By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Acting on a suggestion by their chairman, Levy County Commissioners instructed administrative staff Tuesday to look for alternative ways of advertising for bids other than just electronically.

            The board has been criticized for its use of DemandStar, an online bidding system that for some reason appears to attract bids mainly from contractors outside of Levy County rather than those based locally.

            Commission Chairman Matt Brooks said the board’s approval of a contractor from Palmetto, Fla. at Tuesday’s board meeting to replace four air conditioning units at the auditorium of the Levy County Government Complex is an example of what concerns him. He wondered how long it would take for Cortez Heat and Air Conditioning to repair the units when they break down.

            “If Cortez says nope, we’ll get it to you in two hours, so be it, but I still think it behooves us to check into it because the questions are being asked of me and I also have some reservations with some companies coming from a great distance,” Brooks said.

            Brooks received board consensus to direct staff to look at specific alternatives to DemandStar. He didn’t make any suggestions for methods that could be used. He left that to staff.

            Cortez Heat and Air Conditioning appears to be a large company with offices in Palmetto, Bradenton, Jacksonville, and Gainesville. Sunbiz, the state’s directory to private corporations, lists Cortex Heating and Air as inactive. However, it is an active corporation.

            The three companies that submitted bids for the auditorium air conditioning units were Air Mechanical & Service Corp. of Tampa with a bid of $91,085, Johnson Controls of Gainesville, Fl with a bid of $53,317, and Cortez Heating and Air LLC of Palmetto, Fla., with a bid of $37,687.

            None of the bidders are located in Levy County, which was the point Brooks was making.

            Karlton’s Heating and Air, Inc. of Williston provided a statement of non-submittal, saying the specifications were unclear, a common complaint of local contractors when dealing with Levy County government bids on DemandStar.

            Local contractors say the county often isn’t careful about the way it prepares bid specifications for use on DemandStar, sometimes using county employees that don’t have extensive experience in air conditioning, roofing, or other project areas to write the online bid specs.

            Brooks said some of the toughest areas to attract bids from local contractors are the in the trades, including roofing and air conditioning, and he wants to look at different ways to address the issue.

            “I don’t want to violate any sort of regulations or mandates for funding or anything like that,” Brooks said. “It still continues to be my concern that some of the fixes that we are executing currently…the timeliness of service continues to be a concern for me.”

            County Coordinator Wilbur Dean indicated he would begin looking at different alternatives for attracting bids from contractors.

            County staff often becomes defensive when their work is questioned. Their attitude changes when the county commission gives them a direct order like the one issued for looking at alternatives to DemandStar.

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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting August 22, 2023; Posted August 22, 2023