> Dalton McBride, 16, drafted by OHL’s Kitchener Rangers Pg. 5 > Leak necessitates Main St. closure Pg. 3 > Lincoln Fire Dept. gives out awards Pg. 7 > Unique bike rodeo set for TVPS Tuesday Pg. 9 Thursday, April 12, 2018 Vol. 6 Issue 49
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Up Front Friday bingo at St. Helen
St. Helen Church will be taken over by dabber fever this Friday night, April 13, when it launches its weekly bingo event. Doors open at 6 p.m. and bingo starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free. The cost for an 8-page book is $18. Food, drinks available for purchase. For info, call 905-562-7427.
Circ: 26,529
Full boots!
Grimsby Firefighter Association members took to several locations on Saturday, March 31, for their annual boot drive. Proceeds went to Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart Program for local initiatives and to help an area family with an accessibility lift for a child with cerebral palsy. Sonny and Helen Sauchuk were happy to help ‘fill the boot’ for firefighters (from left) Mike Chrystian, Chris Decker, Ryan Kucharuk and Ryan Newton. McDonald - Photo
Kinettes taking barrel orders
The Kinette Club of Grimsby is taking orders for its annual rain barrel sale. Barrels are $55 and can be picked up Saturday, May 5, at 235 Woolverton Rd. Call 905-865-8523 to place your order. There will be a very limited number available that day without pre-ordering, but plan ahead to avoid disappointment. Funds raised will support various community groups.
Elvis at seniors luncheon
Elvis will make an appearance at next Thursday’s, April 19, Spring Luncheon at the Activity Centre. Cost is $18 for members, $21 non-members. Door prizes and more. Call 905-309-2075 to book.
Grimsby moves to electronic tenders By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Grimsby’s bids and tenders process will be brought into compliance with a national trade agreement after Finance Committee authorized proceeding with a contract for a new e-bidding system on Monday night. The motion will still need to be ratified by town council this Monday, April 16. The new system will lead to online-only bids to the town for procure-
ments over $100,000. The Town must provide this service under Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), the Ontario-Quebec Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). “What it basically means is that, once it’s fully implemented, the Town will only post its tenders, RFPs, etc. online and vendors must submit their bids online,” said Steve Grun-
inger, Grimsby’s director of finance. He said several benefits will result: • Improve vendor access to bid opportunities • Reduce and/or eliminate bid irregularities and the need to reject non-compliant bids • Reduce administration and processing time spent on manual bid administration tasks • Simplify and automate the bid and addendum notification process • Reduce the overall environmental impact of
a paper based bidding processes • Reduce risk of exposure to litigation • Improve the tracking of contracts and insurance certificates • Improve tracking of vendor performance • Improve and simplify the RFP evaluation process, and; • Maintain compliance with trade agreements (i.e. CFTA and CETA). There is no cost to the Town as bidders will pay a one-time or membership fee to allow access.
“We’ll roll this out slowly to different departments within the Town. The public works department will require the most work to initially setup – setting up templates for materials and quantities,” said Gruninger. “There are a few municipalities within the Region that have moved in this direction and most recently, Niagara Falls and the Region have signed up with the bids and tenders product.”