Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City Buys Furniture, New Phone System

Bids for furniture and a new telephone system were opened at a special meeting of the Gurdon City Council.

The council gathered Monday, Oct. 25, to decide on tables for the City Hall board room and a new digital telephone system for the entire municipal building.

Only one bid was received for the tables, and it from Alulite, a division of Southern Aluminum of Magnolia.

Bids were sought with the city advertising statewide for two weeks as required by law.

Alulite's bid was on three tables 39 inches by 96 inches, three modesty panels for the front of these tables, and 22 tables measuring 30 inches by 72 inches, along with two universal trucks to move them.

The total bid was $9,529.06, and was accepted by the council after much discussion.

According to Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith, these tables have lifetime guarantees and a load limit of 1,800 pounds.

Councilman Mickey Jones asked why the city was buying such expensive tables.

Smith said the money for them is coming from a grant and can only be used to make improvements at City Hall.

These tables, he said, are lighter than the ones currently used by the city and can be moved easier.

The boardroom is used by several different groups who will be making use of the tables.

Additionally, Smith said, the tables have laminated tops which can be removed and replaced with little or no problem by the company.

Four companies submitted bids for the phone system, with the council going with Lamco of Arkadelphia.

The owner of Lamco, Doug Lamm, was at the meeting and told the council about the system he bid on.

Smith reminded the council not all phones are the same, nor are those who install them.

Again, this project was advertised statewide for two weeks as required. It requires the installer to remove the existing system and install 13 speaker phones along with a console for the Gurdon Police Department.

This system can be networked with the city's computer system.

Those companies bidding on the project were: Network Services of North Little Rock, National Phone Company, Oden, of Arkadelphia, and Lamco.

Lamm gave the council in-depth information on the system he submitted the bid on and how it would be installed, along with the capabilities the system offers.

Smith said plans are to have phones put in the kitchen and boardroom. The phone in the boardroom would be for emergency situations only.

Phones will also be installed in the animal control office, Gurdon Fire Department and Police Chief David Childres's office.

When the bids were opened, Oden's was lower than Lamco's, with the comparison being $8,771.44 to $9,305.69, once tax was added.

However, Oden's bid was for a retrograde install, while Lamco's was a completely new installation.

The council agrees taking the lowest bid in this instance would not give the city what it had asked for.