Huntingburg Common Council meeting November 8
—The Huntingburg Common Council passed a resolution for a joint agreement with the City of Jasper and Dubois County for exploring the creation of Metro Fibernet tax increment financing district. Metro Fibernet would like to create a fiber to the residence or business network in Huntingburg and Jasper and rural areas in between. The goal is to create an allocation area for Metro Fibernet to pull from to assist in paying for the upgrades.
Jasper Redevelopment Commission will be the lead agency in creating the TIF distict that will consist of the fiber optic lines and equipment to run the system. Once the TIF district is established the company will begin engineering and studies to complete the project.
—The council passed a resolution establishing a Nondiscrimination Policy and Grievance Procedure under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They have to establish this to continue to be eligible for federal funding. An ADA compliance committee will be established to address grievances.
The city also contracted with Midwestern Engineers to conduct a study to determine what the city needs to accomplish by the end of the year to establish an ADA Transition Plan.
According to Public Safety Director Don Foerster the city is farther along in the process than many municipalities.
To fund the study the council approved advertising for $15,000 to be transferred from the riverboat fund. Midwest’s work is not to exceed $10,000; the additional $5000 will pay the city engineer for work he completes.
The balance in the city’s riverboat fund is about $250,000.
—The council introduced an ordinance to redistrict the four city voting precincts according to those set by the county. This is required to occur every ten years and is regulated by the census statistics. The ordinance will likely be approved at the Nov. 29 meeting.
—The council passed an ordinance amending ordinance No. 2011-21 establishing equipment rental and labor reimbursement rates. The rate is based on the estimated average of city labor rates plus benefits; the minimum charge is one hour of rental.
I was told that Perry Spencer Communications submitted a similar proposal before Metro Fibernet approached the cities and they were turned down. If this is true, why aren’t we pursuing the local company versus the one from up North? If economic development money is going to be used for this project it should stay local. The city and merchants are always pushing “local first” so if PSC did submit a proposal, why aren’t we putting “local first” when it comes to a high speed fiber network?
Answer: Maybe because the local proposal wasn’t the best and/or lowest. Or maybe because of the other entities involved and their progress on this endeavor, it was simpler and less costly for Huntingburg to join in – again, I don’t know. In reality, “if economic development money is going to be used for this project,” it should go to the lowest-cost venture. Yes, kudos to “the city and merchants…always pushing “local first” – but always within reason. Unfortunately it can’t always be “first.” This is just the beginning – I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for local business.
As mentioned, we don’t yet know all the facts (at least I don’t), plus there are variables involved. Some of these require local contractors to be involved even to the point of allowing selection over lower bidders, those that require selection of the lowest bidder regardless of locality, and those that don’t require this process at all because of the nature of the work and/or type of funding, and still others.
Typically a Request For Proposal (RFP) is submitted, bids are received, and after examination of all responsive RFPs the project is awarded to the lowest qualified bidder. Sometimes locals are not the most qualified or responsive. Obviously, we all agree and desire that local businesses be involved whenever possible, but it’s not always that simple.