Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1973 01-26 CC MIN162 MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY, CALIFORNIA January 1973 The adjourned meeting of the City Council of the City of National City was called to order at 4:20 p.m. by Vice Mayor Reid, ROLL CALL Council members present: Camacho, Pinson, Reid, Waters, Absent: Morgan. Administrative Officials present: Campbell, Foster, McLean, Osburn, Stenberg., CITY ATTORNEY MC LEAN said the question came up as to whether or not to consider the bid of United Electric for certain light work the City wanted performed; Mr. Robinson (United Electric) submitted a bid which in mone- tary amount is the low bid; but he did not submit a bid bond; and he tells us that if he signed the contract he could not supply a performance bond. The City Attorney stated he wanted to take the two separately: First, when a contractor supplies a bid bond in the amount of 10% of the bid, he is saying to us "If I do not accept the contract and it turns out that I am the low bidder and you have to sign a contract with somebody else, my bid bond in the amount of 10% will pay the City any loss it suffers by having to take the next higher bid,." The second thing is the performance bond, a performance bond is to insure that if the City takes the low bid (Mr. Robinson's or anybody else's) and he doesn't do the job, or he doesn't pay his workmen that there is a bond available that the City can enforce to be sure that the material men and laborers are paid for, that the City is paid for his default. The City Attorney continued Mr. Robinson tells us he cannot produce a bid bond and he can not produce a performance bond. The City Attorney said he was not very concerned aboatthe bid bond because Mr. Robinson says he will sign the contract and the purpose of the bid bond is to be sure that the low bidder signs the contract; so we can for- get the bid bond and address ourselves to the fact that Mr. Robinson says that he cannot provide a performance bond. Mr, McLean said a performance bond is 100% of the contract which is $14,000 some odd dollars; he asked Mr. Robinson why he couldn't produce a bond and he said he has applied for bonds and he has been refused, he believes he has been refused on the basis of racial discrimination, Mr. McLean stated he had no personal knowledge to know whether that is true or it is false; he would like to think that it is false; but he had to be honest about the situation and he really didn't know; now, the purpose of the performance bonds is to be sure the work is done according to the specifications and that when we pay our money to the contractor that the laborers, the material men and the supplies get paid so they don't file a lien against the City for not being paid; and Mr, Robinson says that he can do the work and that he is a qualified contractor and that if the City enters into an agreement with him that he will see that the people who work for him get paid for their labor and get paid for their materials. Mr. McLean reported in lecking at the law he found some very strong legal precedent that he didn't really know about until today when the fact was presented to me that'the City really shouldn't enter into a contract with somebody who can't put up the bond; Mr. Robinson, here can't put up the bond and the law seems to say thathe should put up the bond; now, we're faced with the dilemma that we believe that Mr. Robinson can do the work (as you have a memo- randum from Mr. Osburn we've checked his records and we find out from the people for whom he has done work that he does good work) and Mr. Robinson assures us that if we want him to put in a fund control that he will do the work, he will get releases from the laborers so we pay them directly and extinguish any possibility of a claim against the City and that he will put the lights up and have all of this work done on time; as a lawyer, I think that his proposal is within the purview of state law, the purpose of the bond is to get the funds and he is offering you the guarantee that the strong contractor can offer to get the job. Mr. McLean said we can- not ignore the fact there is evidence in the state law that a performance bond is a requirement; if you give the contract to Mr. Robinson and waive 1/26/73 163 the bond, you may possibly be inviting a lawsuit; and if you do have a lawsuit,, it is conceivable that you would have the project delayed; if you go to the alternate low bidder who can provide the bond, it is clear that you won't have the low bid, but what you are really talking about is whether you are willing to run the risk of having a delay because of a lawsuit brought by another contractor (who didn't get the job) who wants • to attack your giving the contract to another without supl in a perfor- mance bond. Mr. McLean continued he was comfortable with the idea that if somebody files that kind of lawsuit that they will lose; but he wa to make it real clear he couldn't e te rated in the job, Mr. McLean said Mr. Robinson isthere at tand ewhatevert ver gue a onsaysti you may have about his qualifications he can answer. There wasdisss The City Attorney .said if this werescuion„ just any job and there had been no indication from Council that the job was to be completed as quickl as possible, he would say to give the job to Mr. Robinson and if y another contractor files a lawsuit, he files a lawsuit; but Council has made it very clear that they do not want any delay, and if a lawsuit is filed he could not guarantee there would be no delay. Moved by Pinson seconded by Waters, that Mr. Robinson's bid be denied and the bid t lowest bidder Arrow Electric in the amount of $19 368.30. to the next MR, ROBINSON, UNITED ELECTRIC CO. was present and requested the o or-. tunity to sign the contract as outlined by the City Attorney«, PP C. MICHAEL COWETZ, attorney (who researched the questions of bid and p mance bonds for Mr. McLean) said he checked with the contracting officer of the County who is a black man who has had experience with black er tractors getting performance bonds and he suggestedcon-. Angeles which is used by the Minority Contractors Association hereLos town; the name of the company is Interstate Bonding Company,and t enere a man by the name of Larry Williams (and he had his address and hisne number) they work through the Urban League and it takes about a w phone process your portfolio or whatevereek to that they do issue you hand them and he was led to believe discrimination! performance bonds to black contractors without any MR. ROBINSON SAID black contractors do have some bonds and actually qualified to do the job. In answer to questions, Mr. Robinson saitbhe was s was not time to obtain the bond as outlined and in the past he like everyone else, he had experienced ups and downs. ' CITY ATTORNEY MC LEAN iterated that he had no doubt that in lawsuit was filed he could litigate and prevail, but it might delay eventy the e a ject and Council told him they did not want anypro- ject delay. MOTION TO AWARD THE CONTRACT to Arrow Electric carried b unan' Absent: Morgan. Y imous vote. The meeting closed at 4:38 p.m. Cit ity of Nation The foregoing minutes were approved by the City at the regular meeting of February 60 1973. No corrections Clerk City, California Council of National City ElCorrection as noted below Mayor, City o ational City,, California 1/26/73