By DAVID A. MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com
January 11, 2009 09:28 am
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A last minute, no-bid purchase of road salt ended up costing Clarksville, in some cases, twice as much as other municipalities.
It’s the most recent in a handful of no-bid purchases that the town has made in the past couple of years. The Clarksville Town Council approved the road salt purchase during a meeting last month.
According to town records, about 700 tons of road salt were purchased for $125 per ton, plus shipping fees. All totaled, it was a $90,300 purchase from Jeffersonville River Terminal LLC.
Meanwhile, Jeffersonville and Sellersburg paid $70 per ton and Clark County paid about $55 per ton.
Clarksville Street Commissioner Donnie Hansford, who could not be reached for this story, made the purchase.
Hansford did, however, speak with town attorney Chris Sturgeon, who explained the purchase as being legal because of the circumstances.
Early in the summer, the town was having a problem finding road salt for sale because of a supply shortage, Sturgeon said. Even many of the town’s usual suppliers didn’t have any salt available.
As winter drew closer, the town had to make a purchase in order to make sure it had enough for the season, Sturgeon said,
“The statute does provide for those situations,” he said.
In an interview late last year, Hansford told The Evening News that he’d called other street commissioners who were having the same problems.
Clarksville Town Council President Greg Isgrigg said officials were told during an Indiana Cities and Towns conference that salt was going to be available through a state bid list.
As winter got closer, they began to realize that wasn’t the case, Isgrigg said.
“We were trying to get anything. It’s not like we didn’t try,” he said.
Next year, the town plans to make sure to look for salt earlier in the year, Isgrigg said, perhaps even partnering with the city of Jeffersonville on a purchasing program.
“I’m not going to let us get caught with our pants down,” Isgrigg said. “We’re going to buy early” next year.
Isgrigg only became president of the council last week.
Generally speaking, purchases of more than $50,000 are supposed to be bid out, so that multiple companies can make an offer, Sturgeon said.
There are some exceptions to that rule, such as for professional services or situations in which only one company makes a particular item being purchased.
However, this isn’t the first time purchases have been made without bids in Clarksville.
Recently, the town purchased a new $84,193 backhoe without a bid. However, it got $62,954 on a trade-in — meaning it technically only paid about $21,000 for it.
Sturgeon said that trade-in was part of an ongoing lease deal with MH Equipment Co., which provided the backhoe.
There also was controversy a few years ago when the town paid sticker price for a couple of new trucks without first getting a bid.
Salty price tag
Amounts paid per ton by area governments for salt designated for treating winter roads:
• Clark County — $55
• Jeffersonville — $70
• Sellersburg — $70
• Clarksville — $125
— Staff reports
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