It’s no secret the Durango City Council and the La Plata County commissioners are not very business-friendly, especially when it comes to the construction trades. It’s time that council members, commissioners and representatives of the building trades sit down and hammer out an agreement that gives local firms an advantage when bidding on city and county projects.
Taking the lowest bid from a firm in Salt Lake City for a government project does nothing for our local economy or employment situation. We do not need tax dollars leaving the area because a contractor from Colorado Springs bid a job under his cost and was hopeful he could make up the difference in up charges and change orders.
Currently, the city has a 2 percent local preference that amounts to $10,000 on a half a million dollar job. This is something that can happen instantly, and there’s no need to have consultants study the issue for a year for a six-figure fee. Let the local construction trades organization work with the council and commissioners to define exactly what a local contractor is and come up with some preference numbers. It’s about time our elected officials do something positive to maintain a viable construction industry in La Plata County instead of passing meaningless resolutions that are politically motivated.
Dennis Pierce, Durango
