Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler has some flexibility to purchase fuel from local vendors if the price is right.
Ken Wagner from the Starke County Co-Op pointedly asked the county commissioners what it will take for him to successfully bid to offer the county fuel. He notes that his last bid was within 1/10th of a cent of Winamac-based Good Oil’s cost, yet the county bought the fuel from them. That came out to a total savings of $9.
Commissioner Kathy Norem agreed the county needs to purchase from local vendors whenever possible since they pay local taxes. The commissioners discussed the matter and agreed to give the highway superintendent the leeway to buy from a local vendor as long as costs are within a percent difference of what an out-of-county supplier is offering.