Council Alters

Bidding Code

By John Voket

The addition of the word “any” to a section of the local bidding code was unanimously approved by the Legislative Council January 20. By changing the code to provide for the rejection of “any or all bids or proposals,” the town will be insulated from the type of legal action like it faced recently after dismissing a low bid for a Fairfield Hills demolition project.

The council also approved striking a separate section from the code that mandates the town purchasing authority detail reasons behind some of its actions related to bidding in formal minutes.

Vice Chair Mary Ann Jacob told The Bee following the meeting that the council still plans to review the code one more time in the near future, to consider raising a cap on the amount the town finance authority can transact without bidding, which currently stands at $10,000.

Finance Director Bob Tait said that amount was set in the mid-1980s, and suggested it should be raised to keep pace with that of other similarly-sized communities. He said the council might consider the rate of inflation since the cap was originally set, in considering a possible increase.

The finance director said he received a list of communities from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which shows several small towns in the state still maintain a $10,000 cap, but that considering inflation, Newtown might want to explore an increase up to $20,000.

The implication of the “any or all” language change came into sharp focus last fall when the town was sued by Standard Demolition after a competing company, Manafort Brothers, Inc, the second low bidder, was awarded a project. The settlement, which resulted in all previous project bids being thrown out, came in exchange for withdrawal of the suit.

Former first selectman Joe Borst went on record saying he would not use Standard Demolition for the work at Fairfield Hills because of its involvement with a controversy involving the Housatonic Railroad’s proposal to expand a waste-handling operation in Hawleyville. Since her election last November, First Selectman Pat Llodra said she “didn’t know if Standard Demolition would have gone to litigation” had those assertions not been made public.

Nonetheless, the town attorney said by adding the single word “any” to the code would permit the purchasing authority to “to reject any or all bids or proposals if it deems it to be in the best interest of the town.”

This week the council also unanimously approved a budget amendment that reduces the revenues with corresponding spending reductions. Mr Tait previously presented to and received approval on the move from the boards of selectmen and finance, because of significant shortfalls in some revenue accounts going into the second quarter of the current budget year.

Revenue estimates and expenditure accounts have been reduced by $805,000, which Mr Tait said would be sufficient to balance the budget.

The council also approved this week to accept the 2009 municipal audit, and to contract the town’s longstanding vendor, Kostin, Ruffkess & Company, LLC, to perform next year’s audit. While the town can choose its auditors, the requirement to keep such an independent vendor is mandated in state statutes.