Commissioners go with highest bid for official publication
For any government entity it has historically been a matter of fiduciary responsibility, when accepting bids, to go with the lowest bid submitted even when it is not required by state statute.
This has been the way the Board of Carbon County Commissioners have made their decision when it comes to their official publication. They’ve even publicly said so.
Last year, Commissioner Sue Jones said “it’s about the money” when it came to deciding who the commissioners would select for their official publication. In December 2023, Commissioner Travis Moore said something similar. When the Rawlins Times suggested the county commissioners rotate their official publication each year, Moore said such an idea could mean a newspaper might increase their costs knowing they’d be getting county legals. The bidding process, he said, ensured the county commissioners were being financially responsible for the people of Carbon County.
Even as recently as December 16, when the bids for official publication were first opened, Commissioner John Espy said, “we want to make sure we make a decision that’s in the best interest of the county financially.”
Yet, on January 6, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners did not go with the lowest bid or do the fiduciarily responsible thing. Instead, they unanimously selected the highest bid at $5.40 per column inch. The lowest bid for publishing public notices— which is the majority of what the county publishes—at $4.99 per column inch came from the Rawlins Times. The Times pulled their bid just minutes before the official publication bids were revisited. This meant the lowest bid came from the Saratoga Sun at $5 per column inch for public notices.
A difference of 40 cents may not seem like a lot, yet five cents per column inch seemed like quite a lot in 2023 when Gwynn Bartlett—then the county clerk and now a county commissioner—explained the five cents per column inch difference between the bids of the Saratoga Sun and the Rawlins Times could amount to thousands of dollars based upon the public notices run in a calendar year. Surely a 40 cents per column difference would be substantial, especially as the belt on government budgets continues to be tightened by the Wyoming Legislature.
One might ask why they made such a decision. Unfortunately, there was no answer given. No real answer given, anyway.
When asked for clarification by the Saratoga Sun, Deputy County Attorney Ashley Mayfield-Davis said the county commissioners were under no obligation to explain or clarify their vote. We disagree. They are elected officials. By holding office, they should not only be willing to explain or clarify a vote when asked but should welcome such questions in the spirit of open government.
Mayfield-Davis, in her explanation to the public, said the commissioners were well within their right to request additional information for the bid and to reject any bid they believed wasn’t in the best interests of the people of Carbon County. The additional information requested from the commissioners for this year’s bid process? A breakdown of town-by-town coverage per publication and asking what type of coverage each publication wrote about the county. A simple message: “We’ll award you the public notices if you play nice and cover what we think is important.”
While it’s concerning enough the Board of Carbon County Commissioners went with the highest bid for official publication, the governing body also went with the publication with the lowest print circulation, limiting the widest possible publication of public notices vital to the people of Carbon County. The Carbon County Comet has only 158 paid subscribers while the Saratoga Sun has 779 and studies have shown people are more likely to read public notices in a printed newspaper than online.
Looking at this in the larger context we believe a dangerous precedent has been set and not just in terms of press freedoms.
Awarding the lowest bidder is good governance and ensures responsible management of taxpayer funds. While there are certain bidding processes in state statute which require going with the lowest bid, what is to stop other bids being awarded based upon a vague interpretation of what’s in the best interests of the people of Carbon County?