July 30, 2014 at 4:25 p.m.

Judge rules against county in Hwy. Y lawsuit

Judge rules against county in Hwy. Y lawsuit
Judge rules against county in Hwy. Y lawsuit

By Jonathan Anderson-janderson@lakelandtimes.com

Oneida County improperly awarded a bid contract for roadwork on County Highway Y, a judge ruled this week.

On Monday, Oneida County Circuit Judge Michael Bloom issued a permanent injunction against the county, barring it from awarding the bid contract to Eagle River-based asphalt firm Pitlik and Wick.

"A basic premise of competitive bidding is that all the bidders are bidding on the same contract, presumably with the same specifications and conditions," Bloom said. "In this case, they weren't."

Unless appealed, the decision effectively ends a case that has been in litigation for more than a year, and which has also stalled the planned road repairs.

Oneida County residents Jim Tyler and Nicholas Schreurs, the plaintiffs, filed the suit last July alleging the county had violated state law requiring bids be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

They based that claim on the bids submitted for the project: Northeast Asphalt bid $662,026.80, Pitlik and Wick bid $663,498 and American Asphalt bid $690,678.48. The county awarded the contract to Pitlik and Wick.

The county asserted that Pitlik and Wick was, in effect, the lowest bidder after accounting for trucking costs, which were not included in the bid specifications because the county planned to use its own trucks.

Pitlik and Wick offered what officials said was the lowest price because it obtained permission to use a town road in the route to haul asphalt by accepting liability for any damage to the road, substantially cutting down the length of their route.

But the plaintiffs claimed that the bid specifications precluded the use of town roads, and that the county gave Pitlik and Wick an unfair advantage.

The lawsuit also claimed that county officials illegally awarded the contract because Pitlik and Wick is locally based. The complaint referenced a county Public Works Committee meeting in which county Supervisor Scott Holewinski commented that "he would prefer that the county keep people from Oneida County working, and one of the contractors employs local people." The plaintiffs asserted that statement was evidence the county violated a state law prohibiting bids from being awarded based on geographic location.

Bloom's decision on Monday did not rely on that claim and was, in fact, rather narrow. He concluded that Pitlik and Wick's bid was submitted outside of the bid specifications because the firm did not establish a pre-planned route in consultation with Highway Commissioner Freeman Bennett. The bid specifications had required that bidders have contact with the highway commissioner about what routes would be used before bids were submitted.

That didn't happen with Pitlik and Wick, Bloom said.

"Pitlik and Wick did not obtain a pre-planned route as required by the county's bidding documents," Bloom said. "That's not a value judgment on Pitlik and Wick or any of its representatives. That's just a statement of objective fact."

Bloom also determined that American Asphalt and Northeast Asphalt were told they could not use town roads.

Bloom said other claims made by the plaintiffs were not relevant to his decision, such as the statement Holewinski made about wanting to hire a local contractor and allegations of collusion.

William Cole, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said this week he was pleased with Bloom's ruling.

"Obviously I agree with the decision," Cole said.

The Lakeland Times revealed last year that Cole is linked to a Madison group that claims to investigate and privately enforce bid laws. That firm, Construction Business Group, describes itself as a "joint labor-management organization" and referred the Hwy. Y suit to Cole, according to the group's executive director, Robb Kahl.

Kahl is also a Democratic state legislator from Monona.

Half of Construction Business Group's board of trustees is from construction companies, and the other half is from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, a labor union. Construction Business Group has the same mailing address as the Madison office of the union.

Schreurs, one of the plaintiffs, has said he became aware of the Hwy. Y project through a newsletter he received from a union, and both he and Tyler have acknowledged that they have been affiliated with the International Union of Operating Engineers.

The county sought to depose Tyler and Schreurs to ask them how they became involved in the case and who is paying their legal fees. But earlier this year, Bloom quashed subpoenas to them, concluding the plaintiffs' testimony would not likely lead to relevant evidence about how the bids in the case were administered.

Cole had acknowledged that Tyler and Schreurs were being used by whoever is behind the lawsuit for only a technical purpose: The plaintiffs needed to be Oneida County residents.

Oneida County Corporation Counsel Brian Desmond said the county would most likely issue new bid specifications for the project, though he could not confirm that as of press time. Pitlik and Wick could submit a new bid for any new specifications that are issued.

Should the county issue new bid specifications, bidders would be required to perform their own trucking. That's because the Public Works Committee decided earlier this month to no longer use highway department trucks and drivers to haul asphalt on road projects, thereby simplifying the bidding process.

Desmond said he advised the committee to make that change.

As to whether the county will appeal Bloom's ruling, Desmond said the answer was "hard to say right now." He said the county board would ultimately have to make that decision, but noted that he would inform the board of the ruling and advise supervisors on their options within the next 30 days.

Bennett declined to comment.

Jonathan Anderson may be reached at janderson@lakelandtimes.com

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