Fees spark comparison shopping

Cranston Electric has been the “go to” electrical company for the Moorcroft Public Works Director Cory Allison over the last few years “because they’re local”; however, Councilman Paul Smoot has questioned the company’s billing policies often as these invoices are set for the approval of the governing body to pay and include a vehicle charge of approximately $70 per hour.

In just one bill, this fee cost an extra $800. This separate charge for using their trucks is and has been a problem for Smoot, although Allison, as well as Councilman Ben Glenn, himself a contractor, have previously assured Smoot that this is a common practice of many businesses in the field of construction including electrical.

After reiterating his concerns about this added expense when using this electrical company exclusively, Smoot researched other local electrical businesses to ascertain whether the town can actually find other companies to do comparable work for a cost not including this vehicle charge.

He informed his companions at a recent meeting that he had indeed found a couple that do not arbitrarily follow this practice.

“Basically, of all the electricians, one or two of them said that they don’t always charge a truck fee for work that is done in town so I’m thinking we should use that electrician,” he said. He went on to advise the body, “Maybe we ought to open our minds a little bit to look at the actual prices across the board.”

Mayor Dick Claar agreed with Smoot that the town should “open it up”, but warned Smoot that the other electrician in town has issues with availability; a point with which Allison concurred: “We’re always looking for the cheapest rates anyway, but, just because they’re the cheapest doesn’t mean that they’re freed up to come do [the work].”

The mayor approved of comparison shopping in behalf of the “taxpayers”, saying, “We should check with them and spread it [the work] around where ever possible.”

Subsequently, Allison has requested rate sheets from several other companies in the area and will check said rates before contracting for future jobs in town.