UPDATE: At the council informational today, Public Works director, Mark Cotter explained that 4 bids were put out and that Titan was the lowest and Henke was the highest, even though Titan is purchasing the gates from Henke. We will be paying aproximately $6,750 a piece for the snowgates. I also found out that the city will own all the gates and loan them out to any private contractor that will be using them. I guess some private contractors have agreed to use them, so that is good news.
It was disappointing during the meeting that Rolfing had to make a big deal about how much there usage will cost us and demanded that Cotter gets the council that information in the near future. Ironic, even though an indoor pool wasn’t even on the ballot, when the outdoor pool failed at Spellerberg, the council and mayor felt they had to ramrod the project threw because the voters have spoken. Well, kind of. Yet snow gates pass by a landslide (which were actually on the ballot) and all of a sudden Rolfing is concerned about the cost of there usage. In Rolfing’s mind fiscal prudence only applies to public services like snow removal, but when it comes to unneeded recreation, spend, spend, spend away.
(Consent Agenda) Hydraulically Operated End Gates (Snow Gates) – Titan Machinery - $ 215,700
I find this a little disheartening, because during the snow gate petition drive, organizer, Stehly got confirmation from Henke (the superior snow gate manufacturer) to offer a discount and training to the snowplow operators in SF if they got awarded the bid. Are they so busy in Public Works that not one single person in the department could get bids and purchase snow gates directly from the manufacturer? We now have to have a middle man? That is SF city government for you, consultant happy. I have often wondered why we even have city directors and employees, we might as well just hire consultants to do all the heavy lifting for us. Imagine the millions we would save in salaries and benefits for all of these overpaid directors and middle managers.
The way I look at it is the city doesn’t seem capable of doing anything without spending money on consultants, that actually don’t know very much about the city.
DL – Titan Machinery is a local business and the City is obviously awarding Titan the bid they put in for snow gates. Looks like you have your snow gates.
http://siouxfalls.titanmachinery.com/
I don’t believe CASE IH sells snow gates, so possibly Titan is the local Henke dealer.
Um it’s municipal government. And it’s the *municipal government of Sioux Falls*. Everyone gets a handout or a sweetheart deal. I don’t need Louisiana politics, I can just watch Sioux Falls politics.
I looked up titan equip. They have snow pushers. If galynn can’t write a basic 101 performance spec for a frickn commercially available item then we are done It’s not hard to put requirements on paper and advertise requests for quotes. I guess the mayor is making a buck or two on this deal too. I hope henke files a protest or sues. You had a post back in August 16 2010 saying huber was fighting snow gates. Will be a great one to see delayed in court and defended by fiddle faddle. Won’t it. Script already written to delay lose a suit and pay off henke then city won’t have funds to buy.
This is what I have heard so far, but am waiting for clarification. Titan is a Henke dealer and the city was able to get the snowgates cheaper thru the dealer. Still don’t know if that is true, hopefully we will know something further tomorrow.
This kind of activity goes on with about everything the City does. I, too, often have wondered why we have professional staff we are paying when virtually everything gets “farmed” out. When they were developing a street near us, they had a contractor that did the street. The sidewalks were subcontracted but some how an engineering company was “overseeing the project” FOR THE CITY. The street remained closed for months and months b/c the sidewalk was not done yet (ya know, they had to keep all that road available to bring in their equipment to do the walks!). And of course, the engineering company’s attention to moving that project along was pretty minimal. Darnedest thing. So the City doesn’t even oversee projects sometimes!! That was an education to me.
There’s no competitive bid process. If you ‘cooperate’ you get the contract. Hence did a lot of background work but they’re an ‘honest’ business that would never become involved in the city ‘unofficial’ process.
Another Ca-Ching Huether
If Titan is the dealer, then the city must buy them through the dealer. The dealer will do the warranty work and order parts etc. End of story.
What, did you think they would be scouring Ebay for the cheapest? If the manufacturer quoted them a price, that will be the price. The dealer will get a check from the manufacturer for being the dealer.
You can buy a brand new car online from whatever brand, but it will be delivered to the local dealer. Thats why manufacturers have dealers.
Not everything is a conspiracy.