Montezuma County pulls low-bid approval from consent agenda after bids exceed engineer estimate

The Chair of the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners removed the third bullet — approval of the parent low bidder for Montezuma County — from the consent agenda, saying the bids came in far above the county's engineer estimate and no action was required that day. "I will pull bullet point number 3 off, which is the approval of the parent low bidder for Montezuma County," the Chair said at the Aug. 11 meeting.

County Attorney Steven told the board the county’s bid paperwork allows the county to "reserve the right to reject any or all proposals if it's deemed in the best interest of the county to do so," which he said provided the basis for declining to move forward with the bids pending further review. The Chair added the bids were "way over the engineer's estimate," which the county uses for fiscal responsibility in budgeting, and that the county will revisit the matter later.

Commissioner (name given in the record as) Orlando moved to approve the remainder of the consent agenda (which included a proposed list of arbitrators for property tax appeals and a preventative block grant for the public health planner), the motion was seconded, and the board voted to approve the presented items. "Been moved and seconded to accept the consent agenda with the 1st 2 bullet points as presented," the Chair announced before the roll call votes. The board recorded aye votes and the motion passed.