County Manager Clinton Lester presented a report to the county commission at last week’s meeting in response to a February complaint by Ray Dollar of Kimball Ford.
Dollar had appeared before the board questioning out-of-county car purchases. He alleged that Kimball Ford nor another local company had been allowed to bid on car purchases in recent years.
At the commissioner meeting on March 12, Lester tried to set the record straight.
According to board minutes:
Lester told commissioners that since 1996, Kimball had been given a chance to bid on county vehicles. Lester reviewed documentation to back his claim.
He said in 1996, bids were sent out to all local dealers as well as non-local dealers. Kimball, however, was not the low bidder. Forsyth of Rockmart was.
In 1997, Kimball submitted a low bid, but due to a disagreement with the police chief, the business withdrew its bid and cars were rebid. The only bid received came from Classic South.
A year later, Kimball was the low bidder on cars for the Sheriff’s Department. A bid was also received from Bobby Jones Ford— a dealership in Augusta that Dollar had questioned as being too far for the county to bid with.
In 1999, Kimball was allowed to bid on a replacement vehicle for the Sheriff’s Department. Kimball’s bid was second to Bobby Jones. Forsyth was also high.
That same year, bids were sent out for additional vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office. This time, Forsyth was the low bidder and Kimball was high.
In 2000, Kimball submitted bids for cars on two separate occasions and each time its bids were higher than others submitted. Magnum Ford in Marietta was approved for one purchase and Hardy Ford of Dallas the other.
Most recently, bids were sent out in 2001. Of three bidders, Kimball had the highest bid. The county decided to reject all the bids and rebid in the summer. Bobby Jones was the low bidder.
In every case, Lester stated that the county had always gone with the low bid. He said bids were reviewed by the Bid Committee and approved by the full board, because the purchases were funded with Special Local Option Sales Tax.
In February, Dollar said he had noticed that a new Polk County patrol car on Kimball’s lot to be tuned up had an Augusta dealership tag.
He asked why the county was traveling so far to purchase cars, when his dealership or the Rockmart Ford dealership was neither offered a chance to bid.
Dollar added that he knew of 10 cars recently purchased from Augusta and the county paid $11,000 more per car, when he believed the low bidder was a Dallas dealership.
When Dollar asked who authorized the purchase, he was told bids were approved through the county bid committee.
Dollar assured the board that his company could order anything on a state contract and just asked for an explanation of the recent purchases and lack of notification to his dealership.
He said the Augusta dealership did not spend any money in Polk, adding he felt businesses in the county should be able to bid and get the same treatment.
In other actions, the commission unanimously approved the purchasing of a van for the Boys and Girls Club of Polk County.
The low bid was from Forsyth Ford at $21,892.85.
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