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Parts of the Las Vegas Beltway fall short of freeway standards. The County Commission voted 5-2 on July 21 to award the upgrade project to Las Vegas Paving, whose bid is $4.6 million more expensive than competitor Fisher Sand and Gravel.
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 | 2:45 p.m.
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A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order today against the county and its contractor for the northern 215 Beltway paving project.
Although attorneys for Las Vegas Paving said the contract for the project has been signed, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones ordered that no money exchange hands and said no construction can begin for at least two weeks.
Jones set an evidentiary hearing for Aug. 24, at which time he could issue an injunction, which would again delay construction of converting the existing roadway into a four-lane highway from Tenaya Way to Decatur Boulevard.
County commissioners twice awarded the $116.8 million contract to Las Vegas Paving over the recommendations of county staff and legal counsel. Fisher Sand and Gravel requested the restraining order and claims the commission abused its discretion in awarding the contract to Las Vegas Paving.
Fisher's bid on the project was $4.6 million less than Las Vegas Paving, but commissioners said Fisher was "non-responsible" because three of its former officers were convicted of tax fraud and the company faces allegations of wrongdoing in other states.
Stanley Parry, Fisher's attorney, claims commissioners violated his client's 14th Amendment right to due process by showing "favoritism" to Las Vegas Paving and by not giving Fisher's president time to prepare for the allegations raised during the commission meeting on July 21.
Parry also alleges that commissioners bowed to union pressure because Fisher is a non-union contractor, and Las Vegas Paving uses union workers. Attorney Tom Dillard, who represents the county, said state law allows the commission the discretion to reject lowest bids when it finds the bidder non-responsible. Fisher's President, Tommy Fisher, also acknowledged most of the allegations and was given the opportunity to respond, Dillard said.
Las Vegas Paving's attorney, Wade Gochnour, argued that Fisher never had rights it could lose because the county never awarded the contract to that company.
It about the Union payback and they got caught.
Nice ruling by the judge. It's not like we have an extra $4.6 million lying around to pay a contractor for the same work.
Oh yeah, 'cuz it's so much better to keep delaying this project because a company with a questionable reputation doesn't like that the Commission chose a more responsible company to do the job?
None of the Fisher people seem willing to share with you that the cause for this problem is they didn't complete their bid package in accordance with the specs. Had they done that we would not have the issue today.
A second thought-- Does the County have a responsibility to contract with companies that have high standards of conduct, or does it make any diffference. If it doesn't, let's do away with any qualification requirements and give the bid to the lowest bidder. Fisher people wondered whether LVP was looked at the same way they were. Is it possible that none of LVP's officers are in prison. Is it possible that they don't have volumes of clean air violations? Is it possible there is no news footage of LVP's hot plant sending black smoke into the air. I'm just wondering if these things are possible.
Take the 4.6 million in savings and spend it on fixing state highway 160.
By Furture Can you read? Fisher and his people are not credible. Fisher himself so much as admitted to the allegations against him,his employees and ultimately his company.
Thanks to county commissioners who have done their due diligence by not awarding this contract to Fishers comany the tax payers will not have to pay more money to bailout Fisher and his incompetent company ,thus saving the taxpayers additional monies.
In the end Fisher will be the one who got caught and baseless arguments like your's will be proven to not have any merit other than some self serving,ignorant agenda with no regard for the truth.
Comment from NDOT web page for Carson City/Reno Connector. "After an extensive contractor outreach program designed and initiated to identify a qualified contractor to complete the project, NDOT awarded construction of Contract 3292 to Fisher Sand & Gravel in November 2006."
The NDOT project is MUCH larger than this one. Sounds different than what our county commissioners found for this much smaller project. Makes you wonder about the union influence...
The unions killed the american work force years ago!They raise the attitude of some people that there above most.I hope any proof that the commision was paid off by ??? comes out!
"County commissioners twice awarded the ... contract to Las Vegas Paving over the recommendations of county staff and legal counsel."
The low bidder is usually awarded the contract if paid staff finds no disqualifiers. It's very fishy when elected officials overrule legal counsel. Elected officials are not above the law, although many act like they are.
@ tanman - read the archives in this paper - the tax problems happened in 2007, after the NDOT award.
Seriouly, doesnt it make you wonder why Las Vegas Paving is the only Company to be awarded the major jobs in Clark County? The current I-15 project that they have was a design build, and they were not even close to lowest bidder, but everyone thought that closing a major exit was the best way to progress with this project, And you see how much tax payers dollars went into fighting that, really smart idea. Or was it that they didnt care how LVP did the project as long as they won! As for the clean act issue, thats like comparing Laughlin to Las Vegas, ya they have the same stuff, but Fisher Industries is way bigger and better than Las Vegas Paving. And yes Fisher did have some legal promblems, but research and you will find that the problems are gone, and the company is stable. The Union has had its day.... its breaking this country with its high cost... There is nothing the Union can do for its employees that the US Labor Department can't. Oh and FYI this is a Davis Bacon Project... Research on how much people get as a hourly rate.... If not equal to Union rates than more!