The demolition of the Ludlow building has hit a snag.
During the regular meeting of the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors this week, Sunflower County Chancery Clerk Dr. Gloria McIntosh brought it to the board’s attention that there was an apparent error in the lowest bid for that job to the tune of $100,000.
Jimmy Johnson, according to McIntosh, had submitted the lowest bid at $130,000. The next lowest was Sunrise at $210,000.
“I spoke back with (Johnson) after we submitted the contract for signing, and he said that there was a mistake made on his proposal,” she said. “Instead of $130,000, it should have actually been $230,000, so he was withdrawing that.”
Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams said it’s “one of those situations that’s not good either way it goes.”
“His bid was legally submitted, legally acted on by the board. We have the right to expect him to contract,” McWilliams said. “He’s basically refused to do that on the grounds that there was an error.”
The county does have a few options, one of them being litigation, but Williams did not recommend that.
“I honestly don’t see where it’s going to do you a whole lot of good to file a lawsuit about it and force him to do it for the price that he quoted, because really, being in a courtroom upstairs is not going to get the Ludlow building demolished,” McWilliams said.
McWilliams said another option was to allow Johnson to withdraw his bid and go with the second lowest bidder.
“That would still be cheaper than if you allowed Mr. Johnson to raise his by $100,000,” McWilliams said.
The final option was to readvertise the job altogether.
District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald recommended tabling the issue and looking at demolishing the building again in 2022.
District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston concurred.
Donald made the final motion to allow Johnson to withdraw his bid and to table any further action until 2022.
Jyesha Johnson, who covers the board for The Enterprise-Tocsin, is related to Mr. Johnson. She recorded the audio for the meeting but did not have any further involvement in the writing of this story.
