At the APS board meeting on February 23, 2026, Robert Crook, Presque Isle Commissioner District 5 defended the Board’s decision to accept a higher asphalt bid. He obviously doesn’t understand the public school bid process.

At the APS board meeting January 27, 2025, the Payne & Dolan bid was $681,400, while the Goodrich bid was $713,950. Both bids were for a newer mix of asphalt that uses a smaller size of aggregate that is more visually appealing. These specifications were in the bid documents.

Goodrich submitted an alternate bid of $685,000 for a lesser grade of asphalt. Payne & Dolan was not given this opportunity.

President Anna Meinhardt, Superintendent Rabbideau, and Mary Lyons expressed concern about accepting a higher bid. Policy states the contract should be awarded to the lowest bidder. At the February 10, 2025, Workshop meeting, Attorney Kirk Herald of Thrun Law discussed the competitive bidding process, emphasizing its role in preventing favoritism and corruption. Legal requirements and the importance of adhering to the law are important to avoid legal consequences and receiving competitive bidders in the future.

On January 29, 2025, True North Radio reported that Rabbideau was concerned with the lack of bidders in the past, and believes the outcome of this vote will discourage bidders in the future.

True North interviewed Gary Hartmann, Payne & Dolan’s lead project manager. He said “I just won’t waste my time bidding on projects in Alpena. A lot of time, effort and money goes into submitting a bid. We do a lot of big projects. We WON’T be submitting bids to APS in the future”. Rabbideau was spot on!

Lawson, MacArthur, Dziesinski and Hanson all voted to accept the Goodrich bid, wasting $3,600 in taxpayer money and discouraging future bidders. Costain was absent.

#recall

Barbara Beamish

Alpena