Two Marthasville aldermen questioned and refused to approve a series of invoices for a city road project.At last Wednesday’s board of aldermen meeting, aldermen Mike Kloeppel and Pam Jensen both harshly criticized the city’s handling of a repair of Rottmann Drive. At issue was a $4,000 invoice the city received from Lamke Trenching & Excavating for concrete work.The two aldermen said the city failed to seek a bid for the project, something they said is required by the city’s purchasing policy for any purchases over $1,000.Mayor David Lange and his son, Alderman Nick Lange, denied that the project was never bid. The Langes said bids were received, but rejected, and the aldermen unanimously approved fixing the road at a prior meeting.Mayor Lange said the city sought bids for the repair work last summer. He said the city received two bids for the work, one from K.J. Unnerstall for $7,515 and one from Lamke for $9,000.The aldermen tabled any action on the improvements because of a question over who owned the roads. Lange said the ownership issue was resolved at a March 2 special meeting.Mayor Lange said Nick Lange made a motion at a meeting to approve the bid from K.J. Unnerstall Construction. The motion failed to get a second and died on the floor.Mayor Lange said Alderman Dan Grafrath then motioned to have city public works director Brad Landwehr rent some equipment to handle the bulk of the work and to hire someone to pour the concrete.Mayor Lange said Kloeppel and Jensen voted against that motion while Nick Lange and Grafrath voted in favor. Mayor Lange broke the tie and sided in favor of the project.Kloeppel argued Wednesday night that the motion did not give the city permission to spend money without the board’s approval. He said he saw the concrete had already been poured prior to Tuesday’s meeting and saw four $1,000 invoices to Lamke Trenching & Excavating for the work.Kloeppel said when the project was modified to have Landwehr do the work, the bids from KJU and Lamke were irrelevant. He said it was now a totally different project and the city should have gone out to bid for the concrete work alone.Mayor Lange disagreed. He said the city did go out to bid for the project, but opted not to accept the bids. Instead he was directed to find someone to pour concrete and he contacted Lamke.Kloeppel added the city didn’t even do utility locations for the project. Mayor Lange said it wasn’t needed because the city was the nearest utility.“That doesn’t matter,” Kloeppel said. “You don’t know what’s under there.”Jensen chastised the decision making procedure of the board.“Reckless, reckless situation we have on this board,” Jensen said. She later added, “It’s a shame to even serve up here.”That comment prompted Grafrath to ask “Why don’t you walk out?”Payment withheldWhen it came time to pay the bills, normally a formality at Marthasville meetings, Jensen and Kloeppel blocked the city from paying the Lamke bill.Kloeppel motioned to pay all the invoices, with the exception of the Lamke invoice. Jensen seconded the motion.Grafrath and Nick Lange voted against the request.Mayor Lange said he was going to break the tie and side with Nick Lange and Grafrath. City Attorney Jamis Kresyman and Jensen, however, objected. Both pointed out that Grafrath works for Lamke and can’t vote on items relating to the company.Grafrath revoked his vote and said he would abstain. The board approved paying all the invoices, except Lamke’s with a 2-1 vote.Marthasville