Associated Students, Inc. has reached a stalemate with web designer Six-One-Nine Graphic Design Company, and it may cost Sacramento State students $5,000.

“As far as I know, we’ve been fired,” said Ron Kipnis, the principal owner of Six-One-Nine. “I think the relationship has reached an end.”

ASI entered into a $10,000 contract early last fall, according to ASI documents.

The contract between Six-One-Nine and ASI, which was accepted by the ASI Board of Directors on Oct. 2 of last year, states that $5,000 was to be paid to Six-One-Nine upfront for “project engagement.” The remaining $5,000 would be due at completion.

Kipnis said he had a conversation with ASI Executive Director Pat Worley early last week. Kipnis said that strong words were used and that Worley was unprofessional in giving Kipnis an ultimatum to comply with ASI’s requests or terminate the contract.

Worley denied Kipnis’s allegations of being unprofessional in the discussion.

“I was very passionate in my disappointment that he was not listening to the customer,” Worley said, “but I was not in any way unprofessional in the manner with which I said it.”

According to Worley, the conversation ended with Worley requesting a written letter from Kipnis either terminating the relationship or agreeing to meet ASI’s demands. If Six-One-Nine ends the relationship, ASI would seek a new plan of action for the Web site.

According to several ASI sources, including Worley and Director of Finance and Administration Randy Morgan, ASI would not seek reimbursement for the $5,000 deposit.

“We’d be hard pressed to provide ample causing to win a ruling,” Worley said of seeking legal action. “Admittedly, there were things we could have done differently.”

Kipnis believes Six-One-Nine did their job.

“We went above and beyond the contract to complete the project,” Kipnis said. “We submitted five different designs after four months of work, were told to do two rounds of revisions, and were still told our work wasn’t acceptable. This has never happened in the history of our company.”

The San Diego-based Six-One-Nine has designed Web sites and created promotional campaigns since 1996, according to the Six-One-Nine Web site. Clients of Six-One-Nine include SeaWorld San Diego, the American Lung Association, and the San Diego Community College District.

Former ASI Vice President of Finance Tom Hughes, a San Diego native, said Six-One-Nine’s work is well respected in southern California.

“Six-One-Nine worked very hard to satisfy ASI,” Hughes said.

“There was originally no deadline in the contract, and then ASI decided to make one. They basically gave Six-One-Nine four days to complete the project after rejecting their original ideas.”

Hughes’ relationship with Six-One-Nine has been a source of controversy within ASI circles since the original proposal was presented in July 2002.

Morgan said Hughes has a sister that works with

Six-One-Nine, though he could not provide her name.

Hughes said he did not know anything about his sister working for Six-One-Nine.

Charges of nepotism are not valid, according to ASI documents. Hughes was taken out of any position of involvement once the bidding process began. Hughes was not allowed to vote to accept Six-One-Nine’s bid due to conflict of interest concerns, according to Morgan.

“We selected Six-One-Nine because they had a great presentation and they were very professional,” Morgan said. “We really liked what they offered us.”

Morgan said Six-One-Nine’s bid was the second most expensive of the four received. One company put in a bid for $25,000. The lowest bid was $2,500.

Kipnis has no plans to return the deposit, and said Six-One-Nine would “most definitely” fight a lawsuit, should ASI file one.

“We did our work,” Kipnis said, who has no plans to take legal action to receive the unpaid $5,000.

One of the problems in the relationship was the changing of committees in January, when new Associate Director Randy Radcliff took over the project, Kipnis said. The inconsistency in ASI hurt the process, he said.

“Over the summer, we were dealing with Morgan and his committee,” Kipnis said. “Then Radcliff started showing us all of his ideas, which were totally different.”

Another problem was the lack of a set-in-stone deadline for the project, which continues to leave the ASI Web site in shambles.

“We verbally agreed to a timeline during the interview process,” Morgan said. “But there was nothing about it in the contract, and a verbal contract is as good as the paper it’s written on.”

Hughes cites a different problem that led to the cracking relationship.

“There’s a huge lack of leadership in ASI,” said Hughes, who unsuccessfully ran for ASI Executive President last spring.

As for future plans should the contract disintegrate, as all related parties predict it will, a new course of action will be implemented as fast as possible.

“I would hope it would go to a student project,” said Radcliff, who took over the role of Associate Director in November.

Sonny Ramsay’s name has been brought up as a solution.

Ramsay, a CSUS student, unsuccessfully tried to set up an online voting system for the upcoming ASI elections, to be held in April. The project has been put off to next year, though Ramsay and the ASI Board of Directors continue to work on the idea.

Radcliff said Ramsay has already created a design that was then presented to Kipnis as a direction in design that ASI is looking for. However, Morgan said the bid process may be reopened and Ramsay would not necessarily be presented a contract.

The unpaid $5,000, and perhaps more money from the ASI budget, would go to the group or company selected to continue the project, Radcliff said.

Kipnis claims ASI has not held up their end of the bargain.

“We worked so hard to be told our work wasn’t good enough,” Kipnis said. “Any of our other clients would be happy to tell anyone how professional we are and how happy they are with our work.”

“We found out that we just aren’t a match,” Worley said.

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