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Topic: Bids on Courthouse, Prevailing wage again< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
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danbelshan Search for posts by this member.

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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,12:29 pm  Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

County accepts bids on courthouse work

By Tim Sturrock, Tribune staff writer

Freeborn County Commissioners awarded three carpentry contracts for the new courthouse Tuesday.

The bids for the various tasks were divided among three companies: Kellington Construction of Corcoran, Northern Woodwork of Thief River Falls, and LSI of Minneapolis.

Tim Clark of Adolfson and Peterson, the county's construction-management firm, said the total came in at $763,239 for work budgeted to cost $800,000.



I voted no on these because they were prevailing wage.  During discussion I brought this up and had it placed in the minutes why I couldn't vote for these bids. Vote 4 to 1.
Prevailing wage  is not mandated by law  on this project.


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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,1:11 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Sorry to be uninformed, but what's prevailing wage?

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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,1:20 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Prevailing wage is the wage paid to the majority of workers in a given trade. Example: If a company normally pays their carpenter $20 per hour, but the state requires them to pay prevailing wage, that same carpenter will make $25/hour (or whatever the prevailing wage is) for that project. This is common for crews putting in highways that are state projects. The state can mandate if each emloyeed is going to be paid prevailing wage. If this happens, obviously the business has to raise it's estimate to cover such costs. In the case of the court house, the state is not mandating what each employee should make, so there may have been a better alternative than the bid that was accepted.

In other words, there may have been a company that could (or would) have done the same work for less money since their employee compensation packages are lower.

4-1.....Gee, that surprises me  :p
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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,1:21 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Thanks for the information, Dan.  It's nice to know that another three contracts left the city.  I was informed at one time that the reason the county had to go with prevailing wages because there isn't any contractors capable of taking o a project this large.  I'll bet contractors like Al Larson appreciate statements made like that by our elected officials.  And then I heard that the county just hired another two jailers?  You know, pretty soon the county will be our second largest employer after Mayo.

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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,2:22 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

with freeborn county, the solution is the problem.

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danbelshan Search for posts by this member.

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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,3:35 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Prevailing wage is mandated when State or Federal dollars are used in a project (eg. construction on I 35, State or Federal buildings).

Not mandated (eg. Steele County Jail, our Courthouse, Jail ) all local money

I've been told workers receive a higher wage and also get overtime after 8 hours of work in a day, not the more common overtime after 40 hours of work in a week.

In talking with other Counties I've been told there is no advantage to the taxpayer in using prevailing wage on a project such as our Courthouse.

If the total cost is higher do the architect and construction mangement firm (who are paid on a percent of the cost of the project) benefit at the expense of the taxpayer???


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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,4:09 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Dan -

How did this latest bid come up - by Gabrielson or A-P?  Are they just telling the board what the lowest bid is, recommending approval, requesting any discussion or input?  The media doesn't provide much insight (big surprise).

It looks like the other commisioners are just rubber-stamping these deals.  Is this what's happening?  Are you the only one concerned about this?

I'm not looking for everyone's opinions about the board on this one.  I simply want to hear from Dan as to what happened.
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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,4:11 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Maddog--you are too modest--the County official that stated that the reason for paying prevailing wage was Ron Gabrielsen.  He stated that the decision to pay prevailing wage was to "level the playing field--the only way they could get some of the big contractors in here as to offer prevailing wage".  The presumption is that:

A. There aren't enough local firms capable of doing the work, so we have to bring in outsiders.

B.  Outsiders won't come in if they are underbid by local firms, that DON'T pay "prevailing wage", and DON'T have to pay mobilization costs to bring people and machinery hundreds of miles to do the project.

Prevailing Wage is a holdover from the Davis-Bacon Act of the Roosevelt era.  I don't have the exact numbers, but prevailing wage in the Minneapolis area (includes Freeborn County) was about $25 an hour for unskilled labor, and about $36 an hour for skilled labor (anyone operating a machine).  That's a lot of money, and a huge premium over local pay rates--and YOU KNOW WHO PAYS IT!

Prevailing wage is NOT mandated on this project, as I understand it, Commissioners Mullenbach and Springborg were appointed to study it, and made the decision on their own to pay it.  Anyone else have further information?

How much extra is this decision costing?  Nobody seems to know.  Would it be fair to say an average of at least $10 an hour for each hour of labor?  Then add on the extra cost of the wages when figuring FICA, work comp, and other benefits--a function of payroll costs.  Then add on the fact that local companies have been frozen out, increasing the costs as the outside companies have to move men and machines in, feed and house them, etc.  Finally, the cost-plus arrangement with the architects and production managers.

How many millions of dollars would YOU estimate it cost the taxpayers?


Edited by jimhanson on Oct. 08 2003,4:16 pm

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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,4:18 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic. Skip to the next post in this topic. Ignore posts   QUOTE

Sorry 1Adam12--your post came in while I was doing mine.  Let's hear from Dan.

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PostIcon Posted on: Oct. 08 2003,4:22 pm Skip to the previous post in this topic.  Ignore posts   QUOTE

Jim, agree totally. But your estimate of 10 dollars an hour more for each hour of labor, wouldnt that be 10 more for each hour of labor, per man?

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