Dan Nicoson, Western's vice president for university advancement, said Crossland is required to comply with state prevailing wage law that sets pay at an even rate among workers -- one concern local unions had about an out-of-state pick.

He said state law required Western not to give preference to local bidders.

"We would much prefer to work with local vendors and contractors whenever we can, but we absolutely had no latitude in terms of following state law on bidding," Mr. Nicoson said.

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com

To see more of the St. Joseph News-Press or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stjoenews-press.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Submit a Comment

Name: *
Subject:
Location:
Email:
	(display Email: )
Comment:*
Enter the characters you see in the image:

* = required
(comments will appear after this article, as well as on our Readers Respond Page)

• Advertise
• Buyer's Guide
• Classifieds
• Bookmark Us