Bids trashed by district board (3/1/05)

Facing several questions about the process, members of the local waste district board decided to start over in their search for a company to haul items away collected for recycling.

Members of the Jay County Solid Waste District Board, who opened bids last month to haul away items collected in the district’s drop-off recycling program, rejected all of those bids Monday afternoon in a meeting held at East Jay Middle School.

With the lowest two bidders separated by less than $400 (out of an annual cost of more than $50,000), bids submitted in several different ways and several criticisms of the process by the board’s attorney, there was little controversy regarding the decision to start over.

This time around, the attempt to find a hauler will be done as an informal quote process, instead of as bids. Under Indiana law, services do not require formal bids. Three potential providers of the service must be asked to submit quotes.

Members of the board Bruce Hosier, who is mayor of Portland, and Gerald Kirby, a member of the Jay County Council, were most outspoken in their desire to start over.

“I wouldn’t be ready to make a decision tonight on a contract if we had to,” Hosier said.

Two of the three companies that submitted bids in the latest round — Rumpke and D&T Trucking — were represented at Monday’s meeting. Waste Management, which has been contracted to do the hauling since the formation of the district in 2002, did not have a representative present.

Rumpke was the apparent low bidder by a little more than $300, with an annual price of $56,180, based on 212 pulls per year at $265 per pull. Rumpke was the only company to not include a per-ton handling fee as part of the bid.

Waste Management submitted a bid of $220 per pull plus a $25 per-ton fee, while D&T, based in Decatur, bid $265 per pull plus a $25 per-ton fee.

Board attorney Brad Burkett said there were several problems with the way the process was conducted the first time around, including calling them bids although they weren’t advertised in required publications. Burkett also said the fact that district executive director Kay Hayes contacted those submitting bids and had discussions with those bidders was not appropriate.

“When we bid ... we don’t contact bidders ... and start a negotiation. We don’t do that,” Burkett said.

Members of the board asked Hayes to have Burkett review quote specifications before she sends those quotes out.

Before the vote to reject all bids, Jay County Commissioner Milo Miller Jr. said he felt the involvement in the community of Waste Management should be considered. Waste Management owns and operates the Jay County Landfill.

“Waste Management does do a lot for the community. I don’t know if that’s worth more than $350 or not,” Miller said.

Also Monday, members of the district board agreed to hire an Ansonia, Ohio firm to begin grinding storm debris collected by city workers in Portland.

T.T.I. Custom Wood Grinding & Recycling will be hired at a rate of $300 per machine hour, plus $75 per hour for an excavator to load the machine and mileage.

The district will pay the cost of the grinder. Some of those costs may eventually be reimbursed by federal disaster assistance.

“We’re about 80 percent done collecting our limbs ... and we’ve got a huge pile out there,” Portland street superintendent Jeff Harker said Monday. “We’re ready to go.”

Harker estimated that it could take as many as six days to grind all of the debris collected thus far.

The city has been dumping ice storm debris on the west side of North Morton Street, behind Doane Pet Care.

The mulch resulting from the grinding will be available for use by the public, and will also be used on the nature trails on the south side of the Salamonie River in Weiler-Wilson Park.

Although the district offered to pay the grinder cost for all communities in Jay County, Hayes said Monday that Pennville, Bryant and Salamonia have decided to go ahead and burn the storm debris.

Harker and Hosier said Monday that no cut-off date for debris collection has been established in Portland, although that will likely have to be done at some point. City residents may also use the collection site if they wish to haul debris on their own.

In other business Monday, board members Gary Theurer, Faron Parr, Bill Gibson, Miller, Kirby and Hosier:

•Viewed a presentation by a group of students from East Jay Middle School about a project they completed on a simulated city of the future. The students, who were part of a technology team, used recycled items to construct their city. Team members are Mason Murphy, Trisha Skiver, Craig Permenter, Courtney Knistle, Carrie Minnich and Sarah Westgerdes.

•Agreed to purchase a banner to help support operations of the West Jay Community Center. The initial cost of the banner will be $250, with an annual renewal charge of $25.

•Heard Hayes report that she has made several trips to Indianapolis to attend legislative hearings for bills affecting solid waste districts. A bill proposed by State Sen. Beverly Gard (R-Greenfield) that has since been pulled would have made participating in waste districts optional.

•Approved claims totaling $10,822.76, leaving the district with a checking account balance of $141,014.39.[[In-content Ad]]