Dixon city officials have postponed the approval of a project bid after a labor union raised concerns about the proposed contractor’s safety and wage compliance record.

At Monday’s meeting, the council voted to table the decision to award a $391,700 contract to paint Dixon’s water tower near Moore Tires at 1315 N. Galena Ave. after last-minute documentation was provided by the Painters Union related to its allegations of the company’s history of safety violations and ongoing prevailing wage compliance issues.

The city had recommended that the council award the contract to the third-lowest bidder among eight firms that submitted proposals for the project in March.

Officials recommended rejecting the low bidder for insufficient documentation to verify qualifications and experience, despite follow-up requests by the city, and the second-lowest bidder for failing to include required alternate pricing, Dixon Water Department Manager and incoming Public Works Director Matt Huyett said.

However, union representative David Headley also urged the council not to select the third-lowest bidder.

“Responsibility isn’t just the lowest bid,” Headley said. “The lowest bid does not mean it’s going to be lower cost when corners are cut. Those costs don’t disappear. They get pushed on to the workers, the taxpayers, emergency responders and the community.”

Headley said the company has a history of failing to protect its workers from injuries and has had multiple prevailing wage violations.

“If those lead to disbarment, this project could be shut down midstream, delaying competent completion, forcing a rebid and taking critical infrastructure offline,” Headley said. “This is not a decorative paint job. This is a public water infrastructure. It requires specialized surface preparation, containment, coatings, expertise, inspections and strict compliance to the public health and environmental standards.”

City officials disagreed with Headley’s assessment. They said they rigorously vetted the company and found no evidence of any violations beyond one OSHA violation in 2015.

“I have yet to see anything,” Huyett said, referring to evidence of the allegations made by the union. He added that these concerns were first brought to the city two months ago.

“This has been ongoing for roughly 60 days, and I would have thought at this point, if it was so concrete, we’d have something in our possession,” Huyett said.

On the contrary, Huyett said, other municipalities reported having a positive experience working with the company in recent years, and it has received industry recognition for its work.

“Everybody that we contacted in regards to these contractors ... have all gave these guys rave reviews,” Huyett said. “If they [painters union] have something concrete, we’re willing to listen.”

That something came just before the vote was to take place and caused the council to change course.

“We’ve been given some additional information from the union. We’re going to need to review it,” Dixon City Attorney Rob LeSage said.

“It appeared within the last 15 minutes. The timing doesn’t make us happy, right? We appreciate the union and all that it does, but it does put the city in an awkward position,” LeSage said.

LeSage said the information provided by the union is “not easily available” to the city and would not have been part of any database.

The city has a lease agreement with Verizon Wireless, which has radio communications equipment, antennas, and appurtenances on the city water tank. Verizon has indicated it will remove the equipment before the painting project, city records show.

The council has not set a date to revisit the vote for the contract. City officials will review the documentation from the union and make a new recommendation to the council.