By Mark Squibb
Bay Bulls council last week voted to extend the Town’s current snow clearing contract with O’Brien’s Trucking at the previously agreed upon hourly rate.
Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien, however, was not in favour of the move.
“It seems like there’s a limited number of bidders,” said O’Brien. “I just think we probably need to market our contracts a little further maybe. Some of these rates are increasing every, but again, there’s always the opportunity to keep it competitive.”
When put to a vote, both councillors Ethan Williams and Corey Ronayne voted in favour of extending the contract for another year, while O’Brien voted against it. With Mayor Keith O’Driscoll and councillor Jason Sullivan both absent from the meeting, the motion was approved.
Council awarded the initial contract to O’Briens at cost of $281,725, plus HST. That cost was based on the average amount of snow clearing needed over the last couple of years.
In 2023 council opted to award the snow clearing contract to Southeast Construction in a lump sum of $329,900 plus HST rather than pay an hourly rate. Council decided to go back to the hourly rate model citing the high costs of the lump sum contract.
