McComb selectmen and their financial adviser could have saved some money Tuesday, or might have risked having to spend more money.
They stuck with their one legal bid on issuing $3.2 million in bonds to pave city streets, from Trustmark Bank, but missed out on lower bids from two other capital companies.
The financial adviser, Larry Day of Daylight Capital Advisors in Ridgeland, said the other two bidders, Crews and Associates of Little Rock, Ark., and Duncan-Williams Inc. of Memphis, Tenn. — both with offices in Jackson — had emailed their bids to him on Tuesday, both within two hours of the 4 p.m. deadline.
However, while Day printed off the bid information to bring with him to McComb in time for the 5:30 p.m. meeting, he did not forward the bids to Emma Wheeler in the finance office at city hall.
That invalidated the bids, because the city did not receive the bids in time. The bid specifications gave city hall as the proper venue for receipt of bids, whether they were submitted in person, by mail or electronically, Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said.
Day said he didn’t realize that failing to forward the bids to the city would disqualify them.
“You can rebid, or you can accept the bid from Trustmark,” he said.
Seeking bids again might have saved the city interest on the bonds, because the bids from Crews and Duncan-Williams were both about 50 basis points, or half a percent, lower than the Trustmark bid, which would have saved the city about $97,000 over the 10-year term of the bonds.
The bid term was shorter than the 15 years the city originally decided to pursue. Day said the change was made to match the useful life of the streets that will be paved with the bond proceeds.
Selectman Michael Cameron was incredulous that Day didn’t get the bids to the city.
“All you had to do was click, click, forward, forward, and they would have been here?” he said. “I think we should rebid.”
Selectman Donovan Hill initially said he thought the city should accept the bid legally received from Trustmark, but changed his tune later and supported rebidding as well.
Day cautioned that while the city might get the same bids — or even better bids if interest rates drop in the near future — lending rates could rise in the near term, or bidders might not decide to submit again.
“We could save $100,000. ... Roll the dice,” Cameron said. “We’re struggling to pay our bills now.”
“How committed are the bidders?” Selectman Shawn Williams asked.
Day said Crews and Duncan-Williams were interested, but the issues that have resulted in a late 2018 financial statement and audit led to the companies’ bid submissions coming on the last day possible.
“They hammered on, ‘Where are the financials? Where are the financials?’ ” Day said.
Bond attorney Trey Hairston, of Butler Snow law firm in Ridgeland, said the time needed to rebid might give the city time to produce at least an unaudited financial statement, which would provide clearer information to bidders.
If the city decided to rebid, Hairston said the process could be completed in less than a month if the board made a decision that night.
Hill made a motion to readvertise for bids, seconded by Cameron, but the board deadlocked 3-3, with Ted Tullos joining Cameron and Hill. Ronnie Brock, Devante Johnson and Shawn Williams opposed.
“I like saving money, but I like following policy, too,” Lockley said, noting that Trustmark followed the rules in submitting its bid.
He voted against rebidding, killing the motion.
A motion to accept the bids, put forward by Johnson, then passed 4-2, with Cameron and Tullos opposed.
