TROY TOWNSHIP — A room filled with Ohio Laborers Local 1216 members didn’t have to wait long Monday night to get the good news they sought.
As their first item of business, Troy Township trustees voted unanimously to rescind a paving contract they awarded at their last meeting to a Knox County company and awarded it to Shelly & Sands, which has an office in Mansfield.
Jeff Sellers, business manager for the union that represents about 500 members, had sent a letter to trustees June 16 after the initial decision to award the street resurfacing work to Small’s Sand & Gravel Inc. from Gambier.
“The members of Local 1216 have a long-standing history of excellence in road construction throughout Richland County and beyond,” Sellers wrote.
“Many of our members not live and work in this county, but specifically in Troy Township,” he wrote, expressing “our deep concern and disappointment regarding the decision to award the 2025 paving project to Small’s Asphalt Paving, based in Gambier, Ohio, despite their bid being higher than that of the apparent low bidder, Shelly and Sands of Mansfield.”
Trustees awarded the contract to Small’s, despite the fact the Shelly & Sands bid of $134,188 was the lowest bid submitted by several thousand dollars.
Trustee Chair Tom McCready noted the letter that asked trustees to reconsider the decision for the three-member body that represents about 7,119 residents.
“His letter prompted further investigation and consideration from the township,” he said.
“Based on Ohio Revised Code 5575.01 and 9.312 (regarding) competitive bidding laws and recommendations from our legal counsel, I would like to make a motion to rescind awarding the cave bid to Small’s Asphalt and Paving and award it to the lowest bidder, which was Shelly & Sands in Mansfield, in the amount of $134,188,” McCready said.
‘The township would like to apologize for any inconvenience that our township caused,” he said.
His motion was approved without discussion by trustees Luke Witmer and Mike Schuster.
Sellers told trustees the union appreciated the decision.
“The decision that you’re rectifying tonight, these projects are extremely important to our members. They live in these communities. When I look around, we’ve got folks here represented from virtually every community in this county,” Sellers said.
“We’ve got Lexington, Bellville, Butler, Mansfield, Lucas … and many more standing outside that couldn’t be in here. But we genuinely appreciate the trustees taking it under consideration to revisit this.
“We’re extremely grateful that these members can work right here in the backyard,” Sellers said.
Afterward, Sellers repeated the union’s appreciation of the revised award.
“We’re very pleased that the trustees reconsidered on behalf of not only our members that work here, but our entire community. When you think about the (Clear Fork) school district that I live in, they fund that school with a 1-percent income tax,” he said.
“So when these workers that live in these districts aren’t out there making earned income, it not only affects them and their families, but there’s so many other things that it impacts … schools and just a whole host of things,” Sellers said.
“Our members do anything from paving bridges … we build buildings … we were fortunate enough to build the Lexington school here when they built the new high school. So all of these jobs are extremely important to our members,” he said.
“It allows out members retirement security through pensions, to have access to health care through our health and welfare programs, and and also access to training programs where we can develop and maintain a skilled and productive workforce that we can send out to our employers that hire our members,” Sellers said.