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JUDGE PUTS HOLD ON WATER PROJECT |
| (12/04/2009) |
| By David Hedges, Publisher thetimesrecord.net A project to extend water service to 200 homes in southern Calhoun County has been put on hold after a contractor took the Mt. Zion PSD to court. But that didn't stop PSD members from having a special meeting on Saturday night of a holiday weekend. Calhoun Circuit Judge David Nibert has scheduled a hearing for Monday to look at allegations of bid interference in regard to the $5.2 million water project. Last Wednesday, Nibert issued a temporary restraining order requested by Welding Inc. of Charleston, which accuses the Mt. Zion PSD and project engineer Jim Hildreth of bid interference and violating state bidding laws. In requesting the temporary order as well as a permanent injunction, the company asked to have its bid considered and the contract for a 100,000-gallon water storage tank awarded to the lowest bidder. The petition filed on behalf of the company by the Charleston law firm of Bailey and Wyant alleged that Welding Inc.'s bid was never opened at a bid opening on July 3. The petition claims Hildreth declared the company was not a responsible bidder because it failed to submit a $25 postage fee for the plans. Welding Inc. secretary-treasurer Bruce Caswell said the company had already informed Hildreth it had a copy of the plans and another copy did not need to be mailed. Caswell said a $100 check to cover the cost of the plans was not returned to the company until after the bid opening, which made it impossible for the company to correct the situation. There was only one other bidder on the storage tank portion of the project, Mid-Atlantic Storage Systems Inc. of Washington Courthouse, Ohio. The tank bid, as well as bids for a contract to install 21 miles of water line, has been mired in controversy for months. The Mt. Zion PSD met in an unusual Saturday night meeting at the Arnoldsburg Community Building to again confirm the award of the bid to Mid-Atlantic, which submitted a bid of $319,000. The Hur Herald reported that PSD member Shirley Postalwait said the Saturday meeting was called because Welding Inc. had not yet posted a $10,000 bond in the court case, which allowed the PSD to move forward. The temporary order was issued Wednesday, the last day the courthouse was open before the Thanksgiving holiday. The courthouse did not open again until this Monday. At the same Saturday night meeting, the PSD also confirmed it award of the bid for the pipeline project to Bruce Allen Inc. for $3,433,065. Mace, Cokie Gainer and PSD chairman Sharon Postalwait approved the bids unanimously. The low bidder, Ron Lane of Arnoldsburg, was present and again renewed his objections. Lane's bid was more than $200,000 below Allen's, but Hildreth refused to recommend him for the project. Lane has also threatened to take some type of legal action, although he said earlier he would not sue the Mt. Zion PSD or its members. Lane said the state board of professional engineers is investigating Hildreth. Lane also repeated earlier accusations that Hildreth's projects draw far fewer bidders than other projects around the state, and the same bidders get the contracts. Hildreth, who did not attend Saturday's meeting, has refused to comment on complaints against him the contractors have aired at prior meetings. At the special meeting attended by 15 local residents, PSD attorney Tom Whittier explained that previous votes to award the bids were only recommendations to the funding agency, the USDA Rural Utilities Service. He said the RUS had concurred with the PSD, which allowed the board to go ahead with the formal awarding of bids Saturday night. Calhoun County Commissioner Chip Westfall, a member of the board of directors for the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council, which is administering the grant, said agency officials had expressed concerns that the cost of the project might go up if it had to be rebid. Lane countered that the bids would probably be lower. "The price of materials is coming down," Lane said. "All these stimulus projects they talked about last fall aren't going." After the contracts were awarded, Whittier said there would be a pre-bid closing meeting Dec. 21, with a final closing Dec. 23.
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