By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Last month, ground was broken for the new senior center in Bowling Green. On Wednesday, the bids for that project were rejected and it was agreed that new bids will be sought for the over $7 million project.
The Wood County Committee on Aging voted unanimously this afternoon to relieve any doubt in the bidding process by starting over. That decision will delay the project – but will erase concerns about the legality of the process, said Ben Batey, president of the WCCOA board.
Batey explained that the initial bid awarding process did not follow all the components of the public bidding process.
“We took a step back,” he said. “We wanted to investigate to make sure the committee on aging was doing everything by the book.”
During the groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 20, it was announced that Mosser Construction had been awarded the bid for the new senior center.
But after that announcement, other contractors raised concerns that their bids were lower than the Mosser bid.
Batey said because the WCCOA is not a public entity that the public bidding process had not been followed exactly. But since the project was awarded $1.6 million in capital funding from the state, and is associated with Bowling Green State University, it was later realized that it fell in a “gray area” and should be rebid.
“While we recognize this may set us back a couple weeks,” it is the best action, Batey said.
So the board voted to reject the bids already submitted and reissue its invitation for bids on the project in order to be fair to all bidders and be compliant with Ohio law.
After the meeting, contractor Steve Deventhal said he was pleased with the board’s reversal. He admitted the action was “very unusual.”
Deventhal said his firm’s bid was $80,000 lower than the winning bid of $7,654,000 from Mosser.
Gary Haas, of Infinity Construction Co., said his firm’s bid was the lowest – $533,000 less than the selected bid.
“I’m happy, but I’m not happy,” Haas said. He will now work on resubmitting a bid.
“We were very comfortable with our bid,” he said. “A lot of people were surprised what was going on. We’re trying to save the people money.”
After the meeting, Batey emphasized the reason for the reversal.
“We determined we wanted to do everything by the book,” he said.
The delay may put the project back just a few weeks, since very little construction could have been done over the winter, Batey said.
Batey and Denise Niese, executive director of the WCCOA, hope that a similar pool of contractors submit bids this second time. There were nine in the first round, with Mosser’s bid being in the middle, Niese said. A contract had not been signed with Mosser, she added.
Niese explained that the board considered several alternatives and past projects before choosing Mosser.
“This board and this agency have always been very cognizant that we serve the public,” she said. The board is committed to a quality project that will serve seniors for decades to come, Niese said.
Prior to taking action on Wednesday, the board consulted with its attorney, Jim Hammer, and a legal firm in Columbus that has experience with these type of issues.
“What we’ve done is what we knew would protect” the agency, Batey said.
“We’re moving forward,” Niese said.
