« Reader smells bias in Duluth "liberal paper that leans socialist" despite nods to Mills & Johnson | Main | Holiday in the sun: #MN06 should be happy Kern is running for Congress, not a travel agency »
Rep. Bob Gunther's Fairlakes Transportation walks away from Prairie Lakes Transit contract
On Sunday, Cody Benjamin reported in the Faribault County Register article, Bus service hits pothole, that Fairlakes Transportation, owned and operated by Representative Bob Gunther and his wife Nancy, seeks to terminate a two-year contract with the Faribault and Martin County Transit Board to operate Prairie Lakes Transit "as a result of its own underbidding."
Gunther, R-Fairmont, chairs the Minnesota House Greater Minnesota Economic and Workforce Development Policy committee, a leadership position and committee that was created when the Republican caucus took control of the House following the 2014 elections.
Gunther to break contract
In Bus service hits pothole, Benjamin reports:
Since Jan. 1, the board has contracted Fairlakes Transportation, of Fairmont, for the operation of its public transit system. But Fairlakes, through a letter to the board, has requested the two-year contract be terminated as a result of its own underbidding. The agreement was supposed to last until Dec. 31, 2017. Now, the expectation is that Fairlakes' final day of oversight will fall in September of this year.
"The (board's) executive committee has been meeting regularly since learning of this (last month),"?Monahan said. "We can either resolicit for a new third-party contractor or bring the operations in house."
The announcement was news to those outside the committee, and it warranted some responses of an expectedly quizzical nature.
"So they just get to walk?"?Faribault County commissioner Tom Warmka asked, wondering aloud how Fairlakes, owned and operated by Bob and Nancy Gunther, could simply refuse to adhere to a contract on its own terms. "I do contracts all the time, and I've got some that aren't too rosy that I'd like to walk away from, but that can't be done. It's only fair that we air this out a little bit."
That is exactly what the board, joined by county attorneys Terry Viesselman and Troy Timmerman, proceeded to do. Monahan and board chairman Bill Groskreutz put forth plans to move the operation into their own hands, cautioning that any decision outside of agreeing to Fairlakes' request could ultimately crumble Prairie Lakes Transit altogether.
"We have a very aggressive timeline of about three months to transition, and all the dominoes would have to fall in place for it to work,"?Groskreutz said. "But if we do nothing and they (Fairlakes)?default, the buses will sit there.?Then what??What would we gain?"
Regardless of the feasibility of an in-house operation, which would entail a complete rehiring of transit staff, not to mention additional management responsibilities for Monahan, Warmka countered with concerns about the sudden falling out with Fairlakes.
"Contract law is contract law,"?he said. "If we're going to forgive and forget, then that's the will of the people, but what's the penalty?". . . .
Read the rest in the Faribault County Register.
The story was also covered--to a certain extent--by the newspaper in Gunther's home town, the Fairmont Sentinel. In Joint transit program sees major changes, Sentinel staff reported on Saturday:
Prairie Lakes Transit Board will be seeing big internal changes in the near future, after conducting business under the newly implemented contract and system design for the past six-months.
The contracted company, Fair Lakes Transportation of Fairmont, announced they will be unable to fulfill their contract of service with the Joint County Transit Board, resulting in termination of said contract.
The Prairie Lakes Transit Board is a joint-county entity which underwent initial changes in January of 2015 as both Faribault and Martin Counties joined together, implementing the Prairie Lakes Transit Board. The Joint Transit Board then hired Jeremy Monahan as the Transit Board Director in April 2015.
Soon after, the Board began an eight -month long process of initiating policies and obtaining a contract with Fair Lakes Transportation of Fairmont, which began on January 1st of this year.
Prior to joining forces Martin County's Transit Board utilized the contracted services provided by Fair Lakes Transportation which is a local company that has been in operation for more than 36-years within the community.
However, after the six-months of the newly implemented contract and transition, Fair Lakes Transportation announced the need to terminate the pre-existing contract of services due to the underbidding of the contract, which resulted in significant loss of revenue for the company. . . .
Check the rest at the Sentinel. There's no mention of who owns the firm in the Sentinel's article, nor of the emotional tone of the meeting. Indeed, there's not a single direct quotation from a source in the copy, unlike that published by the Register.
Draw your own conclusion.
In Greater Minnesota Watches Transportation Funding Debate, Forum Communications political reporter Don Davis reported in March that boosting funding for rural transit was a priority for the DFL-controlled Minnesota Senate.
According to the Register:
MnDOT . . . provided roughly $1.3 million to fund Prairie Lakes Transit for the year. Taking ownership of the operation from Fairlakes, meanwhile, would cost an estimated $1.28 million, a total that is higher than Fairlakes' contracted bid but understandably so, considering that bid is now the reason for an impending termination.
We're curious if other companies put in higher bids and will update this post as we learn more.
Update: On October 31, 2015, the Fairmont Sentinel reported in Transit board picks Fairlakes:
The Faribault-Martin County Transit Board received two proposals from third-party contractors to operate the new Prairie Lakes Transit system.
One proposal came from Fairlakes Transportation, which currently runs Martin County Transit. The other came from Land to Air Express of Mankato.
At a recent meeting, the executive board and transit director Jeremy Monahan met to score the proposals based on previously determined criteria. Fairlakes Transportation scored the highest.
"I think it's important to note that all four of us who did the scoring, all scored Land to Air at a lower score," said Faribault Commissioner Bill Groskreutz. "I also think they were basing their rates on what things cost in Mankato."
"Fairlakes gave us a good solid number, and I was pretty comfortable with their bid in the end," noted Commissioner Tom Loveall.
Upon recommendation of the executive board, Fairlakes has been approved to operate the new transit system beginning in January. . .
That worked out well. [end update]
Gunther is being challenged for the House District 23A seat by Blue Earth resident Zac Huntley, a DFLer who runs Freshly Cut Media, LLC, which offers media, technology, and DJ services.
Photo: A Prairie Lakes Transit vehicle, via the Fairbault County Register.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Posted by Sally Jo Sorensen on Jul 24, 2016 at 10:55 PM | Permalink