Council here has elected to purchase three pickup trucks from a local dealership, despite a staff recommendation to purchase one of the vehicles from another area automobile dealer.
At the Feb. 19 meeting, public works director Brian Hansen presented council with a report recommending the purchase of two new 2013 4 X 4 trucks from Leslie Motors of Harriston, one for $38,314 and another for $44,526. The report recommended the purchase of the third truck from Arthur Chrysler at a cost of $34,574.
The report noted six reputable companies were approached with a request for quotes on the vehicles and a request for quotes was advertised on the town website and in a local Newspaper. Three dealerships, including one from Listowel, submitted quotes on the vehicles
Hansen explained that an “apples to apples” comparison was done to determine which vehicles were the best value for the quoted price.
However councillor Rick Hembly questioned the logic of purchasing a vehicle from a dealership outside of Minto when the difference in price was only about $800.
“I think for $800 we should keep it here in town. If it was four or five thousand dollars between the three trucks I can see going outside…so my motion would be to purchase the three trucks from the local dealership,” said Hembly, whose motion was seconded by deputy mayor Terry Fisk.
Hembly also pointed out buying all three trucks from one local dealer would simplify the process of getting the vehicles serviced.
“I appreciate the need to go local,” said CAO Bill White. “My concern with it is that we did the apples to apples comparison…if we continually did that (chose a higher local bid), and I’m from out of town, or Arthur, which isn’t that far away, then I’m not bidding, because I know I’m not going to get them if I’m even close – so that’s my only caution.”
“This is just for this tender. I’m not talking about future tenders,” said Hembly
“Where’s the cut-off?” wondered councillor Ron Elliott. “Do we say it’s a thousand dollars? Do we say it’s ten thousand? Do we say it’s three thousand? If we set a policy within the council that we go local within a certain percentage, then I can live by it, but we don’t have that,” Elliott added.
“I agree with councillor Hembly that we’d love to go local for that difference in money,” continued Elliott, who eventually supported the motion, which passed unopposed. However, he cautioned that council should consider developing a policy to guide when to deviate from simply accepting the best tender price.
“I think we’re putting staff in quite a position if we don’t come up with some sort of policy,” Elliott stated.
Councillor Mary Lou Colwell asked “if anyone is aware what other municipalities do with issues regarding shop local?
“We definitely support shop local, we want our residents to shop local, so we should be setting an example. But I do agree with you that we need the competition angle of it. So what do other municipalities do in that regard?” she wondered.
White responded that he would look into the issue, as well as check the municipality’s own procurement policy and report back to council.
