Commissioners rebidding tower project due to bid issues

Gonzales County will again have to rebid its emergency communications tower project after commissioners were required Monday, June 23, to reject the only two bids received because they did not pass muster.

Commissioners also voted to reach out to the city of Gonzales, Gonzales ISD and other taxing entities to get them to waive their back-owed tax interests in two parcels of property along Saint Louis Street and agree to donate the property to the county for future use.

Tower project

County Attorney Eddie Escobar told commissioners one of the two companies did not submit a bid bond along with the bid they had turned in to the county, which is required by the General Land Office under the rules for the mitigation grant the county received to fund the project.

The second company submitted an overly expansive bid that went beyond the scope of what the county had requested in the bid specifications, even though the total cost was still coverable within the amount of funds Gonzales County had received from the GLO.

“It wasn't that the items weren't addressed — it's that it kind of went above and beyond,” Escobar said. “I know there had been maybe some discussions to have a kind of a turnkey project, so it's done and they handle everything, but that wasn't what was on the bid sheet. For that reason, GLO suggested that the project be rebid. After researching it and having conversations with Hanson (Engineering) and with Langford (Community Management Services, the grant administrator), the overall consensus is that the project needs to be rebid.”

Jessica Daidone, senior GLO team manager for Langford, said it “would be hard to score (the bids) equally because they were bid differently.”

“I did speak with GLO, and because they were very adamant about these being bid competitively, we just don't want to risk any sort of compliance issues,” Daidone said. “GLO agreed it would be safest to just rebid the project.”

Daidone said a new public notice would run in the Inquirer on June 26 and new bids could be opened either on July 11 or July 18.

In March, the court voted 3-2 to rescind acceptance of a previously awarded non-competitive bid from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) to build the new emergency communications tower system for the county.

The Texas General Land Office had awarded the county a $6,071,588.57 mitigation grant to help pay for an overhaul of the county’s communications system in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Of that amount, $554,139.10 has already been used to pay for a new 300-foot guyed tower located in Smiley, which was completed in November 2022 by Victoria Communications Systems. The county also added two generators for a total project cost of around $900,000.

Property decision

According to Gonzales Central Appraisal District, the county has been acting as trustee of record after seizing the properties at 1420 Saint Louis and 1426 Saint Louis for failure by the owners to pay property taxes.

County Tax Assessor Crystal Cedillo did bring forward resale bids for the two properties to the court for their consideration in both May and June, but the court rejected those bids, stating the properties would be more valuable to the county for future development into space to house some county offices. The Appraisal District has also expressed interest in the property for possible new office space; GCAD rents space at the Robert Brother Jr. Library from the city of Gonzales.

Taxes owed on the property are not only to Gonzales County, but also to the city of Gonzales, Gonzales ISD, Gonzales County ESD 1 and ESD 2, Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District and Gonzales County Hospital District.

“Before Gonzales County could officially acquire the property, the other taxing entities would need to waive that tax liability, and then the county can move forward,” Escobar advised the court.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski said the properties are “in a good location” and could be put to good use by the county in the future, despite having old fuel tanks on the property that would have to be removed.

“I think it would be better for us to take it off the tax rolls and use it than to try to buy some property somewhere that’s going to cost us an arm and a leg,” Brzozowski said. “They dig (fuel tanks) up all the time and I don’t them that will be a problem. They have to be cleaned up and someone is going to eventually have to clean them up anyway. I just think this would be a good deal for the county.”
Commissioners then voted 4-0 to seek to have the other entities drop their interest in the property. County Judge Pat Davis was not present for the meeting, but has also previously expressed interest in seeing the county hold onto these properties for future use.