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Controversy brews over bidding of major Spanish Springs construction project

Page Last Updated: Monday June 22, 2009 1:13pm PDT

The City of Sparks is in jeopardy of losing federal stimulus money for a 7.5 million dollar construction project.

The Laborers' Union Local 169 filed a lawsuit against the city, accusing the city's purchasing manager of unlawfully rejecting contractor bids for the project.

The project would replace and install new sewer piping along a section of Vista Boulevard in Spanish Springs.

Sparks attorney, Chet Adams says the city received ten contractor bids, but they couldn't award the bid to anyone because the information in the contract was inaccurate.

The union's business manager, Richard Daly, says that's not true. Daly says the city's purchasing manager pulled out after they found out the lowest bidder wasn't properly licensed. Daly says state law requires the city to go with the next lowest bidder, and he says that's why the city pulled the contract. Daly says the decision to reject any bid should have gone before the full city council.

"We offered to the City of Sparks to let go of the lawsuit if they put it on the Sparks City Council meeting for July 6, they declined. What they said is, ‘we don't want to set a precedent,' and for me, that means they don't want to set a precedent for following laws in the City of Sparks," Daly said.

Adams responded by saying, "We are confident that what we have done is totally legal. We are not going to be intimidated, strong-armed, into doing something the lawsuit requires us to do simply to get rid of the lawsuit. We fully intend to litigate this. Unfortunately, this lawsuit could destroy the project."

Click here to view Daly's request for documents from the city.

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