Staff Writer
HOULTON — Road repair in the town of Houlton is fast becoming an expensive item to budget for and with the continuing rise in fuel costs, town officials are taking no chances in making late deals with hot top companies.
On Monday, June 23, town councilors were faced with the approval of one bid to provide 1,150 tons of hot top asphalt mix at $89.85 per ton. Councilors were voting to allow the town manager to waive the bid process and go with Steelstone Industries. The bid price from Steelstone would be good for three weeks.
Councilors had discussed possibly tabling the bid to see if the price of hot top would decrease. Town Manager Doug Hazlett said it’s a strange market for hot top and the cost continues to change each day.
“There is an advantage with going with Steelstone because the hot top is produced locally,” said Hazlett. “It might not be the lowest price right now, but it might be in two weeks.”
The overall cost of the hot top at this price would be approximately $5,750. The cost of diesel and gasoline, as well as any petroleum products continue to change every day. Waiting could cost the taxpayer more.
“It (the cost) changes with the wind,” said Councilor Paul Romanelli. “It’ll (the bid) stand if we take it tonight. I would have a tendency to go with the bid tonight because the next time we ask, everything is going to go up.
“I feel we need to grab this bid tonight,” he said.
Councilors voted unanimously, with the exception of councilors Sue Tortello and Walter Goodrich who were excused from the meeting, to waive the bid process. However, their decision did raise a number of concerns from the public.
“It’s not just Steelstone that provides this service,” said former town councilor Phil Bernaiche. “Give somebody else a chance.”
Bernaiche has been a firm believer in the bid process not only because he wants others to have an opportunity to obtain the job, but also mainly because it’s a town policy.
“You should do what the law provides you to do,” said Bernaiche. “It’s not very nice not to take the lowest bidder. You may have a possibility to get it cheaper.”
Stan Ginish echoed Bernaiche. He felt that not only should the town be taking bids, but they should be splitting the jobs up between bidding companies as well.
“We ought to look at each of the entities, bid out the streets and see what it is,” said Ginish. “Heating fuel is not going down. It’s continuing to spiral.
“Let these people come out and bid,” he said. “We should not be leaving the bid process.”
Councilors did listen to concerns, but agreed that this was a time that the bid process couldn’t be left too long.
Council has $106,000 budgeted for road repairs this year.
The next council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers.
