The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Local company gets the job
In a somewhat unusual move to support a Crested Butte-based business that may hire local workers, the Crested Butte Town Council overruled a staff recommendation on the awarding of the town’s upcoming summer paving project.
Several streets are scheduled for resurfacing this summer and the council felt it appropriate to award the bid to Lacy Construction Company rather than Paving Maintenance Services Inc. of Salida. Lacy’s bid came in at $404,693, compared to the PMS bid of $402,883.
The town staff had recommended awarding the bid to PMS. But Bill Lacy came before the council at the Monday, April 16 meeting to make his case.
“The bids are extremely close on a project of this size,” he said. “I would like the money to stay locally. PMS is from Salida and that’s where the bulk of the money will go. We are trying to help people that are working and living here. I live here. My partners and I have business interests here. I think I have a vested interest in getting this project done in a timely manner.”
Public Works director Rodney Due and Town Manager Susan Parker said the town adheres to a strict bidding process. While PMS appeared to have more broad experience with this type of project, both Due and Parker said they were confident either company would do a good job. The staff did point out Lacy intended to use more subcontractors on the project and that could add to delays.
Lacy said United Paving of Gunnison would be doing much of the resurfacing. “They do a good job,” he said. “This summer, if we get this job, we’ll probably hire 25 to 30 people. Some of them will be tied directly to this job.”
“When it comes down to it, the bid is the ultimate choice for my decision,” Due explained to the council. “Both companies can do this job. But I like having competition for United. If we take PMS out of the picture, United will have a free run. Based on the guidelines I have, the bid and keeping competition is what is important.”
“The town doesn’t have to take the lowest bid,” pointed out councilperson Glenn Michel.
“But the council in the past has consciously decided not to give a percentage preference to local companies,” added councilman Jim Schmidt.
“And remember that PMS will be spending money locally, too,” said Parker. “They’ll be staying in places and buying food, for example. Right now, we are dealing with the bid as completed.”
“The bid difference in this case is really negligible,” said Michel.
“It’s important to help our local economy when we can,” added councilperson Shaun Matusewicz.
“We as a town spend a lot of money at local businesses,” reminded Parker, “whether it’s at the hardware store or grocery or wherever. We don’t want to lose the competitive edge. In this instance we want to keep competition.”
“This type of project is different from buying something at the hardware store,” responded Matusewicz. “I challenge the council to walk down the street and see a construction guy that has no work this summer and tell him we gave the job to a Salida company.”
“Lacy Construction donates a lot to this community as well,” said Lacy. “I don’t think PMS does that. This bid difference is about one-half of 1 percent. It’s not 5 or 10 percent higher.”
“I think Rodney’s decision was appropriate on paper,” said councilperson Roland Mason. “He did a great job. But it is our job to politically look at this. It’s never easy for me to consider overturning a staff recommendation.”
“We use a specific bid process to be fair, to get the best use of the public’s money and to keep the competitive aspect going,” said Parker.
“Elk Avenue work is in phase one of the project and it is very important to get it done in time,” said Schmidt. “Mr. Lacy has a personal interest to get it done. This is half of a percent difference.”
Lacy and his partner own several Elk Avenue properties.
“Susan said it correctly. We’re allocating the people’s money,” said Michel. “There are guys in Salida who need work and guys in Crested Butte who need work. I’d rather support the guys in Crested Butte. Given the closeness of the bid, I’m inclined to go with the local.”
“Competition is a good thing but Elk Avenue is an important part of the town’s economy,” added councilperson David Owen. “Having a local contractor with a strong incentive to get it done and the closeness of the bid makes me lean toward the local company.”
The rest of the council agreed with that sentiment and voted 6-0 to award the bid to Lacy Construction. Councilperson John Wirsing was absent from the meeting.
When informed of the council decision, PMS notified town manager Susan Parker that they would no longer bid on town projects in the future “because the town failed to follow the competitive bid process.”
Parker expressed again concern that future bids would be higher given the lack of competition in the bidding process.
