Seattle Paid 90 Cents for Fire Hose Spokane Got for 63, a Councilman Charged
A councilman's tip about a fire-hose price gap turned a routine purchase into a small procurement scandal — and the vendor promptly promised Seattle the lower price.
In the House of Delegates, President Crichton inquired why the fire commission had recommended the purchase of 1,400 feet of Paragon hose and 1,350 feet of Imperial hose, when the latter sold at 10 cents less per foot than the Paragon, was guaranteed a year longer, and was said to have ten pounds more pressure. If one was as good as the other, he said, the purchase of all Imperial would save $112.
Delegate Hurd, chairman of the fire and water committee, explained that the committee was largely governed in its report by information given by the fire commission and the department. The Paragon hose, he said, had been in use in the department for four years and gave excellent satisfaction. The Imperial had been in use only two years but gave good satisfaction. As it had not been in use so long as the Paragon, the fire commission thought it best to recommend half Paragon and half Imperial, and the committee concurred.
Then President Crichton inquired whether the committee had heard that while Seattle had been charged 90 cents for Paragon hose, Spokane had purchased, or at least been offered, it for 63 cents per foot. Such information, he said, had come to him from an unofficial source during the afternoon. Delegate Hurd said the committee had given the hose purchase very careful consideration; if any member of the council had such information, it should have been given to the committee. President Crichton explained that he had secured his information only a few hours before and it was not official. Delegate James said he wanted an investigation if there was anything in what President Crichton had said. Delegate James added that he had just conversed with a representative of the Paragon Company and was authorized to say that if Spokane purchased Paragon hose at 63 cents, or at any price under 90 cents, Seattle would be given the hose at the same price. That seemed to satisfy the house, and a motion adopting the fire and water committee's report was carried.
“If Spokane purchased Paragon hose at 63 cents, or at any price under 90 cents, Seattle would be given the hose at the same price.”
A councilman's tip that Spokane paid 63 cents a foot while Seattle paid 90 cents is a small procurement scandal, but it echoes every modern fight over no-bid contracts, price matching and whether Seattle gets a fair deal from vendors.
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