The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen will re-advertise for bids to lease-purchase two fire trucks.

The board’s action came at its Tuesday meeting after it opened a bid that had been inadvertently omitted, read it and then rejected the bids. The action was done on the recommendation of a five-member committee approved by the board to review the situation and recommend a course of action.

City Clerk Walter Osborne on Tuesday opened the bid from Flagstone Public Finance of Towson, Md., which submitted its bid on time but was omitted from the bidding. The bid was 4.798; lower than any of the four bids opened by the board on Sept. 18.

The board in July advertised for bids to lease-purchase two fire trucks and opened four bids on Sept. 18: Cadence Bank, Trustmark Bank, Delta Bank and Baystone Government Finance of Leawood, Kan.

Delta Bank bid an interest rate of 4.98 percent; Cadence Bank, 5.64 percent; Baystone, 5.57 percent and Trustmark, 4.91 percent.

On Sept. 25, the board selected Trustmark Bank, which had the best interest rate of 4.91 percent, to do the lease-purchase.

Four days later, at a Sept. 29 meeting, the board learned that Flagstone Public Finance had submitted a bid on the lease purchase on time for the bidding but was mislaid and not included when the bids were opened.

Osborne said a delivery service delivered the bid to the city’s purchasing department instead of the city clerk’s office. He said the bid package was delivered on time for the bidding but was not discovered until after the board awarded the bid to Trustmark, causing the board to consider the attorney general’s opinion.

The board voted on Sept. 29 to an attorney general’s opinion but Mayor George Flaggs said after the board’s action that City Attorney Kim Nailor told the board that it takes 75 to 100 days to get an opinion, which would affect the interest rate.

He said the order to seek the attorney general’s opinion was rescinded with the committee appointment.

Under state law, the board is not required to advertise for bids to lease-purchase equipment but has done so in the past to get the best interest rate.