toledoblade.com --

Despite her recent resignation and subsequent firing, the city's former information services director spent nearly an hour telling Toledo City Council members how to pay for a wireless network without boosting spending.

"The development of technology is really important to me. I think it's the answer to improving information flow as well as citizens' deep concerns about public safety," said Patsy Scott, who resigned as information and communications technology director last month after walking out of a staff meeting where she said Mayor Carty Finkbeiner was berating her.

The mayor rejected her resignation and fired Ms. Scott.

While members of the council's information services committee expressed gratitude for Ms. Scott's presentation yesterday, a representative of the Finkbeiner administration said the dollars Ms. Scott is counting on to pay the $2.16 million Wi-Fi tab may not be there, in particular, a $200,000 Homeland Security grant.

"The biggest issues we have is the grant from Homeland Security," said Dave Moebius, the city's assistant chief of staff who was Ms. Scott's immediate supervisor before her resignation.

The city won't know if it is getting the grant, or what amount that grant will be, until October.

"We can't even fund one of the major portions. We don't have verification of one of the major pieces," he said.

He did not respond specifically to any other funding sources in her plan, including the transfer of expenditures for cell phones, telemetering, and other communications services that Wi-Fi would replace.

Still, Mr. Moebius acknowledged the city would consider funding Wi-Fi through the kind of budget-neutral plan Ms. Scott was proposing, something Mayor Finkbeiner said two weeks ago that he would not do.

"We are considering and will consider spending city dollars where we currently are spending them," Mr. Moebius said. "Budget-neutral for the most part will be OK."

In the meantime, Todd Davies, the city's commissioner of development, has been meeting with both private companies and public institutions to secure Wi-Fi partnerships with the city.

"We do have verbal commitments from companies who are interested," Mr. Moebius said.

He said he was "not at liberty to say" how many companies have voiced an interest, nor how much their financial contribution might be.

He would not say whether the city will continue to pursue an agreement with MetroFi, of Mountain View, Calif., as Ms. Scott had recommended, or whether it will issue a second request for proposals to attract other bidders.

Issuing a second RFP is the strategy Councilman Joe McNamara continues to favor, despite Ms. Scott's presentation.

"The RFP that the city put out said in multiple places that the city should have free use of the wireless network. MetroFi calls for $2.16 million. Over $2 million is not free. It seems to me the city needs to issue a new RFP if it's willing to put money into the project," he said.

"I really question the legality and the fairness of entering into business with a company that didn't respond to the proposal."

District 3 Councilman Mike Craig said he, too, remains unsatisfied. "There are still some questions remaining,'' he said. "I guess I'm from Missouri. I want to see where the money is going to come from.''

The city's RFP attracted two responses - one from MetroFi and the other from Buckeye CableSystem, which is owned by Block Communications, also The Blade's parent company.

The Buckeye proposal included a three-phase plan that didn't necessarily end in the creation of a Wi-Fi network, but instead suggested exploring the options for Wi-Fi.

The Buckeye proposal was rejected by the city as "nonresponsive" to the city's request.

Contact Jenni Laidman at: jenni@theblade.com or 419-724-6507.

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