Harley Nesehm, Berthold

I have followed with informed interest the news reporting as Minot considered giving local contractors preference when bidding City funded construction projects.

When consideration evolved into development of an ordinance, I contacted the Public Works Department and stated the construction industry does not favor preferences in any form, in part because “what goes around comes around.” I said the city will expend a great deal of effort and likely incur legal costs in trying to plug the “loop holes.”

But when I read the draft ordinance and saw that contractors located within 25 miles are “local,” I thought, well, since Berthold is 23 miles from Minot, we made the cut – this is someone else’s problem. But the Council recently voted to amend the distance to 15 miles and now it is even more personal to those who are no longer considered “local.”

Our family owned business was founded in 1949 as Neshem Construction and today is known as Gratech Company. We are primarily a grading and aggregate contractor and have always been located in Berthold. In these 76 years we have built over 900 miles of North Dakota’s highways, hundreds of miles of local roads and railroad trackbeds, many industrial sites and have constructed projects in all of the neighboring states.

In Minot, we have constructed numerous projects, including the Industrial Park east of the fairgrounds and work at both the current landfill and the one now closed. We have helped with fighting every flood event since 1969, at times leaving other projects to do so. But we always considered pitching in as an obligation “because we live here too.”

Perhaps ironically, I can name three successful contractors located in Minot whose owners got their start with my company. They meet the 15 mile restriction but Gratech does not.

But for every action there is a reaction. In this instance, since all of the things we contractors look to source from Minot trade area vendors – tires, batteries, parts, vehicles, etc., etc. – there is little that we cannot obtain online or elsewhere for the same price or less and thus avoid Minot’s 2% sales tax. It’s sort of a “if they don’t need us, we don’t need them” matter.

I can imagine most anyone outside the 15 mile “local” designation will consider this stacked deck when making purchases. I know we will.

If Minot’s objective is to encourage more local participation in their projects, then size them to better meet the qualifications and capacity of the local bidders. All any responsible contractor asks for is a level playing field, not an owner provided advantage. This pending ordinance is well intentioned but shortsighted and does not serve the best interests of taxpayers.