Next meeting.

Yes.

Thank you.

All right.

Call to order this work study meeting.

And Michelle, can we get a roll call?

Let the record show that all council members are present except for council members to abstention.

Nice.

Purpose of this meeting is a presentation regarding the procurement policy revisions.

Dana Hennessean Finance Director, take it away.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council member.

Just a couple of housekeeping items today.

Like you mentioned, the first one is procurement policy.

And the purpose is to kind of give you a update on the proposed updates to the uh to the current uh procurement policy.

Um why are we updating this?

This policy hasn't been updated since uh September 21.

Parts of it haven't been updated for 15 years before that.

So we went through the entire policy and um uh made some uh updates and corrections and suggestions on some of the uh some of the policies.

Uh certain uh language and process need to be updated to provide clarity.

Uh also costs have risen significantly since the last time the policy was updated, and so um we're proposing to uh increase some of the uh purchasing thresholds.

Also, uh new technology is available that would help improve our efficiencies and procurement activities.

Um of the things we purchased recently was an e-procurement system, which is allows us to do online um uh if it's basically an online platform that allows us to uh reach out to vendors uh through the internet.

It also allows us to accept bids electronically, um select bids, and then um uh maintain a list of everybody that actually went to the bid, retrieved a bid, submitted a bid.

So it does a number of things for us that we used to do manually that we don't have to do manually now.

Um consequently, it'll save staff quite a bit of time.

Um also we made some changes to uh grant funding references.

Um we're recommending to replace uh the current language with uh this language that says when utilizing grant funding purchases shall follow the procurement guidelines of the granting agency, or in the absence of granting guidelines this policy as appropriate.

And reason why we're changing this is there's a number of uh grants that we uh apply for, some are federal, some are state, some are other organizations, and they have different policies, and then rather to have to update those policies each time their granting standards change.

We put this language in and leave it up to the staff member to follow the the guidelines of the actual uh granting agency.

Again, other language has been modified to clarify um procedures for staff.

I mentioned that we're um proposing to change some of the threshold limits.

Um here's some of the threshold limits that we're proposing to change.

The fixed asset threshold we're proposing to increase from 5,000 to 10,000.

Um almost everything we purchase that's a significant item assets are over 10,000.

And so at this point, we would require uh departments to get um uh three bids for anything at 10,000 above.

Um same thing, the the competitive bid and fixed asset bid is the same thing, it's rising from five to ten thousand.

Uh we're not increasing the department head authorization, they've got authorization from a zero dollars up to nine nineteen uh just under 20,000.

Um, that is actually staying the same.

Uh however, we're um increasing the town manager's authorization.

Uh, previously it was 20,000 to just under 50,000.

Now we're suggesting that it be increased from 20,000 to uh just under 100,000.

Give him a little bit more flexibility on all these contracts that we're entering into.

Um we're also um changing the uh requirement to advertise in the newspaper to advertise on the town website.

Uh we will still advertise in the newspaper when it's beneficial for the town to do that, or if that's a suggestion, but uh we're gonna require all advertising be on the town website.

Uh vendor list and information for procurement again will be maintained by the uh e-procurement system.

Um like I said, that's a very uh dynamic system and it keeps track of everything for us.

Also, we'll change the language in there for requests for bids, requests for proposals, and requests for qualification.

Um, all that will be updated to allow for digital solicitation submittals and sub selections with our uh e-procurement system.

Um we added a new section called qualified qualified vendors list, um, and this is being proposed, which will allow the town to maintain a list of on-call vendors.

We'll pre-qualify vendors, uh, maintain a list, and then if we have need for those services, we can pull from that list as opposed to having to do a solicitation each time when we need some of those services.

Um we're also uh recommending to remove the right to inspect plant and the right to audit records from the policies.

These conditions will be added for uh specific vendor contracts when they're necessary.

Um, and again, this will be something that legal will uh look at when they look at all the contracts and if necessary, they'll they'll add that into these contracts.

Um so key takeaway uh for these changes.

We're gonna clarify grant funding procedures, we're proposing to increase those specific thresholds that we mentioned.

We're proposing to update bid procedures to allow for digital solicitation submittals and selections with our e-procurement system, and then we're gonna add that section for qualified vendors list.

If there's any questions or feedback, we're happy to answer those.

Um, what we're looking for is like I said, is some input comments or suggestions.

Um, any comments or suggestions from council will look to add those to the policy, and then when we have all that added to the policy or changed, then we'll come back with a resolution approving the the new policy.