By Ryan Lewis
Correspondent
KIMBALL, Tenn. — Kimball officials have approved a $51,000 bid to rehabilitate the town’s storm and wastewater system.
At a called meeting last week, the Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a $51,155 bid from Conco Spray Solutions of Indianapolis, Ind., for the work.
Although there was a lower bid on the project, city administrators said the $47,800 bid from CTR Utility Rehab, of Powell, Tenn., had too many flaws. The board voted unanimously to reject it.
Conco was the only other bidder for the job, and officials said they were pleased with similar work the company had done in Kimball.
“For this much money, you want your money’s worth,” Alderman Mark Payne said.
In the CTR bid, some of the proposals weren’t extensive enough to repair and renovate the system, officials said.
“If you did go with the cheaper one and then you had to go back later, then it’s not so cheap anymore,” Alderman Jerry Don Case said. “If we’re going to solve the problem, we need to solve the problem.”
Also, there were discrepancies between CTR’s bid specifications and Kimball’s, officials said.
Kimball attorney Billy Gouger said those specifications must be identical for officials even to think about awarding the bid.
“When you have a bid that doesn’t meet your bid specs, you’re not really supposed to consider it,” he said. “You really can’t award the bid to somebody that doesn’t meet the bid specifications unless you agree to modify those bid specifications.”
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.