Three local businessmen addressed members of the Halifax County
Industrial Development Authority on Friday morning, citing concerns
about the award of a contract to demolish the former Georgia Pacific
property. Board members approved the award of the contract to the North
Carolina firm of D. H. Griffin Wrecking Company for a price not to
exceed $983,580, although the bid must be approved by Halifax County
Supervisors at their August 6 meeting before it can be finalized.
Mac McDannald of McDannald Construction Company told IDA members that
he along with Jack Dunavant of Dunavant Paving and Cabell Carrington
had worked up a bid for the job and they were the only local company to
submit a bid. He said he had expected to be interviewed about the
proposal, but his group was never consulted. While his bid was not the
lowest submitted, McDannald indicated that prices might have been
negotiated had they been interviewed for the job.
He stressed that he and his partners had all the qualifications
necessary to carry out the work and that they would have hired local
workers and that much of the demolished materials would have been taken
to the local landfill to help fill it before it closes had they gotten
the bid. "We feel like we should have been considered," said McDannald.
But Bill Kelehar, who served on the IDA's committee to make the award,
explained that his group had been held to considering the lowest bid
rather than by other factors. "If we were using only our own money we
would have been able to make different choices," he explained.
It was Executive IDA Director Mike Eades who pointed out that the
demolition project is being carried out with federally earmarked funds
and others from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community
Development. "At least 50 percent of our decision had to be based on
price alone," Kelehar stressed, noting that McDannald's bid was
considerably higher.
Dunavant expressed a different concern — his being based on the
preservation of some of the materials in the building. Dunavant said
100 foot wooden beams were inside the building which had been shipped
from California by rail when the facility was constructed.
Those beams, he said, could be sanded and varnished and used for
numerous projects. The company whose bid is being considered for award
has no interest in preserving the beams or the steel within the
building, he said. "We (not us, but someone) will look back in 50 years
and say we should have saved those beams," he noted.
Carrington added that he feels local contractors need to be given every
opportunity to bid on local projects, although many are too big for
them to handle, but they can be broken down so as to be manageable.
As board members voted to approve Griffin's bid, they stressed that
they would suggest, which is the most they can do, that materials be
preserved, especially the wooden beams.
In other business IDA members voted to purchase some 2.61 acres of land
in front of Riverstone, lying adjacent to the old roadway of the Sandy
Beach Road which was reconstructed after the technology park was
established. Eades said the land belongs to a Mrs. Leete who lives in
North Carolina and who is willing to sell the two parcels (one 0.5
acres, the other 2.11 acres) for $10,000, plus legal and recording
fees. The money would come from the board's reserve fund, he said,
noting that the IDA must furnish the transportation department with the
right-of-way for the new entry and the land is needed for that purpose.
Members also approved a revised budget after County Supervisors cut
their requested budget by $49,000. The cuts came in $2,371 in fringe
benefits; copier expense of $3,000; cellular phone service of $2,000;
marketing travel of $2,500; $5,000 in trade shows; $2,500 in printed
materials; $10,000 for prospect advertising; $2,000 for newsletter
costs; $2,000 in existing industry appreciation event; $5,000 for RTB
electricity; RTB insurance of $2,974 and a cut of $12,500 in the IDA
reserve fund.
Members also approved a recommendation to give a four percent
commission on the sale of IDA owned buildings, payable upon the close
of any such transaction, and they voted to hold in abeyance an earlier
plan to move the IDA office to Riverstone Technology Park. They also
voted to begin holding their monthly meetings on Fridays beginning with
the August 17 meeting.
Members ended the Friday meeting with a tour of the on-going expansion
of ABB where Project Manager Mike Blankenship showed them the newly
paved parking lot and the foundation work that has been completed.
Blankenship said he expects the steel materials for the actual building
to arrive around August 17 which means that in about three weeks
visitors will be able to see the building going up.