SUN EDITORIAL:

A Clark County fumble

Commission majority made poor decision regarding manhole inspections

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

A majority of the Clark County Commission did something last week that defied logic.

The issue at hand was the planned inspection of Clark County Water Reclamation District manholes. The county solicited bids from outside contractors and a qualified low bidder emerged.

One would have reasonably expected the commission to approve the low bid.

But as reported Thursday by Joe Schoenmann in the Las Vegas Sun, the commission majority instead voted to allow the county to do those inspections in-house even though the low bidder could do the work at a lower cost. What is the sense in that?

The contractor, Hoffman Southwest Corp., came in with an offer of $216 per manhole for 1,827 manholes. That beat the county’s in-house cost by $22 per manhole for a total potential savings of at least $40,194 for the valley’s water customers.

With the recession having forced county agencies to reduce services, the commission’s decision to pass up an opportunity to save money was fiscally irresponsible.

Equally outrageous was the admission by district General Manager Richard Mendes that he intended to contract for the inspections only if the bids were significantly below the county’s own costs. As Schoenmann reported, Mendes said he sought the bids to establish a baseline cost.

That is inexcusable because businesses have to spend time and money to prepare and submit bids for government work. Bids should not be solicited unless the county intends to contract the work.

The manhole inspections should have been done in-house only if all the bids were unacceptable, or if it would have been impractical to solicit additional bids.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who cast the lone vote against doing the work in-house, was right to call the way the county handled this matter “ridiculous.” The valley’s water customers, many of whom are fighting for their economic survival during these trying times, likewise have every reason to view the county’s manhole decision as folly.

Discussion: 14 comments so far…

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By Future

Oct. 25, 2009

3:29 a.m.

Suggest removal

So the goal is to promote Rory Reid to Govenor to get him off the Commission
By Stratos

Oct. 25, 2009

5:44 a.m.

Suggest removal

Since when has the county ever really worried about saving money? Do any of them know how much these sanitation workers make? Local government workers make nearly $10,000 more than those elsewhere in the country.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may...
By wwunlv

Oct. 25, 2009

8:14 a.m.

Suggest removal

Great Editorial!

This decision does defy logic. It is unfair to put a project out to bid, when you have no intention of awarding the bid. The private sector companies have better things to do than waste their times with bids that won't be considered.

It is more than a fumble by the county commission. Why is Mr. Sisolak the only one to see the folly in this decision. Where is Rory Reid? What about Brager? Oh, I forgot, they are up for re-election and don't want to rock the boat with the employees union. Good for Sisolak, he put doing the right thing for the taxpayers at the top of his list. Come on guys, this shouldn't have been a tough call, this one was easy, YOU BLEW IT.
By neiman1

Oct. 25, 2009

8:26 a.m.

Suggest removal

The public employee unions own the Commission and they said NO outside contractors. Nice to see such public exposure of what really runs the county
By mgkrebsii

Oct. 25, 2009

11:42 a.m.

Suggest removal

Pay staff to sit on their hands while a contractor performs work staff can be doing? Money is going to BOTH. So, where's the savings?!

Savings only accrues in such a situation when staff is terminated.

If anything this shows that staff are over paid and something needs to be done about it. Like when thousands apply for a fireman's job should serve to prove the job pays more than the market will bear.
By StanG

Oct. 25, 2009

12:39 p.m.

Suggest removal

I hate to disagree, but the Commission made the right decision. Most of the cost of inspection is labor. The county is already paying those costs. To ascribe that cost to a specific in-house project is merely bookkeeping. Outsourcing will require an ADDITIONAL expenditure, in this case, of $394,632.
Of course, it's difficult to understand how it would cost over $200 to inspect a manhole cover. Bet I can put together a team of students from UNLV to do it for 50 bucks each (plus $25 for me, which gives me $45,675 for my trouble).
By mred

Oct. 25, 2009

1:08 p.m.

Suggest removal

half of the small manholes, boyholes? have been stolen.
By wwunlv

Oct. 25, 2009

3:35 p.m.

Suggest removal

"StanG" you got this one wrong. The county already said they were going to have to purchase all the equipment to do the job, including trucks and cameras. Mendes(head of Sanitation) said he would promote two people from within and then hire two people to take the place of the ones who were promoted. So, there is obviously no savings, just more expenses for the county. Sometimes it is clear that you save money to outsource and this is definitely one of those times.
By its2hot

Oct. 25, 2009

5:22 p.m.

Suggest removal

These buffoons are the dumbest and we're still only #2.

Yes they have to purchase equipment and maintain the equipment. They have to train the personal; they have to purchase the PPG's and learn to use the PPG's.

This doesn't top the dumbest moves they've done but it does rank right up there with best of them. I for one see what we're broke in the county under these dummies, they've awarded projects to bidders for personal reasons, they've paid out hundreds of millions to settle lawsuits that never should've been paid in the first place when FAA clearly has case law supporting not paying.

When this is all said and done we the taxpayer will spend a few hundred thousand more that is otherwise avoidable. The sad part is that they will cover this up and hide the costs somewhere else and lie to us. Rory Reid and clan you are all a bunch of liars and worthless politicians. You should be ashamed yourselves but your arrogance and greed precludes you from feeling such.
By castle

Oct. 25, 2009

5:47 p.m.

Suggest removal

Turn over all county and city functions to private companies including the function of taking bids, enforcement, and legal. Allow private companies to set local and county tax rates also. Wait one or two years and then compare the comments on these boards from now to what they are then.
By StanG

Oct. 25, 2009

6:37 p.m.

Suggest removal

wwunlv: Looks like I'll still come out ahead with my cadre of college students. I'll hire ones with cars or vans and the others with skateboards will ride with them. Every single student already has a digital camera for use on Youtube and Facebook.
What other equipment would we need? Crowbars? OK, I'll raise my bid 5 bucks a manhole. Should buy lots of crowbars.
By chriscross

Oct. 25, 2009

6:41 p.m.

Suggest removal

I'm getting worried about Reid? Cmon Dude...DO WHAT US REPUBLICANS WOULD DO...and...WE WILL VOTE FOR YOU! Yippee.
Let's strip Wayne Newton of "Mr. Vegas" and give it to Sisolak. Commissioner Sisolak, if you're reading this: YOU ARE MR VEGAS!!!!
By destruct_mutt

Oct. 25, 2009

10:06 p.m.

Suggest removal

Those who can, do. Those who can't , teach.

Interesting solution from someone whoe receives a State paycheck.

Next will be a proposal to use prisoners from the county lock up to do the work.

Then to get a job, all you need to do is get in the system :)