County to try acting as general contractor to encourage local hiring

A changing economy means changing the way you do business-and Lac La Biche County is looking to offer local contractors a way to get back in the game.

The county is pondering a new project management system, whereby the county itself would act as the general contractor and hire subcontractors to complete smaller projects.

It would mean a combination of in-house and externally sourced work, but Mayor Omer Moghrabi said it’ s still “a hell of an idea.”

“We have people with the expertise to do some of these smaller projects,” he said, adding that the idea is still at the conceptual stage and needs to be discussed further before it’ s implemented. “We haven’ t nailed it down quite yet.”

County administrators have been asked to supply ideas for local projects that would fit this business model. Councillor Robert Richard said it’ s a win for everyone involved, because the county can reduce costs and local companies gain work opportunities in tough times.

“For us, it means being able to do more with less,” Richard said.

It also places the county in the driver’ s seat, giving the municipality direct control over certain projects.

“We can control the timing,” said Richard. “Plus, we can coordinate things like utilities and roadwork.”

The mayor agreed, saying this should be easier on the county’ s pocketbook.

“As a general contractor, you’ re able to set your price. And obviously if nobody steps forward to do the work, we’ re paying way too little,” he said with a chuckle.

The county has been criticized in recent months for awarding contracts to companies that aren’ t based locally. The municipality’ s procurement policy says the county is under no obligation to favour local businesses, but Moghrabi said this county isn’ t alone in seeking ways to help-especially in Alberta’ s northeast, where a lot depends on the level of activity and growth in the oilsands.

“Every other county and municipality (in the region)...they’ ve been trying to help their local people,” he said.

The county has taken steps to level the playing field for local contractors. Last month, a workshop was held to familiarize companies in the Lac La Biche area with the bidding process for public contracts.

Councillor Hajar Haymour said he’ d like to see more work given to local businesses, provided they’ re competitive and can handle the jobs.

“They are local. We want them to be here and to work for us,” he said.

For projects that are smaller in scale, the county shouldn’ t need to hire companies from elsewhere in Alberta or even from outside the province, he said.

More details on how the county intends to proceed with this are expected at future council meetings. Haymour said he’ s sure the county’ s way of doing things will change for the better, one way or another.

“I have faith...we can change the culture of how we do business,” he said.