Leelanau County has contracted the Leland-based Easling Construction Company to repair the walkway over the Leland Dam, which was deteriorating, according to dam authority Chairman Steven Christensen. The $108,646 contract was approved last week 4-2 by the county board of commissioners.
Commissioners Ty Wessell, Jim O’Rourke, Doug Rexroat, and Melinda Lautner voted to approve the contract at an Oct. 15 special session with commissioners Kama Ross and Gwenne Allgaier opposed. This somewhat controversial item was on the regular session meeting agenda a week earlier, but it was postponed due to disagreements about which bid to accept.
According to Interim Administrator Richard Lewis, the leading bids were from two firms – Easling and Fisher Contracting Company of Midland. Fisher Contracting offered two quotes: a less expensive option using ipe wood and a slightly higher estimate for using thermally modified ash for the decking.
The Leland Dam Authority recommended the county accept the more expensive quote with thermally modified ash from Fisher Contracting. This option was about $16,000 more expensive than Easling’s quote using ipe wood, but the dam authority recommended it because ash wood is sustainable and grown in North America.
Ipe is more durable and longer lasting than the wolmanized lumber in the current walkway. However, Ross – a dam authority member and former district forester – was opposed to it because ipe trees are in danger of extinction. Thermally modifi ed ash is similarly durable but slightly more expensive.
“Ipe is not the product we should be using,” Ross said. “Every single person I talk with agrees with me. It’s going on the endangered tree species list worldwide. It only grows in a very small region in South America. But even at that, we have an alternative.”
Ross said the dam authority recommended finding a contractor using Black Locust wood in August, but due to a “lack of communication,” this was not stated in the request for proposals. Lewis said this county’s engineering consultant asked Easling about using Black Locust, but they said they stop using it because of “complaints for durability, warping, splitting, checking, and shrinkage.”
The board postponed action at their October regular session so that Easling could present another estimate using thermally modified ash instead of ipe wood. This was suggested by Commissioner Rexroat. He also said the county should use Easling either way because their contract was less expensive, and they are a local firm.
“I think you have to have a compelling reason than posts being made of ipe wood to not use people who live locally and pay taxes in our county,” Rexroat said.
Lewis concurred with Rexroat and recommended the county accept Easling’s initial proposal using ipe wood. However, the interim administrator stressed that the board should not consider the location of a vendor if they’re “(going) down the straight and narrow in terms of competitive bidding.”
In the week between meetings, Easling produced an alternate estimate with ash wood for $111,550. The board ultimately accepted Easling’s first proposal, with ipe wood, but inviting them to make another bid opened a can of worms on whether the bidding process was “clean” or not for some officials.
Leland Dam Authority Chairman Steve Christensen questioned whether other firms should be given a chance to make alternate bids with ash instead of ipe wood, since most firms simply went with the less expensive of two options laid out in the request for proposals.
“I’m not endorsing (going) for bids again, but if you did, you’d have to only go out and ask for prices on black locust, because everyone’s already seen each other’s bid numbers,” Rexroat said. “That would be the only thing you could do that would be fair.”
The board appeared to be split down party lines, with an initial motion to accept Easling’s $108,646 bid failing by a 3-3 vote with the Republican commissioners in favor and the Democrats opposed. However, the board voted on the same motion a second time and Wessell switched to a “yes” vote, giving the required majority.
Wessell said that he was “torn” and preferred to start the process over again to maintain a clean bid process but changed his vote after Rexroat argued that asking vendors to bid on the project again after publishing their quotes could discourage their business.
The Leelanau County board does not typically vote on the same motion two times. When Commissioner Lautner appeared to motion to accept the $108,646 bid again after her first motion failed, it elicited a confused reaction from Lewis, who was sitting at the table in front of the commissioners with Christensen. “Didn’t we just vote on that motion?” he asked Christensen.
