The Borough of Conshohocken is preparing to spend approximately $20 million on a new public safety building. To ensure it gets the best options and price, it should suspend the union-friendly Responsible Contractors Ordinance it initially adopted in 2006 (and updated in 2014).

The ordinance, better known as an RCO, established specific background, training, and qualification requirements for contractors bidding on public construction and maintenance projects, such as the public safety building. However, it also applies to smaller projects. The RCO impacts any project over $350,000.

We refer to this type of ordinance as “union-friendly” because they require those bidding to offer a specific type of apprentice program that is mainly utilized by unions.

This all may sound familiar. The Colonial School Board had a very public fight over an RCP (a school district has policies, not ordinances) in 2018. The RCP was adopted in 2018 and rescinded the following year.

“Responsibile Contractors” and The Colonial Middle School Saga

When the district sought bids for a general contractor for the new Colonial Middle School under the RCP, it only received two, and both were over budget (the lowest by more than $4.5 million). The Colonial School Board then voted 8-1 to reject the two bids, rescind the policy, and rebid the project. It then received seven bids and was able to select one within the budget.

Colonial Middle School was not built under a “Responsible Contractors” policy.

Now here is where it gets tricky. If Conshohocken’s borough council considers suspending or repealing its RCO, there will be significant political pressure on the Democrats on the board (six of the seven members; there is one Independent) from party leadership and the unions.

This type of pressure from the party and unions led candidates for the Colonial School Board not to seek the endorsement of either party. There hasn’t been an endorsed candidate on the school board since 2021. The district is currently ranked as the fourth-best district in the Philadelphia region.

If members of Conshohocken’s council start talking about the potential impact of the RCO, it is up to local Democrats to keep the party leadership at bay. You have to tell them to stay out of it and remind them of the Colonial Middle School saga.

If you don’t think there is political pressure, read this.

Image – Rendering of public safety building from the Borough of Conshohocken