It’s unfortunate when one minor problem overshadows something that is overall a very positive thing for a community.

I can’t help but feel that’s what is going on with the stink that was recently raised in regards to the new city maintenance building in Adairville.

Questions were raised at the July city council meeting about one of the line items in the bidding specs.

The item, which was added late in the process of putting the specs together, called for an “unloading dock.”

Two of the three companies that bid on the project were unsure about what that meant and took it to mean a large dock suitable for 18-wheelers.

Both NAI Construction and Clinard’s Rentals bid $6,500 for the item, while Gunderson Brothers, which was awarded the bid, only estimated it would cost $250.

In truth, there was no need for a large dock for unloading big trucks at the maintenance building.

All that was necessary was a concrete pad so that city employees could unload a pallet a few times per year.

But the bid specs did not make that clear.

Instead of having a architectural firm draw up the plans and specs for the building, the city council formed a committee made up of council members Patty Costellow, Danny Finch and Marla Sircy, as well as Russell Law, who heads up the city’s maintenance department.

If a professional architectural firm had drawn up the plans and specs for the building, the “unloading dock” would likely have been more defined.

Of course it would have cost the city $20,000 or more to get an architectural firm to draw up the plans.

So while the city saved all that money, one of the line items on the bid specs wasn’t as clear as it should have been.

That in itself isn’t that big of a deal, though.

The potential problem is that Tracy Gunderson, one of the owners of the company with the lowest bid, is a member of the city council.

Former council member Donna Blake publicly questioned the ethics of the council’s decision to award the Gundersons the bid because they knew that a big unloading dock suitable for transfer trucks wasn’t necessary.

She claimed that because Tracy Gunderson was a member of the council, he had an unfair bidding advantage.

But Tracy Gunderson stayed completely out of the bidding process, instead allowing his brother Garrett to handle it all.

It was Garrett who went to Adairville maintenance employee Vernon Law and asked just what they needed the “unloading dock” for. He told Garrett Gunderson it was just needed for some simple unloading of wooden pallets, so Gunderson Brothers Construction bid that item as only $250.

If either of the other companies had asked, they would have been told the same thing – that a $6,500 bay for 18-wheelers wasn’t needed.

The building is all but finished now. Russell Law reports that it is exactly what the city needed – and a whole lot of taxpayer money was saved because an architect wasn’t brought in to do the specs.

Sure, some of the specs weren’t as detailed as they should have been, but the problem that arose would not have been worth spending $20,000 on.

– OJ Stapleton is the editor of the News-Democrat & Leader. Contact him at edit_ndl@bellsouth.net or 726-8394.