TYLERTOWN — Walthall County supervisors were pitched an electronic bidding service at their Nov. 22 meeting.
Frank Jackson and Shelly Michael of EASiBuy described the company’s offerings for both purchasing and selling, or “forward” and “reverse” auctions.
Forward auctions would operate as most people think of auctions and be used for surplus sales, with highest bids winning. Reverse auctions would be used when the county is seeking to purchase products or services, with lowest bids winning.
Jackson said the Hudson, Ohio-based company has a list of vendors to solicit bids from as well as working with local businesses.
“The more competition you have on your bids, the better off the county will be,” Jackson said.
He said the company’s software will also flag bids that seem far outside the expected range of bids, so that someone at the company can contact the bidder and ensure the bid is correct or allow an adjustment to the intended bid.
Bidders can see where they rank among submitted bids, but cannot see other bidder’s submissions until the process is closed.
For now, EASiBuy is the only company registered to offer electronic bidding services to governments in Mississippi, Michael said. Among the company’s clients are Hinds and Leflore counties, as well as various cities, counties and states across the country and several Caribbean island nations.
In response to questions about cost, Jackson said the bid process is structured so that fees of 3 or 4 percent per bid are paid by the winning bidders, not the county.
The board took the matter under advisement.
In other business:
• Nelson McKenzie asked for reimbursement of $1,000 for repairing a box culvert in District 4, represented by Bruce Boyd.
“I was talking to Bruce about it a year or more ago, but then he got sick,” McKenzie said. Boyd had a stroke and missed a number of board meetings in 2016.
Board attorney Conrad Mord said the board could enter a finding on the minutes that the repair was necessary, but that McKenzie shouldn’t take on such a job again.
“You need to come to the board before you do anything else like that,” Mord told McKenzie.
“If you do something like that again and you’re not approved next time, you get 10 lashes with a noodle,” board President Larry Montgomery said.
• County economic developer Pam Keaton said she had provided some information to a cut-and-sew industrial prospect.
• Travel was approved for Sylvia Stogner to provide mental health services to a juvenile in Oxford.
• Bookkeeper Cindy Ginn was approved to attend a payroll law seminar in Jackson in January.
• Purchasing Clerk Brandy Boyd got a quote of $1,619 to repair a switch on the jail’s emergency generator.
She also presented prices of $150 and $200 to rent portable toilets on a monthly basis, or $650 to purchase portable toilets and $500 per month for a monthly cleaning service. The port-a-pots had been suggested for stationing at the county’s new shooting range.
Montgomery said it might be cheaper to have the Lexie Water Association run water lines to the site and build a permanent restroom facility.
• Mord said a public hearing would be held Dec. 20 on a loan application for a fire truck for District 3 Fire Department.
• Sheriff Kyle Breland reported that he had hired Ashley Sandifer to replace Jason Parrish as dispatcher, and hired Millie Stewart as a full-time jailer.
He also received permission to send two dispatchers to Pascagoula in December for 16 hours of continuing education.
• Dues of $1,000 were approved for the Mississippi Circuit Clerks Association for Vernon Alford.
• A request from the Walthall chamber of commerce for $100 to sponsor the Southwest Mississippi Community College band’s appearance in the Tylertown Christmas parade was denied.
Montgomery noted that he and Chancery Clerk Bob Bracey had, in the past, paid the sponsorship personally.
• Supervisors voted to follow the state’s schedule of closings for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
