All Cecil Kingsley wants is a chance to design a bridge — any bridge — in Douglas County.

But with Topeka-based Finney & Turnipseed Consulting Engineers cornering the market on experience — the firm’s project engineer has been handling county bridge jobs for nearly 50 years — Kingsley fears he’ll never get a chance to land the government contracts he needs to succeed in Lawrence.

“It can’t be all about experience,” said Kingsley, a Lawrence-based vice president for BG Consultants Inc. “If that’s the case, then other folks who are highly qualified might never get a chance to do one. …

“We’re fighting for a chance to do one.”

The company is coming out swinging.

The Manhattan-based engineering firm, which has offices at 536 Fireside Court in Lawrence, argues it should get a home-field advantage. It’s pushing county officials to consider a policy that would give preference to local firms seeking government contracts.

“We should get some credit for making a local offer,” Kingsley said. “I believe that it’s good to do business in our local community anytime we can. If we’re buying cars, fences — anything — it should be local.”

Commissioners said they would be willing to entertain the possibility of such a policy, but acknowledged it would raise plenty of questions — about fairness, about local tax dollars, about professional decisions and about basic politics.

“This is essentially a subjective decision,” said Craig Weinaug, county administrator. “There is no right or wrong decision.”

¢BG Consultants Inc.¢ Dilapidated bridges incite tax talk (8-31-03)¢ State details deficient bridges (7-11-03)¢ 6News video: Several state bridges need to be upgraded¢ County’s ‘deficient’ bridges on long waiting list for repair (7-09-03)¢ 6News video: ‘Deficient’ bridges in line for county funding¢ After decade of repairs, 28% of U.S. bridges still deficient

‘I’m torn’

Commissioner Jere McElhaney, who owns a fence business, said he understood the frustration of companies that get squeezed by out-of-towners. But he also can’t shake the disgust he feels when piles of preferential policies keep him from landing jobs with other governments, such as the Kansas Department of Transportation.

If the county started instituting preferences in one category, he said, where would it end?

“I’m torn,” McElhaney said. “I really am.”

There’s plenty at stake.

BG Consultants had counted on working on at least a few of the 23 bridges the county hopes to fix during the next decade. The projects are expected to cost about $11 million, a fraction of which would go for engineering and design.

But Finney & Turnipseed edged out the hometown team on the first of them, the replacement of a bridge on County Road 1055. County engineers initially checked out 10 firms for the job and interviewed five. Each of the finalists was rated on everything from its approach to the job to its general proposal, overall experience and knowledge of personnel that would be assigned to the job.

Both BG Consultants and Finney & Turnipseed emerged about even, said Keith Browning, county engineer. Both could do the work, do it well and deliver a solid project for county residents, being paid somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000.

The only discernable difference: Bob Thorn, a Finney & Turnipseed partner.

Comfort level

“He has a very long and successful history with Douglas County,” Browning said. “He knows our bridges — our whole network — very well. In the end, that’s what gave the edge to Finney & Turnipseed. … We felt more comfortable with him.”

Kingsley doesn’t mind applying a little political discomfort. He brought five of his employees to a commission meeting last month to sit through discussions about mundane government business, only to watch their engineering proposal take a back seat to their competitors from Topeka.

When the BG Consultants crew got up to leave, commissioners wanted to make sure it wasn’t a permanent move.

“Please, guys, don’t leave Douglas County,” said Bob Johnson, commission chairman.

Kingsley laughed at the suggestion. His company is sinking $1 million into a new building near 15th Street and Wakarusa Drive, which will go a long way toward bolstering the company’s overall employment of about 100 engineers, surveyors and other professionals.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he said, looking back over his shoulder.

Good, Johnson said.

“Hopefully we’ll have a lot more bridge work for you,” he said.