027 budget, with a contract coming back to council for approval because the service would be multi-year.

Council direction: staff will email information on vendor registration status and samples; proposed funding will be reflected in FY27 and a contract will be brought forward for approval.