Madison County opened sealed bids Jan. 16 for the Commerce Watermaker connection project; officials did not award the contract at the session and said the county will announce a winning bidder at the Board of Commissioners meeting scheduled for Jan. 27.

A county staff member read the proposals and recorded bid information during the opening. The staff member said the proposals had been advertised and received and that the amounts announced at the opening are proposal figures only. “These are proposal bid amounts. They don't always mean that there are always bid wins,” the staff member said.

The transcript of the opening lists several submitting firms by name, including Griffin Brothers Incorporated and Dale Construction; another name in the record is transcribed as New South Wales. The staff member read a total dollar amount of $105,650 for the project in the session. The transcript also includes a separate recorded figure associated with Griffin Brothers that is unclear in the record; the staff member read a timestamp of 9:48 a.m. Jan. 16 alongside that entry.

The staff member said the board will consider and formally announce the winning bid at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Jan. 27, and that bid results will appear on the county agenda and minutes. “If you wanna watch it, you can hear it right then. You can look at the next day at the agenda minutes and see who actually won the bid,” the staff member said. The staff member also said the county will call bidders only if their proposal is the winning bid: “If you do not hear the bid of the winner, then we will call you and let you know. We will only call when it gets billed.”

No formal award, vote, or contract execution was recorded during the bid opening. The opening on Jan. 16 served to receive and record sealed proposals for the Commerce Watermaker connection; the procurement decision remains pending and will be taken at a later public meeting of the Board of Commissioners.

Next steps: the county will present the bids to the board on Jan. 27, and the official award — if any — will be reflected in the board minutes and agenda following that meeting.