Council approves multiple vendor contracts
Street sweeping services - $203,000; Two new vehicles for the Kawartha Lakes Fire Service - $1.52 million
At their last regular meeting, Kawartha Lakes councillors approved unanimously and without debate or questions eight different city contracts covering spending on items as diverse as emergency equipment, renovations to city owned buildings, road services and the creation of compost at various landfill sites.
Many of the contracts were approved for one year, with the possibility of four additional one-year contracts to follow, based on successful completion of the initial term and each subsequent renewal, annual budget approval, and an annual Consumer Price Index increase of not more than three percent and mutual agreement.
Road signs and hardware – $75,595
Stinson Equipment Limited, also known as Stinson Owl-Lite from Vaughan, Ontario, is the winning bidder.
“The city,” said junior buyer Kristy Wilson, “has a legislative obligation to maintain street signs that adhere to retro-reflective requirements as well as replace signs that become damaged throughout the year. This quotation provides regulatory, warning and temporary condition signs and hardware for this purpose.”
Road marking services – $149,740
Stoneline Ltd. from Whitby, Ontario is the winning bidder.
“The City of Kawartha Lakes Public Works Department utilizes this service,” said buyer Marielle van Engelen, “to ensure that the city’s roads have the required road markings installed in accordance with the Ontario Traffic Manual and the Highway Traffic Act. By providing a visual representation of the legally permissible action, these markings aid local traffic with parking, turning and stopping, for example.”
Street sweeping services – $203,000
Cardan Road Cleaners Inc. from Bowmanville, Ontario, is the winning bidder.
“Street cleaning services are an important factor in maintaining the city’s municipal roadways after winter operations,” van Engelen said. “Sweepers clean up left over debris such as sand and prevent salt from entering the storm (sewer) systems. Further, it aids in maintaining a clean road service for vehicular traffic.”
Chipping and grinding of leaf and yard waste at various landfills – $76,290.20
Summers Logging and Tree Service Ltd., also known as Killaloe Wood Products, from Killaloe, Ontario, is the winning bidder.
“Chipping and grinding is required to manage the large volume of leaf and yard waste that residents and businesses drop off at the city’s five landfill sites,” van Engelen said. “The city’s curbside leaf and yard collection program adds additional leaf and yard waste to the landfills. The chipping and grinding is necessary as it is the first step in reducing and consolidating the material into smaller and more manageable piles. After being ground and chipped, the yard and leaf waste is further processed into wood chips, where it is available for pick up at the landfill or utilized as an alternative daily cover or final topsoil at the landfills…diverting waste from the landfills… and extending the life of landfills.”
CPR assist devices – $214,783.14
Stryker Canada, from Waterdown, Ontario, is the winning bidder.
The acceptance of this quote “is presented as an irregular result” because an award of the contract to the lowest bid received “is considered not in the best interest of the city.”
Kawartha Lakes Paramedics Service (KLPS) currently has seventeen Lucas CPR machines previously bought from Stryker, and thirteen need to be replaced. KLPS wants to stay with the same Lucas device to save the cost of training on another unit.
“KLPS has had excellent results when using the Lucas CPR device,” said Stephen Lucas, deputy chief of KLPS Operations, “as it provides quality CPR that meets American Heart Association guidelines. It also relieves the paramedic of the strenuous musculoskeletal strain that prolonged CPR can have on an individual.”
For the sake of an additional $4,000, the Stryker bid was accepted by staff and council.
Demolition and reconstruction of Lindsay Memorial Park washroom – $611,999.98
Jeffrey G. Wallens Construction Limited, from Brighton, Ontario, is the winning bid.
“The Memorial Park washroom facility is beyond repair and required demolition and replacement,” said buyer Ashley Wykes. “As a result, Parks and Recreation included the new facility as well as replacement of the water and sewer pipes in the 2022 and 2023 capital budgets.”
Wykes said that the washroom constructed in 1970 has reached the end of its service life, and that staff have received a number of complaints about the dilapidated condition of the facility and accessibility concerns.
Renovations of the Janetville Community Centre – $294,800
Jeffrey G. Wallens Construction Limited, from Brighton, Ontario, is the winning bid.
“The Janetville Community Centre is a staple in Janetville and the surrounding community,” Wykes said. “The facility is open year-round, with several community and private events taking place throughout the year.”
Improvements approved by the city include removing and replacing siding, fascia, soffit and gutters, installing insulation and air barriers, new trim, site grading, kitchen renovations, removal and replacing of asphalt shingles, removal and replacing of the metal roof and installation of a new east and west entry door.
Two new vehicles for the Kawartha Lakes Fire Service – $1.52 million
Camions Carl Thibault Inc., of Pierreville, Quebec, is the winning bidder.
This contract will provide the Kawartha Lakes Fire Service with one new replacement pumper truck and one new replacement rescue tanker truck.
This expenditure, previously approved by council, is but one part of the multi-year procurement for supply and delivery of vehicles for the Kawartha Lakes Fire Service that began in 2020.
“An evaluation committee carefully evaluated and scored each proposal by consensus, based on the criteria described within the request for proposals,” van Egelen said. “Each proposal was rated on the response to technical specifications that meet the department’s requirements for a pumper and tanker trucks; company profile and experience; warranty and training details, value added features and pricing.”
Nothing like supporting local companies. Typical joke is what the city of kawartha lakes is.
Very disappointing to see all these contracts awarded to companies outside our City. Efforts should be made to support local industry whenever possible. Let’s try to keep taxpayer dollars spent locally.
Please read this article to understand why more local companies were not chosen:
https://lindsayadvocate.ca/buying-local-not-so-easy-for-city-thanks-to-provincial-rules-and-free-trade/
Almost 800K for each new firetruck ? How old are the current ones ? How often are they actually needed ? Can they be maintained and repaired ? The vast majority of calls fire ‘fighters’ respond to, have nothing to do with fires. Those trucks should last for decades –they’re hardly ever used.
What exactly do the workers, and staff, actually do at the City of Kawartha Lakes?. All the work that was formerly done by employees
in the former townships, is now contracted out.
I remember when the councillors of Verulum Township bought a truck. They searched for a good second hand vehicle, then examined it themselves. But they spent taxpayers money as if it really was their own – and they were a very careful group.
The City is a fiscal, administrative , and democratic disgrace. The councillors have the backbone of a wet noodle.
As the daughter of a firefighter who was on the job for over 35 years I can say that nobody wants our emergency equipment to be derelict or out dated because when it’s needed you only get once chance for the best result in an urgent response situation. One building or one life is too high a price to pay…there is no budget for that kind of loss.