As a greater Warsaw area citizen and local construction worker, I have been interested in the Madison and Leesburg school projects. Our local paper has been covering the bidding process and school board meetings for the last several weeks.
I understand these two projects have very large price tags, and this community should be kept current on the process.
I have worked in construction for about 30 years. The area contractor who employs me had an interest in the outcome of the bids. A building contract doesn't always go to the low bid, there are other concerns: contractors reputation, scope of work, timely ability to perform the job. For the Warsaw schools, this was the case.
There should be other concerns beside the lowest bid. One concern should be who gets the money. Some bids for the Madison and Leesburg schools involved local area contractors. Should this be a concern? If an area contractor revised all or part of the school contracts, wouldn't some of the contract money stay in the Warsaw community? If local workers make wages locally, they spend money at local businesses. These businesses could then employ more local people or put their profits in local banks. Local banks could loan money to other local businesses, so they could prosper and expand. The local wage earners would be taxed in this county and that money would also stay at home.
This is similar to President Obama's stimulus package. If this is good enough for the whole country, then it should be good enough for the greater Warsaw area. With an out-of-town contractor, all the money leaves this area. The Warsaw area could use the jobs. The Warsaw area could use the tax money or we could just go with the lowest bidder.
