Because questions were raised at the Tuesday night Clinton City Council meeting about the bids for a new Fire Department Rescue Boat-the Fire Department with the staff issued a statement late yesterday to clarify the bidding process. (listen to the Tuesday newscast posted on this page to hear more on the story from the meeting) The Fire Department received a federal grant to pay up to 450-thousand dollars for the high-tech rescue boat to meet new standards and local donations to meet the match. The recommendation was to award the contract to the Lake Assault Boats Company for a bid for just under 500-thousand dollars.
At the Tuesday night Council meeting, Ed O’Neill raised questions about why two bids were disqualified and that he had just learned some information that day he wanted to table the awarding of the bid. No questions were asked and the move to table the action meant there was no discussion.
KROS NEWS reported on the action in the news Wednesday and contact Clinton Fire Chief Mike Brown for comment.
Brown issues statement in conjunction with city staff that was in response to the questions raised by the council member and in action on the bids.
The statement read – that “Having investigated the matter, the City concludes the handling of the bid offers by City staff was in compliance with the law. Two bidders were disqualified, one for failure to submit a sealed bid as directed, and another because the bid on its face did not reference a boat of the required dimensions and because it did not include the features outlined in the specifications, which were required by the terms of the federal grant received by the City. Both of the disqualified bids were also higher in actual dollars than the winning bid. The state continued that The contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, Lake Assault. The resolution was tabled at Tuesday night’s Council meeting because the reasons for the disqualifications were not clear to Council members.”
The vote at the meeting Tuesday was 5-2 with Paul Gassman and Grant Wilke voting no to delay action.
