Franklin County’s new ballpark has cleared a legal hurdle that threatened its spring 2009 opening in the Arena District.

Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye ruled this morning that county commissioners acted properly when they shunned a low bidder in favor of two other companies who meet the county’s Quality Contracting Standards.

TP Mechanical Contractors Inc. sued on Wednesday, arguing that commissioners were unfairly applying the standards — which govern wages, benefits and training — as a guise to discriminate against the company because it is nonunion.

“There is no clear and convincing evidence that Franklin County used any unannounced bid criteria,” Frye wrote in his ruling.

Frye said commissioners have broad discretion in interpreting their policy and that “mere errors of law or judgment do not constitute an ‘abuse of discretion’ justifying a court intervention in bidding for public contracts.”

“I’m extremely disappointed,” said Ed O’Brien, TP’s Columbus regional manager. His company is considering an appeal.

Franklin County Administrator Don L. Brown said the ruling confirms that commissioners were fair.

“Not only, in my view, did they have the discretion, but they had the obligation to enforce those standards,” Brown said. “We’re now moving as fast as we can on the ballpark.”

TP bid $4.3 million to do both the plumbing and the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning at the baseball park. Commissioners chose two other contractors after finding that TP had failed to pay prevailing wages to workers four times in two years.

TP, based in Ohio, said those were minor clerical errors. It noted that splitting the bids will cost an additional $215,000.

Frye’s ruling clears the way for commissioners to sign a $2.6 million contract for plumbing at the park with W.G. Tomko, a unionized company from Pennsylvania. The ventilation contractor has not yet been chosen; the low bid is $1.9 million.