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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION—OCTOBER 19, 2020 6 <br /> Finance Director Bauman said this is a total rewrite of the Purchasing Policy for the City. It is <br /> hard to identify all of the changes being requested,but the major ones are: <br /> • Include information on Cooperative Purchasing(Attachment B page 6). <br /> • Include information on Environmental Purchasing(Attachment B page 7). <br /> • Include policy on Electronic Funds Transfers (Attachment B page 9). <br /> • Request increasing the $7,500 amount throughout the policy with $10,000 (highlighted in <br /> yellow throughout Attachment B). <br /> • Request replacing the reference tables on pages 3 and 11 highlighted in yellow, with the <br /> new tables written in red. <br /> Staff is requesting feedback on the proposed changes prior to bringing a new Purchasing Policy to <br /> a future Council meeting for approval. <br /> Councilmember Holmes asked if the increases to $10,000 were in the State policy or that was at <br /> the City's discretion. <br /> Finance Director Bauman said it was a City discretion and that she had reviewed other city's <br /> policies and $10,000 was a common amount. <br /> Councilmember Holmes wondered about the section that says Reimbursement to Employees, No <br /> Quotations Necessary. <br /> Finance Director Bauman responded that was where there was a mileage reimbursement or had <br /> to use their own credit card to make a purchase and needed to submit an expense report for <br /> something they paid for out of their own pocket. <br /> Councilmember Holmes asked if they should have in the policy that even when they go with the <br /> lowest bid we have also checked on the quality of work and felt the lowest bid was the best they <br /> could have. <br /> Councilmember Scott suggested using language saying the best value bid would be accepted. <br /> Councilmember Holmes said if they go with a bid that isn't the lowest they get an explanation <br /> from staff,but if they go with the lowest bid there isn't an explanation. <br /> Mayor Grant said he's noticed they've been told it would be the lowest responsible bidder or <br /> qualified bidder because they were scored. <br /> Discussion continued regarding responsible and qualified bidders. <br /> Councilmember Holden commented that she is open to raising the purchasing limit to $10,000. <br /> She said she'd like to get more than two quotes for$175,000 bids. <br /> Mayor Grant felt 3 would be a good minimum for$25,000 - $174, 999. <br /> After discussion it was decided to change the chart to say two or more quotes for $10,000 — <br /> $49,999, and three or more quotes for$50,000 - $174,999. <br />