In an unusual turn of events, the City Council on Tuesday was forced to determine which contractor was awarded the bid for the West Grady Street Culvert Replacement project by flipping a coin.

            Y-Delta and Tucker Utilities submitted identical bids for the project - totaling $29,200. City Manager George Wood said he had never had two contractors bid exactly the same price before.

            “To my knowledge, it hasn’t happened while I’ve been here,” said Wood.

            In such situations, the State of Georgia says that city council can use a number of factors to determine who is awarded the contract, such as past performance, quality of work, timeliness of completion and estimated delivery date. Wood said in the meeting that both of these contractors have done excellent work in the past and that, all things considered, he would be happy if either one was awarded the contract.

            Out came the coin.

            Howard Tucker, of Tucker Utilities, gave Y-Delta representative Jody Rogers the opportunity to “bow out” before the flip took place. Rogers countered by saying Tucker should call the flip since his name was first alphabetically. Ultimately, the call of “heads” by Tucker and the subsequent result of “heads” in the flip by Purchasing Agent Darren Prather, gave him and his company the contract.

            In other business, the council voted 4 to 1 to reappoint Rob Hane, Nancy Waters and Paul Ferguson to the Alcohol Control Board. Will Britt cast the dissenting vote. Also, the council authorized the mayor to apply for a Georgia Recreational Trails grant in order to make improvements to the Willie McTell Trail.

            Lastly, Clyde “Ace” Amerson withdrew his request to appeal the revocation of his alcohol license for the Orient Express, which operated the Woodin Nikel.