City Council, live, part 2

I'm no longer alone, obviously.
Art Ward and Mike Rimcoski are joshing at their end of the room. The mayor's starting.
"Everybody ready," William Stortz said.
Pledge of Allegiance follows.
Stortz said Kevin McCauley is working and Ellen Zoppo will be "a little late, if she makes it at all."
Now they're deciding whether to approve the industrial park contract that Jackie Majerus wrote about this week.
Frank Nicastro and Craig Minor are here.
Rimcoski says he has comments on the industrial park.
"I'm not going to support this for a couple of reasons," he said, urging another round of bidding. The company that came in second has 15 employees in Bristol. "I'm getting a little upset" that sometimes councilors have to take top bidder but not always, he said.
"I'm confused. It's got to stop," Rimcoski said.
Minor said Baltazar, the low bidder, has a number of subcontractors who have Bristol residents working for them.
Jonathan Rosenthal, the city's economic development director, said "virtually the whole crew are Connecticut residents" among subcontractors. Minor asked Rosenthal to speak.
Rosenthal said it is "a serious matter" to send it out. To rebid would jeopardize the federal funding. "They ask you to take the low bid," he said.
Rimcoski asked if Richards Co. has Bristol subcontractors.
Rosenthal said it probably does.
"Bottom line, Michael, is that by law we have to go by the low bidder that's qualified unless we have some reason to reject them," Stortz said. He said the federal government sets the policy.
Zoppo is here now.
Rosenthal said the company submitted the lowest qualified bid.
Rimcoski said to Rosenthal "this is not directed at you" in any way.
Nicastro said we worked hard to get the grant and we have to follow the rules. He said the city can set some rules but "we have to go with the low bidder" when it's a federal oversight issue. He said it would be a serious problem to reject the low bidder.
"We're locked into this by federal law," Nicastro said.
"This is not a local contract. This is federal money," he said. So "I cannot take a chance in jeopardizing $2 million."
Zoppo said that another issue is preferential bidding. We could asks the finance board to widen the scope of the local bidding policy.
Ward said that preferential percentage is 4 percent. That's up to $300,000 contracts, said Roger Rousseau, the purchasing agent for the city.
Rousseau said the policy is working well.
Ward asked if it's feasible to raise the amount or increase the percentage.
"That's an issue for another time," Stortz said.
Rousseau said Baltazar listed its subcontractors, some of which are based in Bristol. The Richards Corp., the number two bidder, didn't list the subcontractors, Rousseau said.
Now voting.
All yes except Rimcoski.





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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com