Supervisors award demolition contract, local firm left out

Otto Baum Co., a construction and demolition firm from near Peoria, Ill., has won the contract to demolish 18 flood-damaged, Linn County buildings.

These aren't the same as buyouts. They're structurally unsound buildings for which the federal government pays for demolition.

The supervisors voted 3-1 (Oleson dissented and Langston was absent) to give the work to Otto Baum and pay the company $364,357.

The decision burns the guys from Kelly Demolition in Mount Vernon. Their bid came in $33,000 above Otto Baum's, but they and Oleson wanted the project rebid.

Here's why: The county originally awarded the contract to Central States Contracting of Cedar Falls for $272,180. They were the lowest bidder, but, according to county officials, weren't getting the work done on time. So Central States was fired, and the supervisors had the option of rebidding the project, or giving it to the next-lowest bidder.

Oleson wants county projects to go to local contractors. So he pushed for the county to rebid, thinking Kelly would have a shot at bidding lowest in a second round, and Otto Baum would likely bid lower as well.

He also pointed out that Kelly Demolition employs local people who spend money in Linn County. His company buys vehicles and machinery here, pays taxes here, etc.

Supervisor Ben Rogers pointed out that the project hadn't changed. How would Kelly be able to come up with a lower bid than Otto Baum on a second round?

"Not much has changed," he said. "How would they cut their rates?"

Mike Brannaman, a project manager for Kelly who attended Monday's meeting but didn't speak during it, said his company could do the work for cheaper since they've already won a contract for a second round of 14 demolitions. "We'll be able to cut overhead," Brannaman said.

He swears his company would be able to put in a lower bid if bids were asked for a second time. Whether that's true will never be known.

“We had a choice,” Oleson said. “Potentially, it could have saved us money, but that would have required work.”