Contractor Keith Hayes was awarded the bid Monday night by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners for the construction of a new EMS station in West Jackson. But the action didn’t come until two other motions failed and the county manager recommended that all bids be thrown out. County manager Kevin Poe opened the discussion by recommending that the bid process be done again due to “an irregularity.”
“After reviewing the situation with the recent opening of responses to the county’s Request For Proposals (RFP) for the West Jackson EMS station, I am recommending to the board of commissioners that all the responses to the RFP be rejected and the project be put out for proposals again,” Poe said. “Obviously, there was an irregularity in the RFP process in that a contractor, Blue Frog Construction, failed to completely fill out the RFP Response form. The total amount that was shown on their cost estimate that was included in the proposal they submitted was called out as their base cost proposal … I will be reviewing our procedures and documents for both bids and RFPs with county staff to make sure that we make the appropriate changes to the process so we can avoid a similar situation from happening again.”
After some discussion, commissioner Dwain Smith made a motion to award the project to Keith Hayes, who submitted the second lowest bid. Bruce Yates seconded this motion, but commissioners Tom Crow and Chas Hardy voted against it. BOC chairman Hunter Bicknell recused himself from the discussion. Since the vote was 2-2, the motion failed.
Commissioners award bid to Hayes
Crow made a motion that all bids be rejected and the engineers look at the project again to try and lower the overall price. He pointed out that plans are also to build EMS stations in Plainview and Commerce and he is concerned that there is not enough funds for all three projects.
During the discussion, Hardy said he had changed his mind from his earlier vote. He then made a motion to award the project to Keith Hayes Construction and proceed with the project. Smith seconded this motion and Yates votes along with it. Crow again voted to deny the motion.
During the discussion, Hardy said he had changed his mind from his earlier vote. He then made a motion to award the project to Keith Hayes Construction and proceed with the project. Smith seconded this motion and Yates votes along with it. Crow again voted to deny the motion.
that's just a little bit more than the law will allow....
Good ole "Boss" Dwain, you can always count on him to never care what the people he supposedly represents want or don't want.
Of course, the rest of them are just as bad.
Poe won't be manager for long if he keeps trying to tell the commissioners how to manage their county.
Congrats taxs payers you just paid 30k more for a commish buddy!
Get ready to give up your seat Yates. When I raise the rug y'all aren't going to want to see what's under it.
Angry tax payer.