Council awards mowing contract to low bidder despite local vendor’s plea; city attorney cites state law against local preference

The City of Columbia City Council voted to award a three-year mowing-services contract, with one-year renewal, to City Green Services at a combined parks-and-public-works per-occurrence price of $9,250 after a local vendor asked the council to keep the work in town.

Jason Burkhalter, owner of Freedom Hill Land Management, told the council he had performed the work for the past three years and asked, "Can we keep this contract local? Can we support a local company that is a small business at a $147 more?" He said his nine employees live and spend locally and urged council to consider the local economic impact.

Staff explained the city solicited bids in May and opened them on June 4. A staff member summarized the award method: "Adding those together is the per occurrence amount. The low bidder is Citi Green Services at $9,250 for the combined public works and parks dollar amount per occurrence." The staff member also noted the $147 per-occurrence difference between the low bid and the local bidder translates to roughly $12,000 over an estimated year.

The city attorney told the council it could not apply a local-preference rule. "You cannot have a local preference. It's competitive bid by state law, and you just can't pick a local business over a non local business under state law requiring a competitive bid," the city attorney said, citing a 2013 Attorney General opinion and state law. The attorney added that an award contrary to the low-bid rule could expose the city to legal challenge and that the contract could be revisited if the vendor’s performance proved unsatisfactory.

Council members expressed sympathy for the local vendor but approved the contract by roll call; one councilmember recorded an abstention. Council also noted the contract includes remedies and an option to rebid if the vendor’s performance is inadequate after the first year.