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.