FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Two weeks after Bob James made a runoff in which he would unseat the county commissioner from the Eastern Shore area, the city hired his company to remove and dispose of disaster debris, a contract previously held by the company of State Sen. Trip Pittman, who is in business with the commissioner-elect in Daphne.

“We own Eastern Shore Materials together,” James said last week of the company he owns with Pittman. “That’s our dirt pit operation.”

On June 14, the City Council unanimously awarded a two-year disaster debris contract to James Bros. Excavating Inc. for its low bid of $1,162,132. That contract is for the “prompt removal and disposal of debris resulting from a disaster event,” such as the “massive destruction wrought by the impact of a hurricane landfall, violent storms spawning tornadoes, as well as other natural and/or manmade disasters,” according to bid specifications.

A general contractor’s license was required to bid the work, and prospective companies had to provide documents showing they had experience in managing a citywide clean-up operation and operating a disaster debris reduction site during the past seven years.

“We’ve been involved in just about every (hurricane) that’s hit Baldwin County and the Eastern Shore since Frederic,” James said. “I think during Ivan we worked cleaning up Fairhope. Basically, loading up debris is the kind of business that we are in.”

A similar contract for disaster debris removal and disposal was held by Pittman Tractor Co. Inc. from July 2007 through July this year, according to city records. Information regarding the amount of that contract, whether it required a general contractor’s license, and how much work was done under the contract and for which disaster, was not immediately available from the city.

Pittman was unavailable for comment due to a scheduled vacation.

According to state records, James Bros. Excavating has a general contractor’s license, but Pittman Tractor does not. James Bros. Excavating is described as being in the business of excavation construction, while Pittman Tractor is in equipment sales. The website for Pittman Tractor also describes it as a tractor vehicle sales and repair business.

Pittman Tractor, with Lee “Trip” Pittman as president, is located at 9652 Milton Jones Road – adjacent to James Bros. Excavating at 9652A Milton Jones Road, where Bob James serves as secretary and his brother Roger James as President.

The 9652A Milton Jones Road address is also the location of Eastern Shore Materials Inc.

All three businesses moved to the 12.28 acres of contiguous property in 1999, with Pittman owning 2.28 acres and James owning 10, according to state and county records.

“His building and office he owns, my building and my office I own,” James said.

Pittman became president of Eastern Shore Materials in 1999, which is described as a dirt extraction business. James was president of the company in 1998, which was then described as a construction materials business.

“It’s been 11 years ago,” James said of the move of his and Pittman’s companies to the adjacent properties on Milton Jones Road. “Trip and I are friends. I think anybody that knows us knows that we are friends together. We have a few dirt pits together. We’re friends and business associates.”

In June 2009, the City Council extended Pittman Tractor’s two-year disaster debris contract for another year, which ended last month. In December 2009, the council also approved an $89,448 three-year lease with the company for a wheel loader for the public works department.

Two weeks before the council awarded the June 14 disaster debris contract to James Bros. Excavating, the council approved a contract with Pittman Tractor to set up oil booms along Fairhope’s coast for $625,575. Although that contract was not competitively bid, four other companies were contacted to submit bids of which three responded but only one completely, according to city records.

Competitive bidding with public notice is not required in some situations, such as in an emergency. The minutes of the June 4 council meeting, when the contract was awarded, do not mention a city-wide emergency declaration, but a senior city staff member said the city had declared an emergency at the time.

“Booms are not our expertise,” said James, regarding whether his company worked as a subcontractor or did any work for Pittman Tractor on the June 4 oil spill contract. “If you’re talking storm clean-up or site work, then we’re qualified to do it. But any kind of marine work, we’re not qualified to do it. I don’t like it.”

Nine companies submitted bids for the disaster debris contract this year, which required detailed financial quotes for 18 different tasks under the bid specifications. The bids ranged from the low one of James Bros. to the highest by Asphalt Services for $1,818,925. The second lowest bidder was Theodore-based Bamaco Inc. at $1,162,482 – just $350 higher than the low bid that got the contract.

A month after the city hired James Bros. Excavating, James beat County Commissioner David Ed Bishop in the July 13 runoff for the District 2 seat representing Spanish Fort, Daphne and Fairhope. Three years ago, when the council awarded the disaster debris contract to Pittman Tractor Co., Pittman was not yet a state senator. He would win that seat in a special election in October 2007.

Last week, at the adjacent businesses on Milton Jones Road, a mound of yellow boom lay coiled behind Pittman Tractor and a pile of Bob James campaign signs sat stacked next to his business.

“Hopefully it’s a contract we never get to do,” said James, referring to the debris work that would only occur and be billed in the wake of a disaster.