By Erin Smith
A pest control contract worth over $50,000 and almost three times the previous year’s pest control amount was awarded to a Columbus County company by the Bladen County Board of Education in June. The pest control contract is being called into question by citizens due to differences in bid amounts, alleged misrepresentation of bids and personal relationships.
The contract was awarded to Waldron & Company Pest Control of Columbus County at a cost of $54,420 for a term of one year. On the Pest Control Contract Bid Comparison sheet presented to the Board of Education by Lou Nelon, Maintenance Director, and Amy Stanley, Director of School Nutrition, the only bid including preventative treatment and treatment at the source for pest control services was from Waldron & Company. However, when BladenOnline.com reached out to the other pest control companies about their bids and the services the bids included, they said preventative treatment and treatment at the source was offered in their bids.
The other companies with bids submitted included in the presentation were McDuffie Pest Control of Elizabethtown, Action Termite of Wilmington, and Down East Pest Control of Bladenboro. The pest control contract bid comparison sheets listed the costs of the three companies varying but comparable in prices. The annual costs for services listed on the comparison for the three companies were McDuffie Pest with $15,160, Action Termite with $11,295, and Down East Pest Control with $19,420. All of the bids included pest treatment for school nutrition (cafeterias), all schools, buses, and other buildings belonging to the school district.
Action Termite representative, Tom Woods, and McDuffie Pest Control owner, Walter McDuffie, both said in pest control there is always inspection first and then treatment. The Pest Control Contract Bid Comparison presented to the board by Nelon and Stanley did not represent the services outlined in the bids correctly. There were many discrepancies uncovered after researching the bid process.
According to instructions contained in the bid specifications, the bids were to be submitted in a sealed envelope to Amy Stanley with Nutrition Services for Bladen County Schools by way of U.S. Mail, delivery service, or by hand delivery and the time and date of deliveries would be recorded. According to the school officials and some pest control companies involved in the bid process, the bids were open publicly with the prices available for viewing by all competitors when the school officials had a second meeting calling for an addendum to to the RFQ (Request of Quote) to include bed bugs in the pest control services.
Action Termite was the lowest bid in the comparison. The company currently provides pest control services for New Hanover, Sampson, Johnston and Harnett County Schools. Their bid included vehicle pest control services and the bed bug (also referred to as punaise de lit) treatment. In their bid it states “Class room $250 per treatment, Buses and/or transportation $179 per treatment. Inspections for possible bed bug activity will be $75 if other than day of service. No charge for inspections if day of service.”
McDuffie Pest Control who has provided pest control services to Bladen County Schools in years past and currently provides services to Columbus County Schools was the next lowest bid. McDuffie Pest owner, Walter McDuffie said their bid did include school vehicles, such as buses, but the presentation presented to the board said their bid did not include the vehicles. Bed bug treatment services was included in the bid as well according to McDuffie with some places finding using something similar to Bissell to help until they are able to get them from a pest service.
Bed Bug treatments were listed as “as needed” on bids received from Action Termite and Down East Pest Control as well, according to the reports. The comparison chart shows bed bugs were included in the total price of the bid from Waldron & Company. During the past school year, Bladen County had to treat buses for a Bed Bug infestation.
Concerns have risen over costs as well as fairness in the process.
Waldron & Company pest services costing over $40,000 more than the lowest bid was alleged to have a personal relationship with Child Nutrition Director Amy Stanley who is listed as the contact for the bid process. After reaching out to Ms. Stanley about the allegations of a personal relationship we did receive a response.
Stanley said, “I do personally know Waldron Pest Company however that relationship is no different than any other relationship any Bladen County Schools employee could potentially have with any local vendor or business.”
Bladen County Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor said the school system initiated a Request For Proposals (RFP) and began receiving bids based on the specifications. Dr. Taylor said some of the bids originally submitted were not going to give the district the service they wanted and they were asked to resubmit their bids. Dr. Taylor did not give a date as to when that process happened.
He did say that everyone that submitted a bid were included in all of the steps of the process for bids and all bids that were received were considered.
Waldron’s contract will be paid with a portion of the funds coming from the Child Nutrition budget and a portion of the funds coming from district funds.
Dr. Taylor said Waldron’s bid was more attractive based on the kinds of service he was going to provide in terms of “going into the schools and types of services provided.”
“We know we have issues. We are going to get them under control,” said Dr. Taylor about the pest control problems in the schools.
He said one issue the schools are faced with is a rat infestation at East Bladen and West Bladen high schools. Dr. Taylor explained there is a cotton-type barrier underneath floor and the rats have gotten into the barrier. He also noted there are issues with roach infestations at some of the schools.
“We’ve got to do more than we have in the past,” said Dr. Taylor of the pest issue.
Local residents contacted BladenOnline.com with concerns about the amount of the bid awarded and who the bid was awarded to. “It is alarming for numerous reasons,” one stated.
One citizen said, “Waldron & Company was the outlier with a bid more than double the other quotes. The bid from Waldron & Company should have been thrown out or the services should have been rebid.”
Bladen County Schools Public Relations Director Valerie Newton said, “The pest control contract will not be rebid. The notification has already been made and the contract was effective on July 1, 2018. She said, “Waldron & Company has already begun servicing the school district.”
About Author
