The Manlius town board last week selected Syracuse Haulers as its municipal trash hauler for 2015-16. The service bid that the board accepted, however, was not the lowest bid received by the town for the contract, although municipal procurement policy states that it must be.

Prior to publication, the Eagle Bulletin was seeking copies of town and state procurement codes to determine the extent of the law and what exceptions may be allowed, although neither law could be found online. The Eagle Bulletin also was unable to speak with the Manlius town attorney before press time.

The board has been working on selecting its 2015 municipal trash and brush haulers for months. It ran into a snag in September, when it voted to eliminate the opportunity for residents to opt out of trash and brush pickup in the two town trash and brush districts as a way to save the town money. By October, the board had received so much resident opposition to the change that the opt-out option was restored.

The town had already posted a notice for trash and brush haulers to submit bids to receive the municipal contract, however, and, once the policy was changed, all bids received had to be rejected and the process started over.

At its Nov. 5 meeting, the board heard the results of the trash and brush municipal contract bid opening. The lowest bidder for trash pickup was Feher Rubbish at $166.50 per household, and the low bidder for brush pickup was Last Chance Recycling at $22.82 per household.

The board did not vote to approve any bidders for the contract. Town Attorney Donald J. Martin said the town did not have all the necessary bonding and insurance information of the bidders so the board needed to hold off on its vote. The vote to approve the town trash and brush hauler was scheduled to be taken at the board’s Nov. 19 regular meeting.

At that meeting, Councilor Nick Marzola presented the bids for brush and trash collection, as declared at the Nov. 5 meeting. The board unanimously approved a contract with Last Chance Recycling for brush pick-up at a rate of $22.88 per unit, and with Syracuse Haulers for trash pick-up at a rate of $166.90 per unit.

The board’s selection of Syracuse Haulers was made even though the company’s bid was second-lowest compared to Feher Rubbish at a rate of $166.50 per unit — a difference of 40 cents per unit, or about $2,400 for the year.

Under current procurement policies, the town board is supposed to select the “lowest responsible bidder” for a municipal contract, a requirement that can sometimes actually cost the town extra depending on various circumstances, Town Attorney Steve Primo has explained to the board at previous meetings. Last week, the town board approved a new local law to change its procurement policy to allow it to select the bid determined to be the “best value” for the town — called the “best value added” policy — but that new law does not apply to the trash bidding because it was adopted after the trash bidding process had begun, according to both the town attorney and the town supervisor.

“You’re right, the best value does not apply to this. [But] we felt we would award this to the bidder with the proposal that was most advantageous to the town,” said Town Supervisor Ed Theobald. “It’s a legislative decision; we do have that right,” he added, although he also conceded that the town’s applicable procurement policy requires the board to choose the lowest bid and does not allow for best value. “It’s a law, and it is on the books,” he agreed.

Marzola said during the meeting that even though municipalities must take the lowest offer during a bid process, the board’s decision to select Syracuse Haulers over Feher Rubbish was to be cost-effective. To change service from Syracuse Haulers, Marzola said it would cost about $2,500 more than the annual rate for Feher Rubbish, so the town is able to approve a bid for the Syracuse Haulers although they did not have the lowest bid.

Marzola said he consulted with town attorney Steven Primo to reach this decision.

The trash bid was approved on a vote of 4-1, with Councilor Jason Cassalia voting no. Councilors John Leoffler and Vince Giordano were absent.

After the meeting, Cassalia said he voted against the bid award because “with all data I had and my knowledge of the entire process, which is that you must take the lowest responsible bidder, I did not feel that we had the data to support selecting anyone except the lowest bidder. I didn’t see that lowest bidder was not responsible.”

Theobald said that Leoffler and Giordano emailed him after the meeting and stated that they agreed with the board’s decision to select Syracuse Haulers for the trash contract.

Theobald said that because the board did not select Feher Rubbish, even though it was the lowest bidder, the company has five days from the meeting to challenge the board’s decision.

“If they want to challenge it, they have every right to, and we will certainly sit down and listen to them,” Theobald said.

Also at the meeting, the board voted unanimously to change its procurement policy to utilize the “best value added” standard, which allows governments the ability to purchase products and services that may not be the lowest in initial price, but due to factors such as product life or quality, may provide a cheaper long-term solution.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Eagle Bulletin. Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin.