10-26-2020-R - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 2 NEW BUSINESS ITEM – 9A MEMORANDUM DATE: October 26, 2020 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers Dave Perrault, City Administrator FROM: Gayle Bauman, Finance Director SUBJECT: Purchasing Policy Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: N/A N/A N/A Council Should Consider The City Council is requested to consider approval of an updated City of Arden Hills Purchasing Policy. Background The City’s Purchasing Policy was last updated in 2014. Since that time, the State Legislature has revised Minnesota Statute 471.345 on Uniform Municipal Contracting Law increasing contract limits and Minnesota Statute 471.38 on Claims requiring local governments to have a policy on electronic funds transfers. Also, information related to Cooperative Purchasing and Environmental Purchasing needs to be added. Discussion A draft of the proposed policy was discussed at the Council Work Session on October 19, 2020. Direction was given as follows: • Update language at bottom of page 1 which stated ‘It is not the policy of the City to accept the lowest bidding vendor.’ • Ensure language on page 3 is consistent with page 11 regarding quotations. • Amend Quick Reference Guide on page 11 to reflect that three (3) or more quotations are required, as practicable, for purchases of $50,000 or more. • Accept recommendation to increase the $7,500 amount throughout the policy with $10,000. • Accept the recommendation to update tables on pages 3 and 11. This is a total rewrite of the Purchasing Policy for the City. Besides the direction from Council listed above, the other major changes are: • Include information on Cooperative Purchasing (page 6). • Include information on Environmental Purchasing (page 7). • Include policy on Electronic Funds Transfers (page 9).