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The Rock County Board of Commissioners decided a tied bid for highway striping with the flip of coin at their March 16 meeting.
Traffic Marking Services Inc. of Maple Lake won the coin flip in what was a first-ever tied bid-letting process for Rock County engineer Mark Sehr.
“Both quotes were identical at $71,294.40,” he said.
“After discussions with (County Administrator) Kyle (Oldre) and the county attorney’s office, it was determined we will use a coin flip to determine who to award the bid to.”
Before the board meeting Traffic Marketing Services was assigned the “heads” side of the coin, and AAA Striping Service of St. Michael was “tails.”
Vice chairman Jody Reisch flipped the coin with County Attorney Jeff Haubrich as witness.
Company representatives and Commissioner Gary Overgaard watched the process via Zoom as the coin landed on “heads.”
Board chairman Stan Williamson was absent.
Sehr commented after the meeting that the two striping contractors have experienced tied bids in the past, since they use the same paint.
The bid called for 3,159 gallons for 4-inch-wide white reflectorized edge line markings and 1,792 gallons of yellow 4-inch-wide reflective centerline paint to stripe roads throughout the county this summer.
Sehr has been the Rock County Highway Department engineer since 1996.