Published: February 02, 2009 11:56 pm      

County withholds invoice payment

Question over bid process delays contractor’s check

An unpaid bill from a road contractor prompted an exchange of words Monday between Navarro County’s assistant auditor and the county judge.

At issue is a $174,000 invoice for road work done on SWCR 0050 near Angus by local contractor H.A. Pair — work that has been completed and approved for payment by the state and a railroad company, according to H.M. Davenport Jr., county judge. The work was a joint project with TxDOT and the Union Pacific Railroad, Davenport said.

Tim Easley, assistant county auditor, said he had not approved the bill for payment, but declined to elaborate in an interview with the Daily Sun.

Monday’s exchange between Davenport and Easley occurred during discussion of an agenda item for the Monday meeting of the commissioners court — “Consideration of authorizing the Auditor to pay outstanding bills.”

As commissioners began to vote on the agenda item, Easley asked what outstanding bills the court was referring to.

“There aren’t any,” Easley said, other than regular utility bills, which don’t require special approval of the commissioners court.

“I know you’ve got an invoice from district court,” replied Davenport, referring to the contractor’s bill. Easley said he did not have the invoice.

“I’ve got to have it before I can approve it,” Easley said, adding he had not received anything from District Judge James Lagomarsino on the invoice. Lagomarsino, as district judge, has direct authority over the auditor’s office.

At its Jan. 26 meeting, commissioners approved a budget amendment to accept money from the state for payment of the project. The work, first discussed by commissioners in 2005, was finally completed in late 2008.

“There was some disagreement on whether we could authorize the payment,” Davenport said following Monday’s meeting. “There are some legal issues here that (Easley) seems to think we need to address. They are currently being addressed.”

The legal issue involved has to do with whether or not competitive bidding as specified by government code was required for that particular project, Davenport said. Most government projects over $25,000 require a competitive bidding process, Easley said.

However, former County Commissioner William Baldwin told the Daily Sun Monday he was approached by Union Pacific, and not the state, about getting bids for the work.

“The railroad and the state built that road,” Baldwin explained.

“The railroad called me and wanted me to get them two courtesy bids ... I did that and faxed it to them,” Baldwin said.

“The county didn’t go out for bids on it because the county didn’t do it.”

Baldwin said the two bids were from Pair, who was awarded the contract, and Watkins Development. Pair’s bid was the lower of the two that he sent to railroad officials, he said. Baldwin said that the state then asked Pair to widen a portion of the roadway and put lime on the road base, dealing directly with Pair on the additional work.

Easley explained that he was simply following the law regarding the contractor’s invoice, and deferred any further comment on why the invoice had not yet been paid to Davenport and Lagomarsino.

Lagomarsino was ill Monday and not available for comment.

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Bob Belcher may be reached via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com