Published: November 17, 2009 08:58 am      

Courthouse work put on hold

A crane hovered over the Grady County Courthouse. Workers from one construction company stood waiting to work.

Then the county commissioners met Monday – and the project was put on hold.

That’s because the commissioners have found themselves between the proverbial rock and hard place.

On Nov. 2, they hired one company, Commercial Roof Solutions, of Oklahoma City, to replace the courthouse roof, thinking that company had the lowest bid that met job specifications.

But, at the commissioners’ regular weekly meeting Monday, Tim Crawford of Crawford Roofing challenged the commissioners, insisting his company’s bid did meet specifications and saying his company should have been hired as lowest bidder.

Commercial Roof Solutions’ bid was for $90,868, while Crawford Roofing’s offer was $53,240. The project will be funded up to $90,000 with federal stimulus money.

Crawford suggested that the roof be tarred. District No. 1 Commissioner Windle Hardy said the bid required that roof be glued, rather than hot-tarred.

“Why were we rejected as low bidders?” Crawford said. “We did meet the specs, we will meet the specs. We had everything in the specifications. It’s your decision on what to do about it. There’s a $40,000 difference between us and the next bidder; why do you want to waste the taxpayers’ money?”

State Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, a member of the Roof Consultants Institute and chief roof consultant for Wal-Mart Stores, spoke to the board on behalf of Crawford Roofing.

“The law reads, ‘you will award it to the lowest bidder,’” Coates said. “I would not be happy if my county commissioners over-paid for something unnecessarily.”

Coates also said the board is “likely to end up in hot water with the state auditor” for awarding the bid to the higher bidder rather then the lowest since the state auditor is watching the spending of stimulus dollars.

Commissioners were ready Monday to sign the contract with Commercial Roof Solutions, which had already sent workers from Guthrie to start removing a communications antenna on top of the roof. Before they could start, however, commissioners called them on the phone and advised them not to continue with the project.

Commissioners made several phone calls to the workers during the meeting and eventually told them to go back to Guthrie until the matter is resolved. Commissioners will consider the matter at their next Monday meeting, after District Attorney Bret Burns investigates the issue.

“It’s a darned if you do and darned if you don’t situation,” said District No. 3 Commissioner Jack Porter.

Porter said he is aware of the scrutiny and feels confident everything is being done correctly and that the state auditor is aware of how the tax dollars are being spent.

Crawford said he suggested the use of “hot mop asphalt” in his bid because he said it is a better roof; however, Hardy said the hot mop asphalt technique does not meet bid specs which call for glue instead.

Hardy said he had architect Robert Klein look over the bids and Klein determined that Crawford’s bid did not meet the job specifications.

The bid specification reads, “When insulation of roofing is to be adhered with hot asphalt, prime the deck with asphalt/concrete primer, ASTM D 41 at the rate of one gallon per 100 square feet. Allow the primer to dry prior to the application of the roofing system.”

The specifications don’t explicitly state that hot tar is to used or not used.

Crawford told the board he will not sue the county if commissioners admit that his company’s bid met specifications.

The bid for the traffic signal LED retrofit, loop repair and controller cabinet replacement for the city of Chickasha went to Traffic Signals, Inc. of Edmond for the price of $116,596.