The city took a look at a pair of tenders during its latest meeting, making decisions on how the city will be executing some of their essential services.
The first of the items on their agenda concerned crushed reclaimed asphalt, which had a number of options.
Mayor Anthony Sernick detailed their tender, which included Turnbull Excavating for $96,658.80, Chamney Crushing for $160,395.89, and Genco Asphalt for $385,197.31.
Roads and Drainage Manager Hailey DeConick recommended that the city accept the tender from Turnbull Excavating.
In voting on the tender, Councilor Tom Mauss brought up the question of why tenders tend to have such wide values for what seems to be similar jobs.
Councillor Shelly Veroba chimed in, giving some insight into the tender process.
"Even though these tenders are different, every single one of them had to go through Haley (Deconick) and the team, and basically they know that everything can be covered. So sometimes we get a lower tender, but they can't actually do the job that was specified in the tender."
Veroba says in that case the department in charge of the tender would then not recommend it for the city, and potentially disqualify it.
Councillor Brian Johnson put forward the question of why some prices tend to be higher, and if they were able to talk to the companies afterwards.
That was taken up by City Manager Jeff Ward, who explained their process and the possible reasons behind higher bids.
"We expect the contractors to provide what's based out of the tender. We usually do not follow up with them afterwards in any case, there are a lot of reasons, they may be so busy that they just run the high price. Other people may be very hungry for it, so we generally don't unless they request afterwards for a debrief on the tender. But they're all provided the same item to bid on, and we usually just present the prices that are submitted."
The council then proceeded to go through a motion to accept the Turnbull Excavating Tender.
A bit later into the meeting, they held a public tender for water treatment chemicals used by the city.
The tenders were broken up by chemicals into the following categories:
Aluminum Sulphate -
Water Treatment Plant Border Chemical Company Ltd. $ 104,370.00 ($497.00/tonne)
Chemtrade West Ltd $ 122,007.90 ($580.99/tonne)
Liquid Chlorine –
Water Treatment Plant ClearTech Inc. $ 44,189.04 ($2.32/Kg)
Brenntag Canada Inc. $ 66,488.70 ($3.49/Kg)
KMnO4 –
Water Treatment Plant ClearTech Inc.-Free Flowing $ 15,592.50 ($5.94/Kg)
Brenntag- Free Flowing $ 18,165.00 ($6.92/Kg)
Univar- Not Valid $ 21,787.50 ($8.30/Kg)
Ammonium Sulphate –
Water Treatment Plant ClearTech Inc. $ 20,685.00 ($3.94/Kg)
Klearwater $ 18,270.00 ($3.48/Kg)
Brenntag $ 20,737.50 ($3.95/Kg)
Hydrofluosillic Acid HFS (Fluoride)
ClearTech Inc.- 25% $ 17,598.67 ($2.37/Kg)
Brenntag Canada Inc.- 25% $ 19,504.80 ($2.58/Kg)
Klearwater- 47% $ 15,996.96 ($3.68/Kg)
Univar – Not Valid $ 21,319.20 (2.82/Kg)
The city proceeded with the following bids which were recommended by Matthew Angell, Water and Wastewater Services Manager.
- Aluminum Sulphate tender be awarded to Border Chemical as per their tendered price of $104,370.00 shipping included. A 2.7% decrease in pricing from 2024.
- Chlorine for the Water Treatment Plant tender be awarded to Clear Tech as per their tendered price of $44,189.04 shipping included. A 0.8% decrease in pricing from 2024.
- KMnO4 for the Water Treatment Plant tender be awarded to ClearTech Inc. as per their tendered price of $15,592.50 shipping included. A 12.5% decrease in pricing from 2024.
- Ammonium Sulfate for the Water Treatment Plant tender be awarded to Klearwater as per their tendered price of $18,270.00 shipping included. A 3.3% decrease in pricing from 2024.
- HSF Acid (Fluoride) tender be awarded to Klearwater as per their tendered price of $15,996.96 shipping included. A 5.8% increase in pricing from 2024.