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COUNCIL COMMUNICATION <br />TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL <br />FROM:MALCOLM FLEMING, CITY MANAGER <br />DATE:JULY 10, 2012 <br />SUBJECT:DISCUSSION – UPDATE OF PURCHASINGPOLICIES <br />ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT:CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE <br />SUMMARY: <br />In an effort to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money, the City has adopted, and staff <br />abides by, a set of Purchasing Policiesthe objective of which is as follows: <br />The City of Louisville is funded by tax dollars. As such, the City’s purchasing policies and <br />procedures have been established to ensure that tax dollars are spent in the most <br />economical way. The City uses competitive means for the purchase of all products and <br />services whenever possible and believes in open, fair competition. <br />The City’s currentPurchasing Policies were last amended in 2007 and have become somewhat <br />dated. The 2012 draft was updated with two major factors in mind: <br />1)To determine which areas were out of date and update them; <br />2)To identify ways to make the purchasing process more efficient and reduce staff time <br />used for purchasing and contracting for services. <br />During the annual budget process the City Council reviews in detail the Five-Year Capital <br />Improvement requests and the budget for every fund. The culmination of which is the annual <br />budget approved by the City Council. The budget authorizes expenditures for specified <br />purposes. The proposed Purchasing Policies only allow staff to make purchases or contract for <br />services that are already funded by the annual budget approved by the City Council. <br />The major change that the proposed Purchasing Policies would make is increasing the dollar <br />amount that various individuals may approve. This change would expedite the <br />contracting/purchasing process for projects that have already been approved by the City <br />Council during the budget process. These changes do not reduce the requirements for bidding <br />or competition in the purchasing process; in fact the proposed policies would clarify and include <br />more details on what is required during a bidding process. The following table compares the <br />existing purchasing levels with the proposed ones. <br />SUBJECT AGENDA ITEM <br />DISCUSSION <br />UPDATE OF PURCHASINGPOLICIES <br />III <br />4 <br />