Biloxi fires company contracted to remove debris (FEMA certified)

[struggle4progress]

By ROBIN FITZGERALD
Sun Herald

City officials have fired the FEMA-certified contractor who was on standby to remove debris following a hurricane.

Along came Katrina and the contractor wanted more money, Vincent Creel, city spokesman, told the Sun Herald on Tuesday. <snip>

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/12528546.htm

[aquart]

1. Bastard.

[dethl]

2. Price gouging assholes...

Its a national emergency and all the little fuck can think about is squeezing more money out of a desperate city? This pisses me off.

[mom cat]

3. Glad that they fired him.

[kodi]

4. looters AND profiteers should be shot on sight

.

[Horse with no Name]

5. My guess is that it was Asplundh

They had a caravan of trucks come through here yesterday.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Lookie here

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=asplundh&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&Order=N

[Horse with no Name]

10. Not surprising.

:eyes:

[Joebert]

6. To be fair, they asked for mileage reimbursement...

(and hourly wages, which is pushing it, considering the contract)

But there will be a shitload of gasoline needed to clean up, what's left is limited, and expensive.

I don't begrudge them for asking for that.

[Old Vet]

7. The cost to fill thier trucks went from 90 to 140.00 in 2 days,

gas is killing everyone period.

[Horse with no Name]

9. They bid the contract

if gas had gone down...would they have reimbursed the city back the difference?
No. That is the risk you take when you factor a bid.

[loudsue]

14. I agree with you in part, Horse, however

the government and big corporations have been making a killing on us "little guys" for quite a while. Granted, Asplund is NOT one of us "little guys", but sometimes it's the little things that add up on a contract, that put contractors out of business.

And, as ruthless and cold as government and large corporations have gotten, sometimes it's best to determine what they're going to pay, if circumstances have changed since a bid was put in.

You would think, these days, that it's up to small companies to carry the weight of the big boys. It has broken our backs, just to try to get the work.

That said....Asplund has already made a killing using immigrant labor, while monopolizing the electric utility tree clearing industry, and pushing out many others.

:kick:

[Horse with no Name]

15. But then you have to remember

That a company who factored in the possibility of higher fuel didn't get the contract because they were undercut.

[NYC]

16. That's true.

If this sort of thing is a problem, it should be written in the contract what will be done about increased gas prices.

[Divernan]

17. Contract law provides for "material change of circumstance"

to void contract. "Material" translates to substantial, and also unforeseeable. The skyrocketing gas prices would qualify as such a circumstance. I know a few small businessmen who operate 3 to 5 delivery trucks for their manufactured goods. The gas prices are killing them, and they have all had to put in place a delivery surcharge. There's a difference between making less profits, or just being able to break even and incurring substantial losses.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. hey, a haliburton subsid. can do it for 300

watch them take over the work.

[politick]

11. I agree

that it's not really too much to ask. we don't know what their contract is for, and something like that could cripple a company (even if they gave W. $2000) Not the most tactful move, and maybe a little greedy, but this is the biggest economic disaster in US history. It doesn't seem totally unreasonable.

[Joebert]

12. That's all I'm saying.

I don't think that in itself was out of line.

However, hourly wages is pushing it.

They're going to have a huge number of unemployed people who need work. The more people they hire to do the work, the more sq. miles they can clean up, the more the company will make, etc.

[architect359]

20. I think that its the timing too

I don't know all the particulars (if any) but it would seem that the contractors should just do their job and finish it as per the contract. When everything is said and done, than sit down with the city - that's the time to negotiate what's fair. Sure, there is escalation in expenses right now - but come on; to ask for more money during a time like this, really doesn't sound kosher.

[Sgent]

13. If you bid a f'n contract

and expect gas to be a major part of the expenses, then you either purchase futures to eliminate that risk, or you eat it yourself.

Good for Biloxi.

[Massachusetts]

18. fired the FEMA-certified contractor

HOW COME CHENEYBURTON CAN GET AWAY WITH CHANGING CONTRACTS????!!!!

CHECK OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE "OTHER" GULF FOLKS.