The County Board's budget committee clashed with County Executive Chris Abele on two fronts Thursday, calling for rejection of a long-delayed contract with a private vendor for janitorial services at the courthouse and refusing to pay part of a bill for a $125-an-hour consultant.

The board's finance committee also called for an audit of county procurement over the past year.

Supervisor David Cullen said botched work by Abele's administration on the janitorial contract, on hiring a vendor to run the Milwaukee County Transit System and other moves were behind his call for the audit.

The committee approved the audit request and indefinite delay on the janitorial pact on an 8-0 vote.

A decision on whether to conduct the audit is under consideration, said county Comptroller Scott Manske.

The county executive said he would welcome an audit of procurement and called the delay on the janitorial contract unfortunate.

"We wouldn't have recommended something if we didn't feel it was better value for the tax dollar," Abele said.

Supervisors have had great difficulty getting information on the janitorial services pact, which Abele's administration had recommended for CleanPower, a private firm, and other procurements, Cullen said.

CleanPower already cleans several county buildings, including the Coggs Human Services Center at 1220 W. Vliet St. It would get $3.4 million next year for expanded duties cleaning more than 4 million square feet of county office space, under the proposed contract.

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