Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Contracts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners award fairground sanitary contract to Noble Excavating despite budget gap
Summary
After hearing staff say the low bid from Noble Excavating exceeded the budget, the board voted to award the fairground sanitary-system contract and directed that remaining funds come from PILT if necessary; commissioners cited prior cost increases and recent septic and electrical failures at the fairgrounds as reasons to proceed.
County staff told commissioners three bids were received to replace the fairground sanitary system and that the low responsive bid came from Noble Excavating of Libby. Andy, who presented the bid results, told the board the Noble bid was the lowest responsive but was still “significantly higher than our budget.” He outlined two options: reduce scope to fit current budget and seek grants for the remainder, or proceed with full scope and cover the difference with local funds.
A commissioner argued that delaying the project would likely increase costs and that failures at the fairgrounds (recent septic and electrical failures) made completing the full scope urgent. The motion put forward directed staff to award the contract to the low responsive bidder (Noble Excavating), proceed with the project as bid and use any needed PilT funds to cover the shortfall. The motion was seconded and carried; a single dissent was recorded in the roll call.
Andy had cautioned the board that reducing scope now could leave infrastructure that was unusable until additional funding is secured: “we could be building a sewer to nowhere, but at least we’re building something that we could add on to later,” he said when describing the scope-reduction option.
Why it matters: The board elected to prioritize completing the sanitary upgrade at the fairgrounds even though the low bid exceeded the project budget. Commissioners cited recent system failures and the risk of higher future costs if they delay. The decision commits county funds (the remainder to come from PILT) to the project unless alternate grant funding is secured.
Next steps: County staff will proceed with procurement paperwork to award the contract to Noble Excavating and coordinate funding adjustments through the PILT account or other sources, and the board will address any administrative follow-ups at subsequent administrative sessions.
(Amounts quoted in discussion were project-specific and staff noted the low bid exceeded the budget; the meeting record does not show the final dollar amount being entered into the minutes.)
