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Sewickley's computer software is still faulty

By Bill Toland , Times Staff SEWICKLEY

Repeated attempts to get a local software company to fix or replace the faulty computer software it sold to the borough have been so far unsuccessful, and now Sewickley is exploring its legal options.

Gemini Solutions, a 20-month-old Sewickley software company, is at least the fourth software company that has been represented or owned by salesman Scott Fazden in the last decade.

The software companies he previously owned are Chase Partners Inc., BMSI software and Nova Data, all of which are out of business, said Johnette Lopuszynski, a representative from the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania.

Fazden owns Gemini Solutions, according to the State Bureau of Corporations in Harrisburg. The state Attorney General Bureau of Consumer Protection said no legal action had been taken against Gemini Solutions in the 20 months since it's been in business.

For months, Sewickley has been complaining to Fazden about the faulty software, called Financial Office 2000, a multipurpose program designed specifically to handle a municipality's day-to-day operations.

Among Sewickley's grievances are the software's inability to print W-2 or 1099 tax reports, its problems with producing balance sheets, its inability to figure 2000 and 1999 budgets simultaneously and its difficulties creating and printing accurate payroll sheets.

Borough Manager Kevin Flannery has been preparing tax forms and monthly budgets by hand.

"It's not the way business should be," he said. "It's not what we paid for."

Sewickley paid about $10,000 for the software, which Flannery said worked well in demonstrations.

Sewickley has been contracting with Fazden since September 1998. Fazden could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Other municipalities in Beaver and Allegheny counties - Baden, Leetsdale, Sewickley Heights and Monaca, to name a few - are clients of Fazden's and have reported having similar problems with Financial Office 2000.

Meanwhile, more Beaver and Allegheny county municipalities are reporting having had poor working relationships with Fazden's companies in the past.

"The problem with his companies is that they were never able to provide the support," said Aliquippa City Administrator Rebecca Bradley, who has dealt with Fazden during her tenure in Aliquippa and also when she worked for Rochester.

Although Bradley had few complaints about the software, she said the support problems were too much to deal with.

"It just got to the point where we were tired of going through the trouble of trying to get them to help," she said. Aliquippa now contracts with another software company.

Sewickley Heights received new software Monday and it didn't work, said borough Manager Bill Rohe. He said Gemini Solutions on Tuesday was attempting to send the software to Sewickley Heights over the Internet.

Flannery and Fazden sat down for a meeting Feb. 1, at which time Fazden promised to have working software delivered within a week. As of Tuesday, the software still hadn't arrived.

Flannery said if everything isn't repaired or replaced by this time next week, he will recommend to council that Sewickley abandon the software, install a program that works and seek legal recourse against Fazden's company.

In the meantime, Sewickley has refused to pay the $2,000 annual maintenance fee owed to Gemini Solutions.

Bill Toland can be reached online at btoland@calkinsnewspapers.com

Wednesday, February 16, 2000

http://www.timesonline.com/news/news/4130822.htm

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 16, 2000