John Walker
DUNCAN — Apparently, having the lowest bid isn’t always good enough.
Purchasing materials from Duncan Builders Supply was thought too expensive by members of the Duncan City Council during their regular meeting June 23.
Duncan Builders Supply was the lowest bid of two companies to give bids on three items on the consent agenda:
• Fence materials for the Abe Raizen Baseball Fields in the amount of $9,417.52.
• Fence materials for the Abe Raizen Soccer Fields in the amount of $9,368.72.
• Fence materials for the cemetery department in the amount of $2,947.56.
Duncan Vice Mayor Ricky Mayes said he believed the prices were too high for the city to accept right now.
“I think we need to rebid if we only received two bids,” Mayes said.
Duncan Community Development Director Dana Schoening said that two other bids arrived, but after the deadline.
“But they were all higher bids,” Schoening said.
Mayes asked Schoening if the city has contacted wholesalers for fencing material bids.
“Typically, material from a wholesaler will save us 30-50 percent,” Mayes said. “I think we’ll save money if we go to a distributor rather than a retailer.”
Schoening said he does not believe the city has sought bids from wholesalers.
“If we rebid, I don’t think it will hurt the projects,” Schoening said. “We have time to do it.”
The items were then tabled at the meeting until a later date to allow Schoening to check with wholesalers for possible bids.
In other news, the city changed the ordinance on city street signs and poles, so a subdivision of the town could place unique signs on street corners.
The subdivision in question wants to mount street signs onto light poles, but the current code would not allow it, Duncan Public Works Director Scott Vaughn said.
Schoening said that the amendment has the same regulations, but allows some flexibility.
“Unique signs would have to be applied for and approved,” he said.
If the unique signs on street corners are damaged, the subdivision would have a 30-day window to fix the sign with a replacement, Schoening said.
If they don’t replace it, than the city would replace it with a standard sign, he said.
Also announced was the purchase of two 20-year $1.5 million life annuities to pay a portion of the Waurika Master Conservancy District Debt.
The annuities have a guaranteed annual return in the minimum amount of 5 percent, Duncan City Manager Clyde Shaw said.
An early payment of the debt would be spread across all the municipalities involved, rather than solely the one that paid the money, Shaw said.
If the debt is paid off before the original term of the annuities in 2029, the principal of the annuity will be paid to Duncan’s Employee Retirement Trust fund.
