Yes, the headline is my little play on “penny wise and pound foolish”, but when it comes to The Seven Goldfish, it’s truly more like “foolish all the time,” when it comes to spending money. Also, the headline should be titled “A-foolish” since there is no ‘V’ (video) to be seen with the new $95,000 no-bid audio/visual system screw job. But I digress….
Recently, a few of the goldfish had a minor squabble about a bid for a new air conditioning unit for the Hostess House. Three bids were received (all in the same $5000 to $6000 price range) but Mike White wanted to go with the most expensive. If you read the details [see below], his decision makes sense. The warranty was better and the bid was more detailed. This should have been one of those things City Council passes in 30 seconds, since the difference between bids was a measly $1,000. Given the difference in warranties, I would say that is fair compensation.
But TJ Monroe was having none of it. As you can see from the Dispatch article below, she chose THIS hill to inexplicably die on. I mean, seriously, she is worried over a few hundred bucks for an AC unit, but last year she was part of the Dream Team that waved through a $95,000 NO-BID audio/visual system without so much as a peep!
TJ was also sitting on Council earlier this year when Spinley deGraffenreid informed the Council he would be spending $185,000 on another no-bid project: an unneeded bathroom in Campbell Park!
So, to recap for the people on the short bus and in the IT Department:
(1) A few hundred bucks on an AC system: TJ Monroe squawks and wastes council time with picking nits.
(2) $95,000 no-bid a/v system that had PREVIOUSLY been bid and accepted for $34,000 (a difference of SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS): TJ Monroe is as quiet as a church mouse
(3) $185,000 no-bid bathroom for a project the Parks Department head pitched a couple years earlier for $105,000 (a difference of EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS): TJ Monroe is as quiet as a fart in a flour sack.
It’s also hilarious that they put a $5,000 AC unit up for bid but NOT a $95,000 or $185,000 project. Talk about flying upside down with your head up your butt.
I’m not going to dump on Clark, because he wasn’t around last year when the Azbell debacle slipped through Council. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he would have likely raised a stink about it.
Here is the Dispatch article with all the details:
On another agenda item, the council voted to pay All Seasons Service Inc. to replace a 5-ton heating, ventilation and air-conditioning unit at the Hancock Springs Hostess House.
The city received quotes of $4,800 from TexAir HVAC Inc., $5,298 from Miller’s Service Co. and $5,850 from All Seasons Service Inc. Those are all Lampasas companies.
Councilman Mike White said he does not think the bids are comparable, as he said All Seasons’ quote is much more detailed than the others.
When Mayor Pro Tem TJ Monroe asked White what questions he wants resolved, White said he wants to be sure city officials are “comparing apples to apples,” particularly in regard to the electrical phase and Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio rating.
White also noted All Seasons’ warranty — listed on the quote sheet as 10 years for the compressor, two years for labor and seven years for parts, with online registration. TexAir’s quote listed a five-year parts warranty, and Miller’s bid does not contain warranty information.
White said the Hostess House has had extensive air-conditioning problems, and he alluded to multiple service calls in recent years.
“So there’s [about] a thousand dollars’ difference between the most expensive and the cheapest, and you’re of the opinion that the warranty itself is worth that extra thousand dollars?” Monroe asked White.
The councilman responded: “And the detailed professionalism of the estimate, yes.”
Councilman Randy Clark said he does not believe city officials asked the companies for particular specifications on the HVAC quotes.
White said he talked to Parks Department Director Chris Eicher and learned that representatives of all three contractors met with Eicher at the Hostess House about the work the city needs to have done.
“And I can’t vote for the lowest bid when it’s not comparing [to] any of the other bids,” White said.
Clark asked White if he “would live with” a motion to delay action and seek new bids.
White said he does not think it is the city’s responsibility to have the companies submit new, more detailed bids for the HVAC unit replacement. He said the companies have worked on jobs for the city before and “know full well what to do.”
A motion by Clark to award the HVAC unit replacement to TexAir failed for lack of a second.
White moved to award the job to All Seasons. That motion passed 5-1, with Clark opposed