Fear mongering is leading the charge against the Responsible Contractor Ordinance (RCO), a proactive measure of governance that has been brought up for consideration within our Centre County Government. Instead of casting unfounded doubts, let’s focus on responsible governance with our tax dollars: ensuring we have responsible contractors doing our tax funded work instead of our government being forced to potentially award contracts to unethical or ineffective contractors who provide the lowest bid.
This ordinance will protect our county government from having to award contracts to those contractors who violate the law, skirt safety training and precautions or provide poor quality work. The only way to address such contractors now is to sue them. Suing is a reactive measure that increases the burden of costs to taxpayers through litigation.
We have had contractors within Centre County that were recently held accountable due to their unethical actions against their own workers. We have had five worker deaths at job sites within as many years, many of which would have been prevented with proper training and oversight. We have a problem here in Centre County and it needs to be addressed by taking a proactive measure like the RCO.
The RCO places a set of standards on the bidder of larger contracts, reducing the risk of taxpayer funds being spent haphazardly or going to employers with questionable ethics. Advocating for and ensuring responsible contractors for taxpayer funded projects is ethically and fiscally responsible governance.
Robert Zeigler
Millheim
The author is a Millheim Borough Council member and a candidate for Centre County recorder of deeds.
