Pacific Local Contractor Crys Foul Over Bid Process

Local Contractors Cry Foul Over Bid Process - The Missourian: Pacific News
Local Contractors Cry Foul Over Bid Process
By Pauline Masson, Pacific Editor Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 6:32 pm
Local building contractors said the city did not play fair in letting the contract for the remodeling and expansion of city hall.
Speaking at the Aug. 16 board meeting, Justin Bingman of Bingman Construction, Pacific, said every one of the bidders talked with City Administrator Harold Selby and were told the importance of having a strong local team of subcontractors and suppliers.
Bingman said after the discussion he presented a bid that was competitive with the low bid that included $2.7 million in local subcontracts and materials.
“After the bids, I was brought in and you told me I had to get the numbers down to $3.4 million and (then you could) sell it to aldermen,” Bingman said. “I came in lower.”
“Do you have that in writing?” Mayor Herb Adams asked.
Bingman said he had received the assurance in a good faith discussion and believed that he would be the contractor for the job.
City attorney Dan Vogel said officials cannot make arrangements that are not in writing.
Bingman said at the bid opening, all the contracts came in close to each other and he was involved in discussions with Selby and Mayor Herb Adams after the bids had been opened as they were looking for ways to reduce the cost of the project. He thought they were meeting with him in good faith.
“You have to deal out in front. You can’t cut a deal,” Bingman said. “This is everything about honesty and truth. Here you are speaking one thing different than what happened.”
“We don’t have to go with the low contractor,” the mayor responded. “We can bring in those Harold was working with.”
Bingman said he had been led to believe that using local subcontractors and materials suppliers were the factors that would determine who got the contract.
“J.E. Foster (the contractors who received the contract) had $140,000 in local contractors and suppliers,” he said. “I had $2.7 million in local contractors and suppliers. The board split on this 3-3 and still the mayor decided to go with the out of town contractor.
“You promote the city of Pacific, but when it comes time for you to buck up and do the same thing you go with an out-of-town contractor,” he said.
Adams said he did talk with Bingman more than once. He said he had walked into Selby’s office when Bingman was there.
Bingman offered a different version of the conversation, saying he had been talking with Selby, who then walked out of his office and brought the mayor back to speak with him.
Adams said the conversations were not negotiations.
“The bid wasn’t close,” Adams told Bingman. “You were No. 9 and talk of a deal is clearly out of bounds.
“When all this is over I don’t want Channel 2 coming in here and calling me out on something,” the mayor said.
“Why was I led down this path?” Bingman asked, insisting that he had been told that all he had to was to get the bid down and use local contractors and material suppliers. He said Pacific Lumber, the city’s largest sales tax payer, was the material supplier in his bid.
Pat Hawkins, Pacific Lumber general manager, had signed a card to address aldermen but declined when his name was called.
Mike Gallagher, the electrical contractor on Bingman’s bid, said he had bid on the project.
“Even as a subcontractor, looking at $2.7 million going out of town is wrong,” Gallagher said. “If that money was here that would mean more insurance that I could buy from Alderman Reed, more fish that I could buy from Alderman Pigg and more employees I could hire from Alderman Eversmeyer. It would mean more money staying in town.
“This is absolutely wrong,” Gallagher said. “I could stop by Birdsong’s Gift Shop on my way home or go to Subway. To send that much money out of town is wrong.”
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