COLUMBIANA CO. Officials vote to rebid project

One union leader said the low bid should have been tossed into a trash can.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Representatives of two area unions aren't happy with the board of commissioners' decision to rebid a Buckeye Sewer and Water District project.
Don Crane, president of the Western Reserve Building and Construction Trades Council of Youngstown, and David Knickerbocker, business representative for the Youngstown-based International Union of Operating Engineers Local 66, District 2, told commissioners Wednesday they should not have considered the lowest bid last week.
That's when the commissioners discovered the low-bidding contractor for a waterline installation project did not complete a questionnaire bidders were required to fill out. The commissioners sought the opinion of the county prosecutor's office, which recommended the estimated $620,000 project be rebid.
The board's vote was 2-1 with Commissioners Jim Hoppel and Gary Williams voting in favor of rebidding and Commissioner Sean Logan dissenting.
L.E.B. Contracting Inc. of East Palestine submitted the project's lowest bid at $535,795.
Next lowest bidder was United Road and Bridge Co., Canfield, which proposed to do the project for $551,207.
Called decision unfair
The union representatives said the commissioners' decision to rebid was unfair to the next lowest bidder. Since the bids have been published, there is no longer a level playing field, they said.
Hoppel said Wednesday they voted to rebid because most of United Road and Bridge Co.'s experience is in road and bridge construction, not waterline installation. He also said he voted to rebid because rebidding was the recommendation of the prosecutor's office.
"I've been to a lot of bid openings and in all the places I've been, if the bids aren't filled out right, they're thrown out," Knickerbocker said. "That bid should have been thrown in the wastebasket immediately."
Crane said the bid by United Road and Bridge Co. should have been accepted, because although it was not the lowest bid, it was still well under the estimate. He also said United Road and Bridge Co. officials completed the bid specification package questionnaire as required.
tullis@vindy.com