BANGOR — Fred Hartstone, owner of Fred’s Hardware on Broadway, wants a bigger slice of the pie, and he appeared before the City Council’s finance committee Tuesday evening to request a larger share of city spending.

At issue was the city policy of allowing discretionary spending of up to $100 on small items needed by city departments for specific projects.

No matter how well the city is stocked, invariably when there is a special project involving one of the departments, it is necessary to purchase last-minute items such as plumbing parts, cleaning items, light switches, tools and the unexpected hardware items, said David Pelligrini, city purchasing agent.

City Manager Ed Barrett said that Hartstone first brought the issue to the city’s attention in 1993. Fred’s Hardware received about $2,500 from the city through the bid process last year, but off-the-shelf sales amounted to only $500.

Hartstone was upset because Bangor Hardware and Varney’s Hardware were getting the majority of the city’s off-the-shelf purchases, while he said he offered good parking, competitive prices, service and inventory.

Hartstone said Bangor Hardware was getting $12,000 a year from the city and Varney’s was getting $2,000.

Councilors Chris Popper, Charlie Sullivan, Marshall Frankel and others later agreed that any time they traded with Hartstone, they received 110 percent cooperation.

Hartstone said he had been to all department heads in the city as instructed by City Hall, but success had been minimal. He said he could not get an answer from Tim McDougal of Sawyer Arena when he asked why they usually went to Bangor Hardware when Fairmount Hardware was closer. He also wanted to know why, if they can go to Bangor Hardware, they couldn’t go to his store.

Councilor Dennis Soucy said there was some success, from zero in 1993 to $500 in 1994.

The councilors and city staff agreed that the numbers indeed did not add up to equity for all of the city’s hardware stores, and that something had to be done to make the purchases fair to all.

Councilor James Tyler said that maybe the city would have to designate a particular hardware store for each month, but the city manager said that would not be practical.

Finally Councilor Pat Blanchette said she would be blunt and told Hartstone that some city employees did not want to go back to his establishment because they did not believe they were receiving the courtesy from him that they deserved. She said if he shouted at her, she would shout right back, but others wouldn’t.

“People don’t care about your abruptness. You show no courtesy to your employees,” she said.

Hartstone said he likes his customers to come up front so he can deal with them, but some city employees make their requests and just sit in the truck. He accused some of being rude. He gave no particular examples.

Blanchette said she didn’t believe city employees were being rude to Hartstone and his employees because if they were they wouldn’t be city employees very long.

Councilors and city staff finally agreed to make those responsible for purchases in the city’s departments more aware of attempting to achieve equality with all of the city’s hardware stores, to track the purchases for a two-month period, and to have the manager report his findings at the end of that time to see if any improvement was being made.