Chris Lowrey
QUYON Dec. 6 , 2017
Only two companies have placed bids on the upcoming year’s snowplowing contract for Quyon sector in the Municipality of Pontiac.
Those two bids came in at $388,040 and $275,940 – up from $99,000 last year.
According to Municipality of Pontiac Director of Communications Dominic Labrie, the sharp increase in price is related to fines handed out to the companies who carried out snowplowing for the municipality last year.
In response to what the municipality deemed sub-par service, $12,000 worth of fines were handed out to five companies responsible for plowing – with more than half going to one company in particular.
“We received a lot of complaints and that’s why we were trying to enforce the contract,” Labrie said.
This was the second tender that the municipality has sent out for snowplowing services. The two bids were submitted by Raymond Bélisle ($388,040) and Jonathan Dorion ($275,940).
Labrie said that if the municipality accepted the bids as they stand, it would mean a three per cent increase in resident’s tax bills.
The municipal council will send the contract to tender one more time, and if the bids are still too high, the plan is for snowplowing to be done in-house by public works employees.
In the meantime, the municipality has been forced to rent a truck to carry out snowplowing duties.
The Dec. 1 snowfall gave the municipality its first test with in-house snow removal and Labrie said the municipality was satisfied with the job.
“We were out in the field on Friday and everything was fine,” he said.
Labrie said that the costs associated with the in-house snow removal won’t be known until the end of the season, but expects it to come in around the $100,000 mark – similar to last year.
Certain stretches of roadways need different levels of care. For instance, main thoroughfares and roads with curves need more attention than straightaways in residential areas.
Labrie understands the precarious nature of bidding on snow removal contracts since the amount of work depends on something that is notoriously unpredictable – Canadian weather patterns.
As such, it’s expected that companies will try and leave room for profits, but Labrie said the sudden increase of three or four times the previous year’s contract is too much.
“We feel that three times [the cost] is too much for the ratepayers,” Labrie said. “Three per cent of the tax bill for one contractor, that’s crazy.”
Neither of the contractors who placed bids were able to respond by press time.
