City Council Approves $300,229.20 For Additional Tunnel Lighting Components

Brockville – At this past Tuesday’s council meeting city councillors approved the purchase of additional tunnel lighting components for $300,229.20 in a 5-3 vote.

During the discussion on the motion, Councilor Severson put a deferral motion on the floor for two weeks for more information to be provided by staff. That motion was tied at 4-4 which is considered defeated.

The main motion for the funding was approved with a 5-3 vote with councillors Kalivas, Earl and Severson voting against the motion.

Council had approved a 2024 capital budget of $120,000 to replace failed lighting system equipment components in the Brockville Railway Tunnel. This was based on a report by an electrical contractor at the end of the 2023 tourism season.

In March of this year, initial startup maintenance of the tunnel lighting system staff and the electrical contractor identified a significantly higher number of additional lighting fixtures and lighting enablers that had either failed or are failing, also needing replacement.

Lighting enablers are the electronic components that give the light show a synchronized motion. Without them the lights are static.

The city’s Director of Operations Phil Wood said that the issue with the lights and the enablers was due to corrosion due to the moisture and minerals in the water.

Tuesday’s motion also directs staff to bring reports to the general committee detailing remedial, short turn-around solutions to improve the longevity problems of lighting system equipment and further comprehensive long-term solutions intended to resolve chronic lighting system problems.

Mayor Matt Wren posted on his Facebook page on Thursday saying the following:

“Recently the City of Brockville awarded a tender for electrical components and related work within the Brockville Railway Tunnel. I’m aware of some questions that have been raised in the community in recent days about our tendering process.

The City conducts all procurement under the terms of the City of Brockville Procurement Policy (POL.F.20.139) and in full compliance with all federal and provincial regulations, such as the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). The City issues and awards tenders regularly, collectively valued in the tens of millions of dollars each year. It’s regular everyday work for the City’s staff. It is a public and fully transparent process. Tenders are awarded to the lowest bid, or by a defined scoring method, from qualified bids received.

In the case of this particular tender, the tender documents indicated that the work would be awarded to the contractor with the lowest overall cost for the work. There was a small margin between the winning bidder and the next lowest bidder. City staff recalled to me past situations where a bid was won by as little as ten dollars. The lowest bid is the lowest bid.

Once a tender is awarded, the City is within its right to increase quantities utilizing the pricing model of the successful bid. The ability to do this is set out in the City’s Budgetary Control Policy (POL.F.20.181) – Section 4.c. Council has the sole authority to amend a project scope, and under the CFTA the results of a tender are valid for 72 days. For expediency purposes, Council chose to exercise its authority to order more lights and enablers to get the light system fully functional as quickly as possible.

It is a part of the process that there are successful bidders and unsuccessful bidders. Each bidder can request a debriefing on their bid submission. Unsuccessful suppliers have 60 calendar days following the date of the contract award notification to request a debriefing. There is also an avenue of appeal should an unsuccessful bidder wish to pursue it.

I wish to assure our community that all City policies have been followed in this, as in all circumstances of handling public tenders.”