HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council unanimously accepted a bid Monday evening for the removal of a Public Works Department fuel tank and installation of a new fuel tank with a fuel management system and gasoline and diesel dispensing system.
Councilors approved the bid of $149,518 from Insight of Hermon, even though that bid was higher than another received for the project.
Public Works Director Chris Stewart sent a letter to Town Manager Marian Anderson on Jan. 20 and spoke at Monday’s meeting to explain why he recommended accepting the bid from Insight, instead of a $138,945 bid from Precision Tanks, Inc., located in Jay.
“I have several concerns with the first bid received, from Precision Tanks,” Stewart wrote. “The town received only a bid price, not a ‘scope of work’. I have no idea on what the company is bidding for materials/pumps/electrical and etcetera.”
“In the bid packet, I highly recommended a site visit, so the contractor could see what was needed to complete the job, such as tank placement, electrical components needed, size of concrete pad, thickness of concrete pad, are bollards needed,” he added.
Stewert said there were several other small details that were missed in the bid from Precision Tanks, Inc. Those missed items could cost the town more money during construction. Stewart added he reached out to the company, but the owner/bidder was unavailable for a couple of weeks.
According to Stewart, the owner of Precision Tanks said he was too busy to perform a site review, whereas the owner of Insight had been on site “at least a half a dozen times, so far, since the first of January, to make sure everything’s right.”
“With the second bid from Insight, there are no questions about what the town is getting for the money we are spending,” Stewart said. “Including the use of local contractors, who have firsthand knowledge of the job site, and what is entailed in this process.”
The Insight bid includes subcontracting, permitting, and a spill prevention plan. The company also suggested three potential cost saving options Stewart said he may take advantage of following the start of work to save money on some of the ballards and piping.
“The option that I wouldn’t change is the tank monitoring system,” he said. “That’s one that I would leave, because that’s the eyes and the ears for the town, so that gives us all of the bells and whistles inside to let us know if something’s not right. The good thing about the aboveground (tank), like I stated before, is we do away with the DEP and there’s not a 30-year limit on this tank before it expires. This tank can be in service as long as it passes the fire marshal’s inspection every year.”
The council also heard the first reading of an ordinance that would fund this project, pending a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 28.
The board also unanimously accepted the bid of $34,133 from Quirk Auto Group for a 2022 Ford Police Interceptor, for the Houlton Police Department. It was the only bid received by the town.
In other business, the council unanimously designated the town manager to be the appointed representative for the Maine Service Centers Coalition and designated Council secretary Sue Tortello as the alternate. Council unanimously appointed Cameron Clark, Gerard York Jr., Ryan Bushey and Jon McLaughlin to the Community Development Advisory Committee for two-year terms.
Also at this meeting, the SADC Attraction Committee presented an Eclipse 2024 slideshow explaining that Houlton is in a uniquely good position for viewing the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Cities so positioned to view the total solar eclipse in 2017 received an influx of visitors and tourism dollars.
The Attraction Committee has already started advertising, however council member Dennis Harmon suggested the Chamber of Commerce would be better equipped than the town government to fund this event.
