Rejecting a low bid for Huntington Park over clerical errors might not make the best business sense, but Franklin County commissioners were within their rights to do so, a judge ruled yesterday.

"In the absence of clear and convincing evidence of an abuse of discretion, the ultimate determination as to the reasonableness of the Commissioners' actions rests with the voters," Judge Michael J. Holbrook wrote.

Holbrook's decision in the Painting Co. lawsuit marks the second victory in three months for commissioners. Both rejected contractors who sued in Common Pleas Court to use nonunion workers and who contended that commissioners disqualified their low bids to favor organized labor.

But commissioners say they are just following a county policy, adopted in 2002, that requires contractors to pay state-set wages.

Marilyn Brown, president of the county commissioners, called Holbrook's ruling a victory for commissioners, county residents and baseball fans.

"Good business decisions mean what is best for the county residents," Brown said. "And what's best for the county residents is to have a ballpark that is built right, and is built safely, and is built by workers who are getting the proper pay and health insurance and training that our standards require. So that is, to me, good business. That is, to me, lowest and best."

Attorneys for the Painting Co. said they'll talk with their client about appealing.

"The judge said they had a right to do what they did, but what they did was not right," David S. Timms said of commissioners. The Painting Co. sued last month after commissioners rejected its $770,010 bid for the painting contract at the county's new ballpark, being built in the Arena District. The next lowest painting bid -- by a union contractor -- cost $46,000 more.

In all, the corporate sponsors and Ohio taxpayers building the $55 million stadium will pay a $261,000 premium to hire contractors who meet the county's Quality Contracting Standards. Those rules bar hiring companies that failed to pay "prevailing wages" more than three times in two years.

Most of the violations against the Painting Co. were due to Ohio State University and other public clients failing to notify the company that state-set wage rates had risen, the company argued in court. The 11 settlements totaled $22,500 in unpaid wages on contracts worth millions.

TP Mechanical Inc. had sued in January when it lost its plumbing and heating-cooling bid. It was $215,000 less than an out-of-state company commissioners hired.

A third nonunion low-bidder sued in November, but commissioners relented because their only stated justification was that they preferred a union company as more experienced in pouring concrete.

Ronald L. Mason, an attorney for the Painting Co., said they thought they had proved their case that commissioners were skewing bidding criteria.

County employees and documents testified that the 2002 Quality Contracting Standards were first used to screen out companies that had "serious" or "intentional" violations.

But in 2006, after Democrats gained control, new managers simply counted violations to follow the written rules to the letter.

Former Commissioner Dewey Stokes, a witness for the Painting Co., said his intent in voting for the Quality Contracting Standards was to punish companies that cheat workers and not to disqualify those with clerical errors.

Holbrook allowed that commissioners could have worded their policy more precisely. But he ruled that the words serious or intentional are not in the county rules.

Brown said she based her votes on the wording of the rules: "I don't know how you can say that what somebody thought they were meaning (in 2002) and that never got into writing anywhere was misinterpreted in 2008. It's just ridiculous."

The judge, however, admonished commissioners to be more prudent.

He wrote: "Excluding a low bidder who may have superficial and/or clerical violations of Ohio's prevailing wage statute, or who have reasonable explanations for such violations, may result in higher overall costs for public works projects, ultimately costing the taxpayers additional money."

Mason said he appreciates those sentiments, but they won't help taxpayers.

"An appeal to the county commissioners to 'do the right thing' in the judge's decision is a waste of paper," Mason said.

Holbrook's decision clears the way for commissioners to hire another painting contractor for the ballpark, to open in time for the 2009 Columbus Clippers baseball season.

bcarmen@dispatch.com