Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City asked to make new bidding process

The question of how the city of Prescott should choose companies to do business with has been discussed at almost every city council meeting for the past several months.

It began when local business owner Gary Rowe asked for an opportunity to bid on spraying vegetation and pests on city property. When Rowe first brought the issue to the councils attention, he said he had seen one of his out-of-town competitors performing that task. Rowe said he wasnt asking that the city simply give him their business, but said he believed he should have the opportunity to bid on it.

During those early meetings, Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said the problem is that theres no way to know at the beginning of the year how much spraying will be needed.

During the councils May meeting, Rowe said hed been called on for several jobs and that he appreciated the business. Rowe said that his continuing concern was that Taylor could grant future jobs to anyone without giving Rowe the opportunity to bid.

The city has an existing ordinance allowing the mayor to make purchases of goods and services for anything costing less than $20,000. The spraying service falls in that category.

City Attorney Glenn Vasser said the council has the right to amend that ordinance, making the amount less.

Youre going to be in a micro-management situation, Vasser said.

He said the council should be sure thats their intention before they take that step.

Several council members said they would like to see a bid process in place.

So that everybody has the same chance at it, said Councilman Jerry Wilson.

Councilman James Cornelius said he believes the mayor has the power to do what he wants.

I disagree, Wilson said.

He said he believes local business owners and service providers should have equal opportunities to gain the citys business, rather than having the mayor hand those jobs out to anyone he selects.

I dont know how you go about it, Wilson said.

Both Cornelius and Councilman Robert Lowe said theyd like to see business go to locals whenever possible, but Cornelius said he still believes the mayor should have the final say.

Thats why hes the mayor, Cornelius said.

Taylor told Rowe, Youre going to get the first chance.