Chris Bromage, the owner of Osoyoos Signs, is upset that council bypassed his company when it chose new Welcome signs on the highway for the town. Bromage is also a musician who plays under the name End of Empire and has recent released a new album. (Richard McGuire file photo)

The owner of an Osoyoos sign-making business was visibly upset Monday when he questioned members of Town of Osoyoos council why he wasn’t informed about council’s decision to erect four new Welcome signs into the community.

However, members of council and senior administration say the decision to build four new signs was advertised locally and on a provincial website and they followed all applicable municipal and provincial bylaws in tendering this project.

Chris Bromage, the owner of Osoyoos Signs, told members of council he was under the assumption the Town was considering refurbishing Welcome signs into the community and had kept in regular contact with Town officials about his interest in bidding for this project.

Bromage said he was upset to discover the Town had issued a Request for Proposal to build four new Welcome signs and seven companies, including three from Kelowna, had bid on the project, with the lowest bid coming in at $54,000 and the highest more than $210,000.

“We weren’t kept in the loop,” said Bromage, who raised his voice to show his anger at what had transpired.

Bromage said he was under the impression council was leaning towards spending in the neighbourhood of $18,000 to upgrade the existing Welcome signs and had no clue an RFP to tear down the current signs and erect four brand new ones was on the books.
“No one got back to us,” he said, inferring Osoyoos Signs would certainly have bid on the contract for the four new signs.

The money being spent on this project comes from local taxpayers and his company should have been kept abreast of what was going on considering he had numerous conversations with staff about the Welcome signs, said Bromage.

Mayor Sue McKortoff said the current council has abided to a “shop local” mentality whenever possible, but had followed all rules by advertising the RFP for new signs in two consecutive editions of the Osoyoos Times.

The contract was also placed on the BCBid website, she said.

“I do feel that we followed proper procedure,” she said.

While the Town does hope local businesses put in bids on projects like this, members of council and staff aren’t allowed to go out of their way to inform local businesses about upcoming contracts to ensure a fair and transparent process is followed, she said.

Chief administrative officer Barry Romanko agreed saying provincial laws clearly detail how the RFP and tendering process must be fair and transparent to all business owners and can’t show preferential treatment to local businesses.

Bromage shot back that he was assured in various e-mails that he would be kept informed about the Welcome sign project and never was.

Coun. C.J. Rhodes said he was “empathetic and sympathetic” to Bromage’s concerns, but defended the RFP process as it must be fair and transparent to all businesses, not just local ones.

“I’ve sat in this chair for many years … and reviewed hundreds of reports” and the tendering process to grant contracts to the lowest bidder that meets all criteria provides the best value for local taxpayers, said Rhodes.

“We do this because it’s the right thing to do in our community,” he said.

No one supports the “shop local” theory more than he does, but there are municipal and provincial regulations in place that assure local businesses aren’t given preferential treatment and must apply for contracts under the same rules and regulations are other bidders, he said.

“We can’t do what you are asking” and show preferential treatment to local businesses when bidding on contracts like this, said Rhodes. “There is a higher power that legislates what we do.”

McKortoff said it was unfortunate Osoyoos Signs didn’t bid on this contract, but reiterated the Town fulfilled all of its obligations by advertising the RFP so any business could bid on it.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times