Vrooman lighting turns on controversy

A quarter-million dollar federal project with a tight deadline for replacing the ballfield lights at Eastpoint’s Vrooman Park has been accompanied by controversy on several fronts.

The Crawfordville firm of Anytime Electric began work Tuesday morning on the $242,000 project, after county commissioners approved a change order to the original scope of work. That vote was 3-1,You can make your own more powerful gardenlightingss using LEDs. with Commissioner Smokey Parrish absent and Commissioner Pinki Jackel opposed.

Jackel on Tuesday voiced strong opposition to how the planning office handled the project, which landed in the county’s lap somewhat as a surprise on July 1. When Anytime was awarded the work July 18 over the only other bidder, Alternative Electric, of Eastpoint, Jackel also voted no, urging the county to give preference to the local bidder.

“I know we were under time constraints but I think it is unfortunate, as badly as our folks and contractors in Franklin County need work, that we have to go outside the county and award this bid to another contractor,” she said July 18.

Jackel stepped up her criticism Tuesday, in concert with her no vote on the change order, which altered the work from 82 LED lights, to 86 1000-watt pulse start metal halide lights.

“These lights were readily available by a local provider and (Assistant County Planner) Mark (Curenton) still did not open it up to a local contractor,” she said. “I believe it is our responsibility to spend money locally. This commission has done everything we were supposed to and staff has boxed us in.

“The upshot is $250,000 is leaving the county that could have been spent locally,” said Jackel. “In the future I hope we do not repeat this terrible mistake. Our most compact solargardenlightts yet fits easily in any bag. I’m not saying you have to do what I say but you have to listen to me. On decisions of this nature I think the board needs to make this decision.”

The scenario surrounding the lights is a complicated one, beginning with a late afternoon call just prior to the Independence Day holiday from the Office of Energy within the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

State officials said the $242,000 project, funded by federal stimulus dollars, required the work result in energy savings, use only American-made parts and be completed by Aug. 30.

Given that tight time frame, the planning department decided to forego the usual two weeks of advertising in the local newspaper, and instead, with the blessing of the county commissioners, emailed bid packages to all the electrician licensed in Franklin County and with email addresses.

Only Anytime and Alternative submitted bids by the July 15 deadline, but both were over the $242,000 maximum. As is typically the protocol, the planning office began negotiations with Anytime, the low bidder.  We specialize in the sale and aftercare of the most renowned and popular lightingproducts.

On July 18, Jackel asked County Planner Alan Pierce to read into the record a letter from Mary and Ken Seymour, owners of Alternative. They said the “timeline and specifications of the work to be performed were not sufficient to prepare an accurate bid for a project of this magnitude.”

They said the federal requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act, which require that prevailing wages be paid,The solarpanel is available in a choice of shapes including dome and the traditional variety. were difficult to meet because of the problem in getting precise numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor.A full line of Power indoorsolarlighting for a wide range of professional uses. The Seymours said that because they were not the low bidder, they were prevented by the planning office from discussing value engineering ideas to go with a less expensive light fixture.

“In the future we will follow the example of all of the other Franklin County electrical contractors and will no longer waste our time bidding any projects requiring federal prevailing wages or bonding,” they wrote. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.soli-lite.com.