Nome’s fuel contracts are set for the upcoming year, following a City Council meeting Monday night. Crowley fuel will provide the City with unleaded and diesel vehicle fuel, while the State of Alaska through Bonanza Fuel will provide equipment fuel along with heating oil.
According to City Manager Tom Moran, using Crowley for some fuel contracts and Bonanza for others will cost the City less.
“In our opinion, utilizing the State’s contract is going to save the City money, and we stand by that, which is why we wrote the resolution this way. I agree with that firm, fixed price, and Mr. Bjork called into question what the actual dollar figure was, but we are still pretty confident that using Bonanza under the State contract will save the City money. I think it’s probably a good exercise for us to flex this muscle once, just to show the City can do it, use the State contract; and maybe next year, when it’s time for the fuel bid, that number will come in a little lower.”
The City will pay Crowley $3.37 per gallon for unleaded vehicle fuel and $2.95 for diesel.
Bonanza Fuel Manager Scot Henderson reiterated that Bonanza holds the State contracts for fuel, and he says their prices are significantly less than the quoted price of $2.93 per gallon:
“In looking at the bid, Crowley did underbid Bonanza for the vehicle diesel, and I think based on my opinion, as much as I hate to say it, it probably should go to Crowley. However, the State contract price is cheaper, lower than the price that Crowley submitted under the RFP, and I think that’s what the City Manager has alluded to.”
In other business, the Council passed five other resolutions during Monday night’s regular meeting, including a project contract with Polyseal Insulation, Inc. One of the other bidders vying for a foam injection project at the Nome Public Works Shop protested the bid.
ICE Services, Inc., out of Anchorage, argued that Polyseal’s bid was not submitted in time, was not read aloud, and was too low of an amount, money-wise, to cover the work required.
Moran says the City refutes all three of ICE’s points and recommends that the Council not accept ICE’s bid:
“The City Engineer has looked at all of the bids, and as you can see, $95,000 is what we budgeted, just like we talked about; we came up with a number. It came in at $97,760 for the base bid, and the additive alternate, that was not the ICE bid, that was the Polyseal bid. So, that is the staff’s recommendation, because it gets the entire job done.”
Though Polyseal’s bid was received via mail late, it was postmarked on time to be accepted, so all four Councilmen voted in favor of awarding the Public Works Shop slab on grade foam injection project to Polyseal.
Before adjourning the regular meeting, the City Council approved a resolution to employ Quinten Johnson as Nome’s emergency services technician or EST. Quinten Johnson is the son of Councilman Doug Johnson; however, Councilman Johnson was not present at the meeting to vote on his son’s employment.
Nome’s City Council is scheduled to convene again on November 27th for its next regular meeting.
Photo at top: Matthew F. Smith, KNOM file.
