News : Benton County Supervisors: Baffling Bids, Boards and Breaks

Present at this week's meeting were all of the Benton County Supervisors Rick Primmer, Tracy Seeman and Gary Bierschenk.

Baffling Bids

Bids were accepted for the sale of Sheriff vehicles. Jim Primmer made bids on all of the vehicles at "$100 above the highest bid not to exceed..." various amounts. As his bids were the only bids recieved, he purchased the following:

2009 Chevy Impala...not to exceed $1,200

2015 Chevy Impala...not to exceed $3,500

2016 Chevy Impala...not to exceed $4,000

2016 Chevy Impala...not to exceed $4,000

2016 Ford Explorer...not to exceed $1,500

2006 Ford F150..not to exceed $2,500

There was some discussion between Supervisors Seeman and Primmer if the bids were considered actual bids because no specific amount was bid. Primmer made the argument that the bids clarify that the bid should be "$100 above the highest bid...not to exceed." Primmer then said the total would be $16,700.

However, a copy of the ad shows that no minimum bid was given in the ad. It would appear that Jim Primmer either just bought six vehicles for $600,or because there was no high bid, there was no sale, or the "not to exceed" was interpreted as the bid thus the sale price. The supervisors voted to accept the bids as $16,700.

Board

The Benton County Supervisors made a motion to table the appointment of a new Board of Health due to the lawsuit filed against them. They will meet again to discuss the appointments following legal advice following the 1:00 p.m. meeting on November 28.

Breaks

Christmas time off for county employees was discussed. Christmas falls on a Monday this year. The county generally grants a half day on Christmas Eve if Christmas lands on a Saturday and time off if it's on Sunday.

If Christmas lands during the week, the county handbook says that it is at the Supervisor's discretion. The state is giving employees December 26th off. Gary Bierschenk and Tracy Seeman would like to give employees the 26th off in case they are traveling out of state allowing them time to get home following Christmas. Rick Primmer is leaning toward opening the county on the 26th. The decision was made to discuss it again at the December 5th meeting.