ELIOT, Maine — The Select Board on Thursday revisited a decision made at its Jan. 10 meeting regarding money approved for a plow truck engine.
At that meeting, the board approved an emergency appropriation to replace a diesel engine in a Department of Public Works plow truck, which failed during a storm the previous week. Because the situation was deemed an emergency by Town Manager Dana Lee and DPW Director Joel Moulton, Moulton obtained bids from three sources for the engine replacement by phone.
The board approved $26,969 from the DPW vehicle fund and awarded the work to Dover Motor Mart. Moulton said it will take about one week.
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Select Board member Robert McPherson said there was a concern with Dover Motor Mart, which Lee acknowledged is owned by a relative of Moulton. All involved seem to know that and approved the bid.
McPherson suggested Dover Motor Mart should be excluded from the bidding process in the future and bids should be done only by policy, which requires sealed bids.
Lee said the town’s purchasing policy allows for an emergency, in this case, the need to have the truck back on the road as soon as possible. But McPherson suggested Lee should call a special Select Board meeting in an emergency.
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McPherson on Thursday said it was 10 days since the engine replacement began and again asked why the bids were not sealed. No one had an update on the work. He also referenced an email from an Eliot resident concerned about how the policy was acted upon.
Lee reiterated it was an emergency situation and the board approved using the emergency provision. The policy ordinarily requires at least three sealed bids for expenses of more than $5,000.
“I’m fine with what we did,” said Select Board member Richard Donhauser. “We all faced the same direction. We should not have to beat ourselves up. Let’s fix the situation going forward.”
Lee said the town will follow the purchasing policy more closely. “You’ll see a lot of sealed bids,” he added.