Meeting on Monday July 15, Minot City Council met in what would be a 5-hour long marathon of a meeting. We at The Dakotan chose to cover this more in depth, so here is the first of a series of articles on the evening leading up to the special session July 31, allowing the sitting Council Members to ask questions on the newly proposed budget.
At nearly every city council meeting, the members approve a series of items called Consent Items. These are items that need to be approved into the record, and typically consist of things like the prior meetings minutes, payrolls, and easily approved items. They are usually all passed on a single unanimous vote; occasionally, however, a council member can ask for an item to be pulled for further discussion. This leads to a new vote on the single item that has been discussed, and this would happen that Monday night. The Council would go on to approve 10 of the 11 following consent items, with item 6 being pulled for further discussion:
POLICE WELLNESS K9 PROGRAM
HANGAR S6 SOUTHSIDE FIRST ADDITION LOT 1
BETWEEN THE CITY OF MINOT AND SOURIS BASIN PLANNING
COUNCIL
The City of Minot had asked for bids from dealerships around the region to purchase 2 new 2-ton pickup trucks with dump beds, with a total of 2 businesses responding back. One being Westlies here in Minot, the other coming from Nelson Auto out of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, with the latter having the lower bid by a total of about $12,000. City Councilman Rob Fuller asked to pull this item for further discussion, citing the need to support local businesses he would say “In my mind, this isn't just about saving $12,000 on trucks, it’s about supporting our local economy. I believe it’s time we start reinvesting the money that is paid in by the people and businesses in our community back into our community. We’re fine with spending a million dollars on a land purchase, were fine spending a million dollars on consultants, but we hesitate when asked to spend $12,000 extra to support a local business. Would we really rather spend that money out of state?”
With discussion going around the horn, arguments would be made to follow policy which states to select the “lowest and best” bid available. Councilman Mark Jantzer would also mention his prior experience dealing with city bids as a business owner saying “... (We) always understood that, if we wanted to get the business, we needed to be able to provide the right product and we needed to be the low bid, because those organizations were making sure there was good stewardship of the organizations dollars as they were making those buying decisions.”
The Council would debate the item for about 20 minutes, bringing in staff to question the specifics of bids, and allowing every member on the Council to speak. Fuller and Councilman Scott Samuelson would continue to argue the need to weigh each item individually and give local business preference when able. The counter would be focused on the need to follow policy and take the low bid when available, acknowledged that local businesses should know the need to have the lowest bid, and finally Councilman Paul Pitner would debate the possibility that if we only take local bids outside sources could just stop sending bids “ The fear I have of going down that road of bypassing the lowest bid and going to a local vendor. Again, yes, they're within a handful of thousands of dollars, but at what point do we stop getting bids from other outside vendors? At what point do [they] say we’re not going to submit to Minot because they're just going to go with somebody local anyways?”
When brought to a vote by Mayor Tom Ross, the City Council would vote 5-2 in favor of purchasing the new trucks from Nelson Auto. Fuller and Samuelson both voted against.
See the evenings total agenda here: City Council Meeting • Agendas & Minutes • CivicClerk
Watch the livestream of the meeting here: Minot City Council 7/15/24 (youtube.com)
