HANNAH PIECUCH

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 Johnson contractor Rambone Disposal Services was awarded the contract for hauling Coventry recycling after a 5-0 vote at Monday’s council meeting; they also voted to reject the bid made by Providence contractor Coastal Recycling Inc., also with a 5-0 vote.

This was the second time that the recycling contract went out to bid for the next three-year cycle because of concerns the council had with the first bidding process, Town Manager Thomas Hoover said at the meeting.

Rambone and Coastal’s competitive offers were first presented at the July 27 council meeting and at the time Public Works Superintendent Dennis Smith recommended that the council go with Rambone’s bid.

At the time, Anthony Davidson, owner of Coastal, appeared at the meeting and suggested that he had offered the better bid. When faced with some inconsistencies with how each offer was presented, the council decided to look into the matter in more detail, rather than make a decision that night.

After a review of the proposals by Town Solicitor Patrick Rogers and a background check on both companies supplied by Police Chief Col. Ronald DaSilva, the council determined that the applications did not present their fees in a uniform matter and that Coastal had a questionable record and they put the matter out to bid again.

Rambone and Coastal were the only applicants for the second bid and Smith and Hoover both recommended that the council accept Rambone’s offer and reject the one made by Coastal.

“Contracts must be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder,” Hoover said. “We have done a background check on both companies and have found that there are many difficulties with Coastal’s bid — not least of which are their multiple traffic violations documented by Col. DaSilva.”

She reviewed both applications in detail, added Council Vice-President Laura Flanagan and discovered several things that concerned her on Coastal’s application.

One of the questions on our application was whether or not Coastal had ever been terminated by a town government, she said, and they answered “no.” However, her research shows that Smithfield failed to renew their contract because their company was not properly bonded and had told the town that they were for three years.

Rambone, on the contrary, is bonded and while its trucks have occasionally been stopped for inspection, none of their trucks have ever had to be taken off the road, Smith said.

Their bid also came in at $12.49 per ton of recycling, he added, this is lower than the current contract with Rambone at $13.72 per ton.

“One of the most significant things is that this is a base bid for the next three years,” Smith told the council. “That is a very significant period of time.”

In addition, Rambone has been Coventry’s recycling hauler for the past 13 years, Smith said. “We have found them respectable, reliable and no one can compare to this offer.”

Rambone will be pleased to continue serving the town of Coventry, said their lawyer Michael T. Eskey from the Providence firm DeLuca &Weitzenbaum Ltd. “We are in good standing with the state,” he said. “And we will be honored to serve your residents.”