Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-21
LOWEST BIDDER LOSES JOB
M. Ford of Dubuque Fails to Get Road
Contract.
COUNTY BOARD HAS wRANGLE
BruninE says Action H. fair 60 Ford,
With others SRy lie Did Not
Live Up 60 the Speci-
A%catiOns,

over the protests Of NJ. Fcrd Of Dubuque,
the low bidder for the work, the county
board Monday afternoon awarded contracts
to +. H.. Van Court for the paving Of the
Military road and to the Katz-Craig Con-
struction company for paving the IRVING
ton-Bennington road. Both contracts were
let at $l.54 a lineal foot, which was the
amount Of Ford's bid, the lowest sub
mitted on the two roads. Bruning pro-
tested against the action, asserting It was
unfair to Ford, but the other four members
voted for the report.
The majority justified their action on the
ground that MI. Ford already has con-
tracts for as much road as he can finish
this fall and II he was given more he would
be unable to do the work until next spring.
1t was also charged he has not been living
up to the specifications on the work he
has already done.
At the original bidding Van Court bid
I.6 on the Military road and the Katz-
Craig company s1.55 on the Irvington-Ben-
nington road. Both of them, however, Of
fered TO come down to Ford's figures Of
$1.d and to have the work completed by
January l. Both roads will be paved for
a mile and a half with macadam twelve
feet wide with tarvia.
Unjust to Ford.
Bruning, in explaining his vote against
the report, declared Ford had submitted
the lowest bid in good faith and saved the
county considerable money in giving a
lower figure than the local contractors had
submitted.
1T Is unjust to Ford" he said. ito give
the bid to contractors who bid higher than
he did, even IL they do the work at his
figures. We should reject all bids and ask
for new ones"
Riggs, in voting for the report, declared
the county was not damaged, as the work
would be done at the least figures sub
mitted in the bids.
The situation shows that Ford cannot
expect to finish the work this fall and he
could hardly expect us to give him any
more work than he has now.
Commissioner Trainor, in voting for the
report, charged hat Ford was not living
up to the specifications as he had put
smaller stone in the base of the pave
ment than the Specifications called for. He
quoted the county engineer as saying It
seemed impossible to get him to follow the
specifications. Ure and Kennard also voted
for the report.
Sublets Part of Work.
Ford now has contracts for paving four
miles on Dodge street and two miles on
the Benson road. At his request he was
allowed to sublet part of the work to e. B..
Winn.
Bids for grading the south part of the
court house square to street level in prepa-
ration for the foundations of the new court
house were called for by the board under
a motion made by IRE. The bids will be
opened November IL.
The board rejected all the bids for new
work at the Detention home because the
bids all called for more money than the
board had a right to expend and some of
me bids did not follow the specifications.
The board will call for new bids on each
building separately and at the coming cleo
ton Will ask authority to expend $12, COZ
more on the work. The voters granted au-
thority last spring to expend SIS, 900. but
after ouying a site and a building only
S'W was left to make needed repairs and
new work and this the board contends is
not sufficient.