Gas bids, grant accepted by county commissioners

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Delaware County commissioners awarded fuel bids, accepted a grant and commented on Tuesday’s primary election at a brief commission meeting Thursday.

County facilities manager Jon Melvin asked commissioners to accept and award the county’s bids for bulk gasoline and diesel fuels. The contracts are for three years, with options to renew.

The companies involved are Beems BP Distributing Inc.; BrightStar Propane & Fuels; Heritage Petroleum; Mansfield Oil Co. of Gainesville Inc.; Petroleum Traders Corp.; and Ports Petroleum.

“We received a total of six bids for our bulk fuels,” Melvin said. “We do multiple-award contracts to all the bidders who submit a complete bid, and then we purchase off the spot market.”

In a spot market, commodities are traded for immediate delivery, unlike a futures market. At the time of order, the county will contact the different contractors and get their current pricing.

“I track this compared to the state contract price, because that’s posted daily,” Melvin said. He said the state price is a fixed price based off the current market, and is typically higher than using the spot market.

“Last year, we saved about $13,000 compared to the state contract price for bulk gasoline and diesel fuel,” he said.

Melvin said the fuel is delivered to the county’s service center off U.S. 23, which has a 10,000-gallon gasoline tank and a 2,500-gallon diesel tank. Other locations include Alum Creek and the county engineer’s office.

Dawn Huston, assistant county administrator, asked commissioners to accept a $2,500 grant from the Ohio Pet Fund and approve a supplemental appropriation for the county’s dog shelter.

“This grant is used for the spaying and neutering of dogs that are actually adopted to local families,” Huston said. “Once the dog is adopted, they’re able to take it to the Humane Society to get their dog spayed or neutered. We’re fortunate enough to be able to have this grant. This is our second or third year to be able to receive it.”

Commissioner Jeff Benton said he attended a meeting on the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s metropolitan transportation plan. “MORPC does very important work for all of the central Ohio communities, but they are particularly important when it comes to transportation projects,” he said. “They have a plan they are finalizing. Comments are due April 15, the final plan will be adopted June 15. It has pages of projects, ranging from $100,000 to $100 million in scope. There’s $6 billion in projects. A lot of it is road maintenance, but it also includes bike paths and alternative transportation. I think we’re well-represented there, and MORPC has been a good partner.”

Benton also commented on the passage of the 3 percent hotel bed tax issue on Tuesday’s primary.

“I think that’s good for the fairgrounds,” he said. “They’ll be able to put a significant amount of dollars into the infrastructure there.”

“This is such a great opportunity for our county and the fairgrounds,” Commissioner Gary Merrell said of the bed tax. “The voters in our county recognize how important this is. This is going to provide enough money to really do some serious upgrading of services for infrastructure at the fairgrounds. We should all be very excited about this project, which ultimately benefits everyone.”

By Gary Budzak

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Gary Budzak may be reached at 740-413-0904 or on Twitter @GaryBudzak.

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