Ford City Moves Forward with Sewer Separation
Engineer David Nichols explained the details of bids awarded to contractors for Ford City's upcoming sewer separation project during a meeting of the Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority held last night.
by Nathan Lasher
Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority (FCBMSDA) Engineer David Nichols confirmed the awards of two bids involving Ford City’s upcoming sewer separation project during a public meeting held last night.
“Attached to my report, you’ll see letters of recommendation for award of contract 2010-1 to the low bidder which was S&E Utility Contracting,” said Nichols. “We’ve reviewed their experience; Mr. [Jim] Smerick helped review their experience on local projects. We found them to be a small contractor, but they are looking for this project to, if they could start tomorrow, then they would start tomorrow. There is nothing on their schedule ahead of this, so they’re ready to put their full resources on this job.”
FCBMSDA President Tom Shaffer approved of the choice. “What I do understand about this company too, the guy running the backhoe himself is the owner of the company,” said Shaffer. “So, he will be hands-on if there are any problems.”
Nichols remarked that S&E has done work in the area before. “They did a job in Applewold, and they actually housed their people locally during the work so that they could put in longer days,” said Nichols. “We have submitted his agreements, bonds, and everything related to the job except for the PennDOT restoration bond which PennDOT hasn’t told us the amount of that bond yet.”
S&E’s bid for the contract totaled $1,885,888. It was the lowest of four total bids that ranged from $1,885,888 to $2,329,046.
The next contract that Nichols spoke of was the inflow identification contract. “Midwest Trenchless Technologies is the low bidder,” said Nichols. “Their references checked out. They have also done some Pennsylvania work; nothing very close by here, obviously. They’d be moving their work force into the area to do this. It’s a rather modest company because they only have five employees. They didn’t have to comply with any minority business or disadvantaged business or whatever enterprise. That part has been approved for them. Linda, the compliance officer at PennVEST, is still reviewing the submittal by S&E. She told us today that possibly she’d have an answer for us tomorrow. That’s like the stone under the tire right now. As soon as we have that, we’ll put together a schedule real quick, and we’re ready to make a conference call and set a closing date and go. I told her I had a meeting here tonight, and I’d really like to announce it here tonight, but she said, ‘I’ll talk to you in the morning.’”
“Once we know, then we will announce to the public when we are going to have our public meeting again,” said Shaffer. “So, we’re just waiting for PennVEST and waiting for all of the numbers to come in so that we can give them to Jennifer, and it’s all working, but it’s just not done. It will be done, and it is going to happen faster than people think.”
Nichols agreed by saying, “We’re at the tip of the iceberg. All you see now is a little bit above; most of it is below, and it’s there. We have the bids and the contracts in hand.”
Midwest Trenchless Technologies’ bid was for $69,000. It was one of a total of four bids that ranged from $69,000 to $492,602.
During the meeting, the FCBMSDA also voted to continue the employment of Jim Smerick as the Superintendent of the FCBMSDA. He will be continuing, but his employment status will be changed from salary to hourly with a base rate of $23.19 per hour. He will also receive the same benefits as all other Authority employees. The Authority Board also changed its employment policy to provide that after 35 years of service with the Authority as a full-time employee, an employee will be entitled to 30 days of paid vacation.
The Authority also voted to hire Ford City resident Todd Kirkwood, effective August 16, 2010, as a full-time unlicensed operator trainee on 90-day probation making $16 per hour with all other benefits. Kirkwood was one of 43 applicants for the job. “First of all, there was a limited number from the Ford City area,” said Smerick. “So, that was a consideration; closeness to be able to respond to the plant. And, he had a good mechanical background, plumbing background, and construction background. Those were the criteria that I looked at.”
Ford City Borough | nlasher August 13, 2010
By mad-2010, August 13, 2010 @ 10:19 AM
The hiring of Todd Kirkwood is a prime example of
Tom Shaffer “Cronyism”. At least Mr. Miklos spoke-up. Wake-up Ford City residents!
By RogerClegg, August 16, 2010 @ 8:24 AM
Re “They didn’t have to comply with any minority business or disadvantaged business or whatever enterprise”: Sad. Why do race, ethnicity, and sex need to be considered at all in deciding who gets awarded a contract? It’s fine to make sure contracting programs are open to all, that bidding opportunities are widely publicized beforehand, and that no one gets discriminated against because of skin color, national origin, or sex. But that means no preferences because of skin color, etc. either–whether it’s labeled a “set-aside,” a “quota,” or a “goal,” since they all end up amounting to the same thing. Such discrimination is unfair and divisive; it costs the taxpayers money to award a contract to someone other than the lowest bidder; and it’s almost always illegal—indeed, unconstitutional—to boot (see 42 U.S.C. section 1981 and this model brief: http://community.pacificlegal.org/Page.aspx?pid=1342 ). Those who insist on engaging in such discrimination deserve to be sued, and they will lose.