Emotions ran high as the Town of Thorp board met in a special meeting on April 16 to decide on a construction contractor for the future town hall and shop scheduled to begin construction in May. At the start of the meeting, held before the regular annual meeting, Chairman Jerry Jacks read the requirements regarding the acceptance of bids stating that the board must choose the lowest bidder who in this case is James Hickman of Hickman Buildings.
Jacks said to Supervisor Bob Kodl, “Now Bob, I gotta ask you, if Jim doesn’t get the bid and he sues us, we have to get an attorney, you’re gonna go in front of the judge and I want to know what you are going to say to the judge.”
“I got a book this thick, Jerry,” Kodl replied.
Kodl asked Jacks, “What are you going to tell him? Is he (Hickman) competent to build this building?”
“Yes, he is,” Jacks stated emphatically.
Kodl questioned whether Hickman had shown them that he had built a building of this magnitude and added that the future town hall isn’t a pole shed.
“What are you going to tell the judge?” Jacks pressed.
“Whatever he asks me,” Kodl countered.
“Well, you got to have some evidence, Bob,” Jacks countered.
Kodl reminded Jacks that nothing was accomplished at the last meeting.
When Jacks questioned him, Louie Andruszkiewicz, former chairman, mentioned that at the previous meeting he questioned whether Hickman had built a commercial building from the ground up in all his years of carpentry.
“Would you take somebody who was building your house that never built a house before? Would you let him build your house that has never built a house before?”
He added that the township will be “dealing with the state,” for inspections.
Hickman answered, “There is nothing to hide. I’m here to build it legally.”
“I built so much stuff like this,” Hickman said and answered, “All over the place, Tomahawk,” when Andruszkiewicz questioned where.
Hickman described, “A bunch of commercial buildings. I’ve built a bunch of high-end homes. I’ve built three brand new houses start to finish, myself.”
Andruszkiewicz said they aren’t interested in residential homes because they are dealing with municipalities.
Hickman added he has worked with the Town of Roosevelt.
Kodl interjected to read the advertisement for bids that states, “The owner reserves the right to reject any and all bids.”
Jacks stated again that the board has to accept the lowest bid. Hickman Buildings submitted a bid of $538,000 for the project.
“There’s nothing to hide. I want to do the best job for the Town of Thorp,” Hickman stated. At the previous meeting, Henry Berry, engineer of Ratsch Engineering, stated that he checked Hickman’s references, and that Hickman met the requirements of the bid documents.
“I certainly agree with you that you probably would do the best job,” agreed Andruszkiewicz but reiterated that Hickman didn’t have the commercial experience that the other contractors had.
“How hard is it to pound a nail?” Jacks asked.
Andruszkiewicz answered him, “Now you’re wrong, because anybody can pound a nail, but can anybody go to work and follow the blueprint and follow the state codes and follow everything the state’s got to put in there?”
Hickman explained that he would be the general contractor and the subcontractors would do the work and be inspected.
Jacks quieted the meeting attendees to explain that he was originally leery of Hickman’s low bid, but he wasn’t concerned anymore after seeing a similar project at a similar price in Colby and that the building to be constructed isn’t “that complicated.” He added, “It’s not a skyscraper.”
Jacks then called on Supervisor Andy Slowiak for his opinion who answered, “I’m just not, for the people of this town, 100% sure this is the route we should go or not.”
Hickman asked Slowiak if his hesitation is due to Hickman’s qualifications or due to questioning whether the township needed to build a new building.
“I’m ready to vote, Andy,” Jacks stated and asked for a motion.
Kodl quickly said, “I’ll make a motion to reject all bids.”
Slowiak seconded the motion with Kodl and Slowiak voting in favor of it while Jacks opposed the motion.
“Motion carried, move on,” Kodl said. “We’ll see you at the judge and bring a reason too.”
As the evening continued and the annual town meeting was drawing to a close, Jacks announced to the board and meeting attendees that this would be his last meeting as chairman for the Town of Thorp. Jacks who held the position of chairman for one year commented that his decision to resign was due to the stress from the planning for the new construction project, the indecisiveness of the board, and a health scare a few months back.
“The final part was to take the bid of the lowest bidder and the other two were against it. They rejected all the bids and I’m not used to that.” He said that’s not the way he’s done business. “It’s just too hard on me, a simple thing like that to accept the lowest bid.”
He added that to him it was top priority to get it a new building and he doesn’t want any part of it anymore.
“I was just looking forward to getting that bid signed and the final thing so then I could move on with other projects and stuff,” he said, stating he intended to submit his official letter of resignation to the town clerk on Monday.
