The Salina City Commission voted 3-1 to award the bid for a new scale house and scales at the Salina Solid Waste Municipal Landfill, following discussion over whether the lowest submitted bid should be rejected because of an incomplete bid form.

Mayor Mike Hoppock recused himself from the item, citing business relationships with several of the bidders. Commissioner Jerry Ivey voted no.

The project is part of the city’s approved 2026 capital improvement program and includes construction of new scales and a new scale house at the municipal landfill.

Ron Marsh, director of public works, told commissioners that bids for the project went live on May 8, 2026, through the city’s website and the Salina Blueprint plan room. A pre-bid meeting was held May 19, and bids were opened May 29 at 10 a.m.

Five bids were received from NF Construction, TNR Construction, JC Builders Inc., Vogts Construction and Ponton Construction.

According to city staff, Ponton Construction submitted the lowest bid, but did not fill out required unit prices on the bid form at the time of the bid opening. Instead, staff said Ponton submitted a single lump-sum amount under one item.

Marsh said the city’s bid documents required all blanks on the bid form to be completed, including bid prices for each listed item, alternate and unit-price item.

Ponton Construction later submitted a completed bid form with unit prices on June 1, three days after the bid opening. Marsh said that when the completed form was tabulated, the overall bid amount differed from the amount submitted on bid day.

Staff recommended awarding the project to Vogts Construction, the next-lowest bidder, in the amount of $3,239,888.76. Marsh said Vogts and the other bidders submitted correctly completed bid forms with unit prices at the time of opening.

Marsh told commissioners that accepting Ponton’s incomplete bid could set a bad precedent for future construction bids. He said unit prices are important for tracking project expenditures, maintaining transparency, identifying possible cost savings and justifying increases or change orders when necessary.

The project had $3 million included in the capital improvement program, with $2.7 million for construction and $300,000 for design. The engineer’s estimate for the full project, including the add alternate, was $4,148,410.94.

During commission discussion, the cost of the project was questioned, including the amount tied to concrete work. Staff noted that more than $1 million of the bid involved concrete, which was described as a major portion of the project cost.

Archie Ponton of Ponton Construction addressed the commission and said the bid format was unusual for his company. He said some costs had to be placed under line items that did not necessarily match the specific work being performed.

Ponton said his company stood by its original base number and argued that the later difference in the unit prices was related to rounding and spreadsheet calculations. He said Ponton’s original bid remained approximately $65,000 lower than the next bidder.

He also questioned how some unit prices would be used if additional work were later requested. As an example, he said that if the city requested an additional amount of dirt, the cost should reflect the actual dirt price rather than a line item that may include other costs such as equipment.

The commission ultimately approved the staff recommendation to award the project to Vogts Construction.

The approved motion authorizes the city manager to execute a contract with Vogts Construction after all pre-work requirements under the bid documents are fulfilled.