After some discussion, County of Stettler council awarded several contracts during their June 8 meeting.
The awarding of three concrete pads within the county sparked some debate within council about the county’s procurement policy.
When presenting the tenders, director of operations Rick Green informed council that he contacted four local concrete contractors directly for the project and only one, Hadley Concrete, submitted a tender.
Reeve Clarke was concerned that with Green calling on some vendors and ignoring others entirely within the county, it sets a bad precedent.
Green defended his actions saying “it meets the purchasing policy.”
Coun. Dave Grover initially motioned to deny staff recommendation and advertise the tender in the local media so as to open it to all vendors, however withdrew the motion after further discussion.
“It’s a huge disservice to Hadley to open it up to the public,” said Coun. James Nibourg.
“It’s totally unfair to this individual. If we advertise it, I can guarantee no one is coming in over that quote.”
Ultimately, Stevens motioned to proceed with the Hadley tender for the Red Willow and Gadsby water truck fill pads and the lawnmower shop pad. Included in the motion was direction to administration to bring the procurement policy back to council.
Sand Shed
After a County of Stettler request for proposal only brought in one bid for the construction of a new sand shed, county administration looked for options through the Rural Municipalities of Alberta Canoe Trade Program.
The dimensions requested by the county for the sand shed were 80 feet by 100 feet.
Two proposals were presented to council during the June 8 meeting. One, from Coverco Buildings in Calgary, for a 72 foot by 100 foot shed at a cost of just over $223,000, and a second, from Edge Innovations Inc. of Tofield, for a 80 foot by 104 foot shed at a price of just under $314,000.
Despite the Coverco tender being for a smaller shed than requested, according to Green it would still meet the needs of the county.
Estimates received from Coverco in 2017 to relocate the existing shed from the old public works yard to the new for a cost of $114,000, but re-engineering and additional supports would have been required.
In a motion put forward by Coun. Grover council voted in favour of a new shed being installed by Coverco.
Asphalt overlay
Council has awarded a contract worth just over $950,000 to Lahrmann Construction Inc. of Lacombe to lay asphalt on the Resource Road.
Lahrmann was the lowest of five bids received for the four kilometre long project.
The estimate for the project includes GST and a 3 per cent contingency for work quality bonuses for the company.
Lahrmann has worked for the county before, paving the Fenn Road in 2021.
According to green, prices for this project are 50 per cent over what they were last year.