WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.360 Good evening. Evelyn, could you please give me the invocation? 00:00:18.790 --> 00:00:29.940 Okay. If you want to, bow your heads. Father God, we are meeting again today in these chambers to discuss 00:00:29.940 --> 00:00:37.060 every important business for the city of Freeport. The agenda may be small tonight, Father, but everything 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:44.080 that is going to be discussed is important to us and to you. Father, you already know what has to happen in 00:00:44.080 --> 00:00:50.600 order for our city government to run decently and in order. First Corinthians 1440 says, let all things be 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:58.040 done decently and in order. Father, we need resolutions. We need rules and laws to take place according to 00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:26.820 your will. Isaiah 22, 22 and Revelations 3, 7 says you will open doors that no one can shut and you will shut doors that no one can open. Let every council member understand and remember that they are serving every person in this precious city, my hometown. Father God, you're in charge of all governments, but you give man the opportunity to serve well. In Jesus name. Amen. 00:01:26.820 --> 00:01:27.480 Amen 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:29.020 Thank you, Evelyn 00:01:29.020 --> 00:01:30.520 Now we'll call this meeting to order 00:01:30.520 --> 00:01:31.880 Madam, please take the roll 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:33.000 Mayor Miller 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:33.480 Here 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:35.700 Alderpersons, Clemm 00:01:35.700 --> 00:01:36.100 Here 00:01:36.100 --> 00:01:36.780 Johnson 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:37.240 Here 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:37.880 Simmons 00:01:37.880 --> 00:01:38.540 Here 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:39.160 Parker 00:01:39.160 --> 00:01:39.740 Here 00:01:39.740 --> 00:01:40.380 Stacy 00:01:40.380 --> 00:01:41.340 Here 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:41.860 Shadle 00:01:41.860 --> 00:01:42.360 Here 00:01:42.360 --> 00:01:43.000 Sanders 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:43.500 Here 00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:44.320 And Sellers 00:01:44.320 --> 00:01:44.760 Here 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:49.140 And item number three is the Pledge of Allegiance 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:52.200 If you could please stand for that, led by Alderman Sanders 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:56.060 Aye 00:01:56.060 --> 00:02:10.220 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic over which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:02:14.700 --> 00:02:17.500 Item number four is the approval of the agenda. Is there such a motion? 00:02:18.220 --> 00:02:18.620 So moved. 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:19.120 Second. 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:25.800 We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Sellers. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:26.240 Aye. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.900 Opposed? That motion passes. 00:02:28.900 --> 00:03:00.560 Item number five is approval of the minutes from the committee of the whole meeting on April 13th, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Shadle, seconded by Alderman Johnson. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion passes. Item number six is the recognition of the director of community and economic development, Manager Boyer. Thank you, Your Honor. Gertrude Heimerdinger is being recognized for 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:30.540 for excellent work in supporting a sensitive matter regarding the state of Illinois. Gertrude, would you mind coming up? While the details can't be discussed, her attention to detail and quick response helped bring this matter to a timely resolution. So Gertrude's work reflects professionalism, good judgment, and strong commitment to the city of Freeport. We appreciate her diligence and the importance of the role that she played helping keeping this matter taken care of. So tonight I'd like to recognize Community Development 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:32.480 Development Director, Gertrude, Heimerdinger. 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:56.890 Item number seven is public comment. 00:03:56.970 --> 00:03:58.650 Darren, can you look and see if anybody signed in? 00:04:00.640 --> 00:04:01.280 Thank you. 00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:07.520 And item number eight is presentation regarding the trash pickup with Honeywell employees and 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:08.800 meal-in-a-bag event. 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:12.340 Hello. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:17.620 Well, you've seen the pretzel pickers before, but we had a very important collaboration with 00:04:17.620 --> 00:04:21.300 Honeywell, and I'll let Heather Bush tell you more about that. 00:04:21.520 --> 00:04:30.740 On May 2nd, the Freeport Honeywell team celebrated Earth Day by continuing our tradition of partnering with the local Pretzel City Pickers. 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:39.880 Together, employees and family members actively work to clean litter along the roads and public areas surrounding Honeywell's main building and other areas in Freeport. 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:47.060 This initiative reflects our land's longstanding commitment to our community in this hands-on way. 00:04:47.060 --> 00:05:16.920 we aim to foster a connection to our local ecosystem and promote sustainable practices for a cleaner greener future we had multiple multi generations outworking and teaching others the importance of keeping our city clean in all 34 bags of trash were collected and employees received a t-shirt designed by our own one of our own employees the city has also as sorry that wasn't part of it I'm just was 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:22.320 really grateful that we were able to partner up together. I hope we can do this more and involve 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:29.140 families and children, you know, to get them out there caring about their community. So thank you. 00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:40.210 We also want to give a shout out to the city of Freeport for helping us pick up all those bags of 00:05:40.210 --> 00:05:48.030 trash and disposing of them. We also found a tire and some terrible carpet and that snake. 00:05:48.030 --> 00:06:18.030 that snake was living in the carpet and I picked up that carpet and just got a really good scare and then we also on May 7th oh there we go on May 7th we held our third meal in a bag event and what that means is that we assembled 00:06:18.030 --> 00:06:25.550 shelf-stable meals to distribute, shelf-stable meals, and we put them in a bag and we distribute 00:06:25.550 --> 00:06:33.050 them to our local food pantries. And on May 7th, we did our third one, and we've given these bags to 00:06:33.050 --> 00:06:38.750 various pantries, and this time we took them to Joseph's Pantry, Amity, Church of the Brethren, 00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:47.170 Mount Calvary, and New Jerusalem Pantries. So we've done about 200, would you say 300 bags here? 00:06:47.170 --> 00:07:17.030 Let me see my number here. Math isn't my thing. Yeah, each bag has everything you need to make a complete meal. We put everything in a clear plastic bag and we put the recipe inside to explain how to prepare this meal so that the pantries can just hand them out. We also distributed birthday cake in a bag. And we also, so we put in a cake mix. And did you know you can make a birthday cake with a cake mix? 00:07:17.030 --> 00:07:47.030 and a can of soda. We didn't know this but it is true. We also add frosting, birthday candles, a birthday card and we put everything in also a disposable baking pan with parchment paper so it doesn't stick and we put it in a gift bag so that you have a little party in a bag and we're happy to do that too. So we've also distributed cereal with shelf stable milk, macaroni and cheese cups and 00:07:47.030 --> 00:07:52.130 Ramen, Noodles, and we've sent these to other food pantries and the District 145 schools. 00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:55.090 We want to prevent hunger in our community. 00:07:57.370 --> 00:08:04.690 Since the reduction in federal support for SNAP benefits, hunger is a continuing problem in all of our communities. 00:08:05.350 --> 00:08:10.370 And the pretzel pickers, with the help from Mad Men, we do have a representative for Mad Men here, 00:08:10.370 --> 00:08:46.610 and the YMCA who allows us the space to make this happen because it's quite a process we've made it a priority to address this because we don't believe anyone in Freeport should go hungry so there's some more pictures of us in action anyway thank you for your support and allowing us to let you know about this program thank you pretzel pickers item number nine is the presentation regarding revising purchasing power 00:08:46.610 --> 00:09:16.350 Policy, Director Richter. Thank you. Good evening. I'd like to start maybe with just a little bit of history and what I'm hoping to accomplish over the next six weeks or so with the purchasing policy. As far as history, our last City of Freeport purchasing policy was written in 2007. It definitely needed an update. It needed a total redo. 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:44.490 Um, so we are, our plan, um, is to, um, develop, it's in process now, a whole new purchasing policy, um, that incorporates, uh, I've looked at other communities policies, I spoke to Attorney Zito, and we're gathering all of the necessary components to go into the policy. 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:58.930 How I'd like to move forward with it is I'd like to present to you the topics of the policy, the each individual chapters and the subtopics in each chapter. 00:09:58.930 --> 00:10:27.960 in each chapter. Just to kind of get your feel for it, I'd like to take your input and make sure those things are addressed in the policy. My plan then is to bring for first reading, we're going to be doing this as an ordinance, so it'll require two readings. I'd like to bring it to first reading in June, the first meeting in June, which would 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:35.540 be the sixth, the first, then it's the first for first reading. Then if we'd like to, there'll be a cow. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:43.180 If we want, if we feel that there's more discussion needing needed, we'll have another cow in June and then 00:10:43.180 --> 00:10:52.500 a second reading then in June. So we have plenty of time to discuss it. Take a look at the document 00:10:52.500 --> 00:11:24.260 because the document's over 20 pages long. So I, with no further ado, I'll just kind of get into it and I can take questions as they come. The policy itself, chapter one will just have an introduction and statement of policy. It's basically a summary of the policy that'll say that it's a fluid document that 00:11:24.260 --> 00:11:54.240 that will address amendments from time to time. It explains that the city has a decentralized purchasing process. So the city of Freeport does not have a purchasing department. There isn't a one person who's the purchasing manager that the purchasing agent kind of falls to me as far as an agent, but each department purchases their own supplies and goods. 00:11:54.260 --> 00:12:24.240 and Services. It also addressed that the city will make every effort to purchase local as long as the item is the same quality. You're talking about the exact same item. If we had two reams of paper, they're exactly the same and the price here from a local place in Freeport is less than someone in another community. 00:12:24.260 --> 00:12:54.220 we will take the Freeport one definitely but it has to be the same item the goal of the policy is to assist our staff with procuring quality goods and services at the lowest possible price in a impartial consistent manner with the highest standards of public service moving into chapter two which will include the purchasing code of ethics so they'll be 00:12:54.220 --> 00:13:27.240 a section on ethics and included in that section there will be statements such as we will have a the highest level of integrity when we're purchasing items that we will consider cooperative purchasing with other local governments or with the state of Illinois will not directly or indirectly 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:53.000 directly accept gifts or favors from current or potential suppliers. It will be, we will purchase without favor or prejudice and without the appearance of favor to any one company or agency. So that's some language we're using under the purchasing code of ethics. There'll also be a conflict of interest portion. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:14:22.980 and so we don't have a conflict of someone an employee working for a company that you want to buy the same supplies from we do not want that highest integrity is what we need here gifts and gratuities also be a section on gifts and gratuities a city personnel should be this is just one of the statements that will be in 00:14:22.980 --> 00:14:29.780 the section. City personnel should be aware that offers of gratitude from vendors could be designed to 00:14:29.780 --> 00:14:38.860 compromise objective judgment in product or service selection. So just try and keep in the back of your 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:43.540 mind that this is a, like I said in the beginning, this is a guideline for each of the departments. Since 00:14:43.540 --> 00:14:48.400 it's not just one person or two people buying all the supplies for the city, all these things need to 00:14:48.400 --> 00:14:53.040 be laid out for every department because they apply to every department making purchases. 00:14:58.160 --> 00:15:07.780 One of the important, we have two larger important sections of the policy that I would like some 00:15:07.780 --> 00:15:15.380 conversation on if possible, if council feels. The first one I'm going to get to is approval of city 00:15:15.380 --> 00:15:25.520 purchases. This has to do with the spending level of a department head versus a finance director versus a city manager. 00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:38.360 As it stands, I did in my memo, and I'm sorry, it's the second graph on the memo. It's why I kind of handed those 00:15:38.360 --> 00:16:07.960 Souda as well. Purchase authority and dollar limit. And I'm comparing where it was in 2007 versus what is proposed for this year, 2026. Purchases 5,000, or let me start at the beginning, under 500. In the old policy, that was the department director. Between $501 to $5,000. 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:34.420 Purchasing Agent or City Council Committee. We have been using the department head currently. And then at 10,000, you could see that at the 10,000, 5,000 to 10,000 level, it was city manager. And then above 10,000, it's city council. We need city council approval for a purchase of over 10,000. 00:16:34.420 --> 00:17:05.010 If you look at the 2026 column, you'll see that the department director would be eligible to purchase under $5,000, the department director and finance director have to agree and that limit then would go up to $10,000 and then up to basically $25,000, $24,999.99 would be department director, finance director, 00:17:05.010 --> 00:17:14.710 and City Manager. That means all three of those positions sign off on the purchase order for an item for $24,000. 00:17:16.750 --> 00:17:30.160 Anything above $25,000 needs approval by City Council. So that is the approval of City Purchases, that section. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:58.280 I do want to say that those authority levels are only items in an approved city budget so for example at the $10,000 level where the department director and finance director are that $10,000 needs to be in the budget if we're buying something for $10,000 it has to be in a board approved budget 00:17:58.280 --> 00:18:06.300 Is there any questions on that before I move forward? 00:18:06.300 --> 00:18:18.960 I just want to say I like it because the way of the prices of things that have went up since this time to now, so I think it's something that is needed to do. 00:18:20.040 --> 00:18:20.980 Thank you. 00:18:26.100 --> 00:18:27.020 Alderman Simmons. 00:18:27.020 --> 00:18:55.360 I'm going to go ahead right now and say that $25,000 without city council approval is not a number. And I'm glad that you're open to be flexible, that I would agree with, because that's why we have council to oversee purchases of this size. Now, I do think it needs to increase from the $10,000, but up to $25,000 is too much without oversight. 00:18:55.360 --> 00:19:32.060 Right. Anyone else? Director Richter, where did the amount $25,000 come from? That state statute. So it raised, I can't tell you when, sometime between 2007 and now. But that is the state of Illinois level for... For competitive bidding. Right. So anything over $25,000 has to be competitively bid. Right. Alderman Clem? 00:19:32.060 --> 00:19:58.000 I just wanted to use as an example was last month, I believe it was, we approved a roof repair at the airport for $10,600 and some dollars or something to that extent, you know, right in there. To me, that should have been able to be handled in-house without going all the way to console and waiting for payment. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:25.420 all the way to console and waiting for payment and all that kind of stuff. I agree the mounts, like Joy said, and also you brought up the fact that 25 may be too much, but it needs to change from what it was, and it looks like the people that you have involved in it, to get all of them to agree to it, it's got to be pretty well, pretty straightforward, so I think you're on target with it. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:55.980 Aaron? I just wanted to point out a key point that Michelle said not to gloss over, but these budget ratios are for items that are not in the budget. So council will have already approved these types of purchases within the budget up to $25,000. And of course, that's why it takes the sign-offs because when a department director asks for that type of a spend, Michelle has to sign off on it because it will 00:20:55.980 --> 00:21:02.120 she'll be reviewing the budget to make sure it's within the budget before it goes to the city manager for that type of approval. 00:21:02.120 --> 00:21:07.200 So if it is never within the budget, it would have to come back to council anyway. 00:21:14.060 --> 00:21:14.880 Clerk Anderson. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:24.900 Darren, while you're speaking, I've been in bid openings for nine years, pre-COVID and post-COVID. 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:27.580 Could you just pick out two things? 00:21:28.120 --> 00:21:30.220 Concrete, I know concrete's through the roof. 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:33.140 some of the nuts and bolts that were at well number 12. 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:33.500 I don't know. 00:21:33.560 --> 00:21:40.020 Pick out a couple of things just in nine years or if you want to go back to 2007, how costs have gone up. 00:21:40.380 --> 00:21:40.540 Sure. 00:21:42.300 --> 00:21:52.500 Something I could give you an idea of concrete alone, I think, went from $100 to about $175 since COVID just in cost of materials. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:55.680 Bolts are somewhere from $3 to $9. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:22:25.540 I mean almost all of the water and sewer materials have darn near tripled in price from what it used to be a curb stop that is at every house in Freeport used to be around $20 now it's about $90 for just that one part so the cost of inflation what we're seeing is that a lot of things that are already within the purchasing grasp of each department and I'll pick water and sewer especially because their parts and pieces are you know we don't know 00:22:25.540 --> 00:22:55.300 day to day what we need to buy for that we buy based on what's broken what needs to be fixed those parts that almost every order that we have now because of the current purchasing policy has to come back through council which is it's it's fine that it does that it's just seemingly that we're bringing business back here that's already been approved through the annual budget that that wouldn't need to come back here because it's if we have to replace a water main parts and pieces or do a repair we have to do it regardless. 00:22:55.540 --> 00:22:57.760 That's why we have the budget item for doing it. 00:23:00.320 --> 00:23:02.340 Go ahead, Alderman Johnson. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:15.500 So when we approve, like say we approve something $25,000 or more, we would get like an itemized list of what all that money is for in a certain department if it's needed? 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:17.120 If it's over? 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:22.940 If it's like $25,000 and we approve that, I mean, it says city council has to be on it. 00:23:23.080 --> 00:23:25.880 Would you get an itemized list of what that money is spent for? 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:27.920 Yeah, it'd be the same process that we do now. 00:23:28.040 --> 00:23:34.060 We bring it right back with whatever that purchase order is or whatever we're requesting to buy. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:35.080 We didn't have it. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:35.440 Okay. 00:23:35.800 --> 00:23:36.200 Thank you. 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:37.740 Director, Richter, you can go ahead. 00:23:41.460 --> 00:23:46.620 So along with that, on the other side of your memo, going back to the front side of your memo, 00:23:46.620 --> 00:24:15.920 The graph at the bottom of the page addresses how departments are to solicit prices. At what dollar amounts are you supposed to get one verbal quote? At what dollar amount are you supposed to get three verbal quotes? At what dollar amount are you supposed to get written quotes from vendors? And then when you're supposed to go out to bid, $25,000. 00:24:16.620 --> 00:24:38.080 is when you're required to go out for a bid. So that is also an important component of the policy because you can see how with the dollar amounts increasing how we've changed those. We are also... 00:24:38.080 --> 00:24:39.360 Alderman Sanders, did you have a question? 00:24:39.360 --> 00:25:08.540 Yeah, it doesn't matter what dollar amount is being requested or considered, whether it's one quote, three quotes, bidding, or whatever the case may be, each event needs to have a list to itemize whatever it is that we're going to get, whether it's 500 or less, 00:25:08.540 --> 00:25:30.380 or over. We need to know what is the purpose and who is what department is it for. We might be speaking the same language. I'm just trying to get a much more detailed understanding how this is going to come about and what departments are eligible to make these requests. 00:25:30.380 --> 00:25:57.520 So all of the departments will be utilizing this process to buy, say, for example, like their office supplies, but if they're buying, I'm going to exaggerate, a desk for, I don't know, $1,000, they need to get three quotes. 00:25:57.520 --> 00:26:20.400 they need to look three places. And something else that we're instituting with this policy is that that needs to be documented and recorded that those that you have the written quotes or if you did it verbally you're going to need to write it down somewhere. So we're going to have a form so that can be documented as well. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:50.380 this all goes towards you know being fiscally responsible and we have a software program that we can for those departments that choose some departments are going to want to keep all that information because maybe next year they're going out for a desk and they want to know who they bought it from you know there'll be good information for the departments to keep there'll also be good information to put into our software system along with the final invoice and saying that we did our job and we checked for the lowest 00:26:50.380 --> 00:27:09.280 Price. Does that help? Yes, somewhat. Who's going to manage all of this movement in the departments to make sure everybody is coordinated and everybody is on point with what is required of them? 00:27:11.780 --> 00:27:20.120 Well, the department heads will all be responsible for signing off that they receive the new policy once it's done. 00:27:20.380 --> 00:27:42.540 they have to sign off that they've received it and they'll be responsible to push this information down to the appropriate personnel in their department so that they follow all the guidelines as well. So this is kind of a road map for them, a way to get their purchases made so they can follow a procedure on how to get it done. 00:27:42.860 --> 00:27:45.380 Okay. Okay. Thank you. 00:27:46.380 --> 00:27:50.010 Were you done? 00:27:50.870 --> 00:27:51.350 Yeah. 00:27:51.350 --> 00:28:03.130 Just a comment. There's very few people within departments that have the ability to make these purchases. It's very limited right now and still will be limited within the departments. 00:28:03.970 --> 00:28:06.270 Okay. One more. 00:28:09.270 --> 00:28:19.670 So purchases over $25,000 will go to council as an individual item, but just like we do now, anything under that will still be on the consent agenda every time, correct? 00:28:19.670 --> 00:28:54.220 You could still find the list of purchases at the lower amounts. Okay. Move on. The next section is buying local. I kind of referred to that already on the previous slide, but all items being equal. The item is exactly the same. We definitely will purchase from the vendor in Freeport at the lower price, but we need to be fiscally responsible. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:02.760 with taxpayer dollars. And when buying local, that item needs to, you know, we need to make sure 00:29:02.760 --> 00:29:10.440 everything's on a similar playing field. We need the same item. Waiver of competitive bidding. 00:29:13.260 --> 00:29:23.080 We already do have, we bring to council when we have sole source procurements. So that's when we 00:29:23.080 --> 00:29:40.900 We're waiving competitive bidding so we can buy it from the sole source. And we have that come up quite often where there's only one person we can get that particular piece of equipment or item and that we do bring those to council. 00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:55.640 The policy would say if it's a sole source item under $25,000 as it's written now, the city manager would allow a sole source procurement under $25,000. 00:29:55.640 --> 00:30:25.290 under $25,000. However, over $25,000 would have to come to council. That dollar value still holds. Council still has to approve it even if it is a sole source procurement. Let's see here. So that's when we would, we call it waiving the competitive bid process because you don't have to go out for bids if there's only one place that makes that. 00:30:26.110 --> 00:30:31.390 We have an emergency purchases policy within the document. 00:30:32.030 --> 00:30:33.890 We've brought those to council before. 00:30:33.890 --> 00:30:36.790 It would be at the $25,000 threshold. 00:30:39.070 --> 00:30:43.230 Sole source purchasing, there's some items outlined in the policy. 00:30:44.230 --> 00:30:52.430 Sole source also applies to utility services, things that you don't have a choice. 00:30:52.430 --> 00:30:54.590 the cost of a stamp. 00:30:54.910 --> 00:30:57.790 You don't have a choice of what those types of things are. 00:31:00.370 --> 00:31:08.890 There's also items in here where there's compatibility issues that would also be considered a sole source purchase. 00:31:09.070 --> 00:31:09.650 Alderman Stacy? 00:31:11.210 --> 00:31:11.810 Yes. 00:31:13.650 --> 00:31:17.610 You said if there was only one person selling a product. 00:31:17.610 --> 00:31:25.820 Mm-hmm. Like, in what situation would there be one person? I might refer to Darren a little 00:31:25.820 --> 00:31:31.940 bit. Actually, Aaron Zito was going to. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm only. I can see this example come up 00:31:31.940 --> 00:31:38.760 all the time. Like the police radios. It's pretty much only Motorola makes the Star Trek police 00:31:38.760 --> 00:31:47.540 radios. So you pretty much have to buy them. That's one example. 00:31:47.540 --> 00:32:06.540 There, the next section, I have competitive bidding exemption and solicitation of competitive quotes. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:25.960 There is a section in here, so what if you buy, I'm going to use Kurt as an example, he buys, you know, his quota in his budget of laptops for the year in January, and he finds out in December, he still has budget, so he's going to buy a few more, but that puts him over the 25, it's 25,000. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:29.760 So you buy some at the beginning of the year and you buy some at the end of the year. 00:32:29.840 --> 00:32:31.180 You didn't know you'd need more. 00:32:32.260 --> 00:32:40.800 There is a statement in here that the city manager can determine whether it is a issue to do that. 00:32:40.800 --> 00:33:02.240 However, there is also a statement in here that you cannot purposely buy things in two separate purchases to go over $25,000 to avoid bringing it to council or bringing it up through the purchasing process. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:31.980 that is a violation that is it says strictly that is a violation of the policy you cannot buy two different orders for the same thing two different times to keep the price below $25,000 a joint purchasing we've talked about this one before we've talked about I'm going to say sole source source well sorry we talk about source well 00:33:31.980 --> 00:33:38.920 a lot. That's the place that they already go out and determine the lowest price for certain equipment. 00:33:41.740 --> 00:33:48.740 That source well and the state of Illinois has, I believe, their own purchasing program that also goes 00:33:48.740 --> 00:33:56.360 out and determines the lowest cost of an item. So those are also reasons why you'd waive the competitive 00:33:56.360 --> 00:34:25.720 bidding process. Someone else has already done it for us. So we're able to use source wealth. And we use, like I said, we use those places a lot for some of our equipment purchases. There's a section specifically, adherence to budget. So you cannot purchase items unless they're in an approved budget. If it is not in the budget, you need to come to council and ask for a budget amendment. 00:34:26.360 --> 00:34:30.100 to make sure that there's funds in the budget to make that purchase. 00:34:32.160 --> 00:34:37.800 There are exclusions. There's a section on exclusions to competitive purchasing process. 00:34:38.460 --> 00:34:42.680 And like I said, those, I kind of referred to it a little earlier. Those are the things that we do not 00:34:42.680 --> 00:34:52.960 have. You can't go out and ask for competitive prices on dues and memberships, advertising in a 00:34:52.960 --> 00:35:24.410 newspaper, subscriptions or periodicals, postage, property, utility services or copyrighted materials, electrical services, that type of thing. So there's a little section in on that. Chapter three has some miscellaneous purchasing policies and guidelines. One section, and we're still working on this one, I think, disposal of 00:35:24.410 --> 00:35:32.790 City property. And it's kind of odd to think, why is it in your purchasing policy? It kind of seems like 00:35:32.790 --> 00:35:40.270 it's not a place where you'd think this would be. But the instance I'd like to bring up is turning in a 00:35:40.270 --> 00:35:48.910 used vehicle or swapping out police vehicles. If you are doing a trade-in for a vehicle worth $10,000 00:35:48.910 --> 00:36:17.210 and your new one is now only going to cost 15 because you're doing a trade-in, you still have to bring it to council for the full value of the item that you're trying to purchase. So that's kind of why this is in here. I think we're also checking with Attorney Zito on is there a nominal value of items that we can dispose of without coming to council? 00:36:17.210 --> 00:36:23.890 so like $200 or $500. I don't know if that's something we can do or not. We're still investigating that. 00:36:24.170 --> 00:36:29.610 And the only things I'm thinking of is an office chair. You know, we've had a broken office chair sitting 00:36:29.610 --> 00:36:34.250 around, you know, in our office because we haven't, you know, finance doesn't have a lot of stuff to 00:36:34.250 --> 00:36:42.590 surplus. So is there a nominal value that council would be comfortable with to get rid of items with 00:36:42.590 --> 00:37:16.830 very smaller values. We have a section on purchases near the end of the fiscal year. This is really for the department directors. Department directors shall be responsible for ensuring that they are expensing against the fiscal year in which the goods or services are received. So this is kind of up to the department heads or their designee or office staff that 00:37:16.830 --> 00:37:33.010 helps us with accounts payable. If you buy something, you receive it in December, you receive it December 31st, that bill goes to December 31st. You can't take that bill and push it into next year, I'm afraid. So that's just put into the purchasing policy. 00:37:33.010 --> 00:37:57.990 A section on use of the city's sales tax exemption number. Very important for all the departments to use our tax exempt number as we don't pay Illinois sales tax. So that is in here. There's a section on department director acknowledgement. Like I mentioned before, all the department directors will need to sign off that they receive the policy. 00:37:57.990 --> 00:38:20.230 We've added a change order policy. We have a couple tweaks going to it, but change orders, these are more for our bigger, maybe construction projects, or it could even be for a vehicle purchase. I'm thinking of maybe an engine. 00:38:20.230 --> 00:38:45.230 There could be a change order to the end of the production of something like an engine that we needed to add on some equipment or something like that. And this is outlining a dollar amounts that those need to come back to council. So if council's already approved $100,000 to purchase an ambulance, which isn't right, it's about $250,000, right? $450,000. 00:38:45.230 --> 00:39:09.710 and so if there is we have we're working on percentages and dollar amounts to if it goes over a certain percentage of what council was told it has to come back to council again to approve that change order so that is also a significant section of the policy. 00:39:15.230 --> 00:39:39.990 There is also in here, City Council shall be notified of a change order if there's an increase or decrease in either the cost of a contract by a total of $25,000 or more, or if the time of completion extends more than 180 days. So if a project is taking a little bit longer, we need to let you know that it's going to take more than 180 days. 00:39:39.990 --> 00:39:53.240 Also in here is our purchasing card policy The city does already use credit cards A lot of cities call them purchasing cards 00:39:53.240 --> 00:40:00.600 purchasing cards, kind of interchangeable, purchasing cards, credit cards. Some cities use them to a higher 00:40:00.600 --> 00:40:08.220 extent than we use them. We generally use our credit cards only for like a travel related thing, a hotel 00:40:08.220 --> 00:40:15.860 thing, you know, hotel and meals while you're gone, or maybe an emergency purchase that's a lower 00:40:15.860 --> 00:40:45.700 threshold on the credit cards. The city manager approves all credit cards that are issued. Right now it's, this is just FYI, not in a policy, but department directors have them and a few designated staff that have to deal with purchasing items. And there are strict rules when we get those statements in that all, everything has to have a receipt unless we have a 00:40:45.700 --> 00:41:11.980 Affidavit of Waiver of why that receipt is missing and an explanation on that. Something a little bit new in the policy is issuance of purchase orders. So right now, Public Works generally issues the most purchase orders. They have it as a tracking mechanism for their department and it works well. 00:41:11.980 --> 00:41:38.340 What I'm proposing is anything over $5,000 will have a purchase order. Since we looked at those purchasing levels a little bit ago, if there's a purchase order for anything between $5,000 and $10,000, it's going to need the department director and me. Anything over that is going to need department director, me, and Rob for all departments. 00:41:38.340 --> 00:42:07.980 because we don't have a purchasing department purchase orders were not were not used very heavily but I'd like them to be started for anything 5,000 and above. We have a section on new vendors it just says new vendors to the city of Freeport are required to provide a W-9 form that just tells me the business status and whether I have to send them IRS documents at the end of the year. 00:42:08.340 --> 00:42:19.500 and helps us get them set up in our computer system. Chapter four is all about bidding, competitive bidding. 00:42:20.180 --> 00:42:25.480 And this is a guideline for the departments on bidding. Not every department does a lot of 00:42:25.480 --> 00:42:36.240 competitive bidding. Mostly it's public works. So this kind of outlines timeframes, when ads have 00:42:36.240 --> 00:43:04.100 to go in the paper, what has to be included in the bid, you know, cover page, descriptions, and that kind of thing. And that would be over $25,000. It needs to be competitive bid. I won't go through all of the bidding procedures, but they will be in here for the copy when we vote on it in June. I think we're in the home stretch. 00:43:04.100 --> 00:43:31.560 It also designates bid opening requirements, who has to be there when a bid is opened, when does a bid, what's the timing of that, what has to be documented when bids are opened, what happens if we get a bid and it's not sealed, what happens if we get a bid and it's after the deadline, that's going to be all outlined in the policy and procedure. 00:43:31.560 --> 00:44:06.500 Chair. Council would receive a draft of those? Yes. You'll have the whole thing of what the policy will hold. I thought maybe you wouldn't want me to read through it. Okay. Thank you. Let's see. There is a section on, I'm going to kind of skip through 00:44:06.500 --> 00:44:14.480 the end through the bid process. It ends here with rebidding. You know, sometimes there are cases where 00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:20.500 you have to rebid. You didn't get any bids. Nobody submitted. And you have to rebid. So there's a 00:44:20.500 --> 00:44:26.720 section on that. There is a section on requests for professional services. And we've kind of talked 00:44:26.720 --> 00:44:35.160 about this one quite a bit. Professional services, by their nature, are not adapted to award by 00:44:35.160 --> 00:44:43.060 competitive bidding. And so there's a whole, there's a paragraph on that explaining about professional 00:44:43.060 --> 00:44:54.800 services. And then I think the last couple sections are about contracts and that they need to be reviewed 00:44:54.800 --> 00:45:04.640 by legal counsel. And then we have a section at the end. Chapter five is just a glossary of terms. 00:45:05.160 --> 00:45:15.440 So what do we mean by alternate bid, an award, a bid, a bid bond, a bid bond check, who is a bidder, bid documents. 00:45:16.340 --> 00:45:21.760 So some of these aren't normal terms to everyone. And so we just included a glossary at the end. 00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:39.000 And then I don't have them done yet. But I want to also develop the standard purchase order format. 00:45:39.000 --> 00:46:09.000 so the format we're using for purchase orders will look exactly the same across all departments even though the different departments might be preparing their own. We want them all to be uniform. I'll also attach a copy of our tax exempt form and a document for the departments to use to record their verbal quotes or their written quotes to record those 00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:38.080 When they have to get those verbal quotes, they can write down what vendors they contacted and how much, sign and date, and it will be documented. And that's really all the components of it. But like I said, I wanted to present it. So you have plenty of time to start thinking about the document. And like I said, we'll get the document out as soon as the draft's done. So then it can be 00:46:38.080 --> 00:46:42.560 on the agenda, hopefully for the first meeting in June. 00:46:43.980 --> 00:46:44.860 Okay. Thank you. 00:46:45.020 --> 00:46:45.380 Thank you. 00:46:45.460 --> 00:46:46.200 Very good. 00:46:46.940 --> 00:46:47.460 Aaron. 00:46:47.780 --> 00:47:05.980 Yeah, I just wanted to make a note on Chapter 4, which was the competitive bidding. So I know Larry asked a question during that section. By and large, we follow that format, and the notes that we're adding are actually in addition to the draft of things that we do every day. 00:47:05.980 --> 00:47:44.790 so our bid process between who's at the bids, who opens the bids, how we record the bids, all that is superior to even most communities that do it so we just basically enhance that section to mirror what we're already doing. Thank you. Move on to item number 10 which is public comment. Tommy. Jodi, my birthday's coming up June. June 2nd's your birthday. You're going to be 63. 00:47:44.810 --> 00:48:11.990 three. Yeah. And Darren, how's that, that, uh, that queen? It's going down brick by brick. So they got it. It's a down that can ground. It's right down to the face. They only have the face of the building left. Any other public comments this evening? 00:48:11.990 --> 00:48:46.410 if you could please state your name my name is Christopher Parker I live at 937 East Clinton Street which is at the corner of Clinton Street and Clinton Place directly across from the former frontier building well the reason I'm addressing this council is I really feel like something needs to be done on Friday at four o'clock in the afternoon a semi-truck 00:48:46.410 --> 00:49:16.410 truck rolled down through the street and ripped my electrical supply line off the wall of my house and I am still currently without power due to that and in the last two years since I have lived at said address this is the fourth time I had to do it when I first bought the house and I have had to do it two other times and then now and I'm also getting it not that it's the council's fault but I'm also getting the runaround from said trucking company about whether or not they're going to pay for the damages the other 00:49:16.410 --> 00:49:22.030 the three times I've had to do this out of my own pocket, I'm getting tired of it. Something needs to 00:49:22.030 --> 00:49:30.750 happen. This is absolutely unacceptable, and I don't know why a semi-truck is sitting at that intersection 00:49:30.750 --> 00:49:36.070 trying to get to modern plating off of Hancock. I don't know, understand why he wouldn't just come off 00:49:36.070 --> 00:49:42.550 of State Highway 75 and turn on Hancock and be done with it. I'm a truck driver myself. I park at my 00:49:42.550 --> 00:49:48.450 House, and I've never torn anybody's power line down. I don't understand why it's so hard. 00:49:49.590 --> 00:49:51.990 I guess I'm speaking frankly, and I'm trying. 00:49:51.990 --> 00:50:18.980 Yes, I'm speaking frankly, and I'm trying very, very hard not to cuss because I do cuss like a sailor. Truck drivers typically do. I'm trying to be very professional here. I don't know if I'm succeeding or not, but this is unacceptable. Something needs to happen. A sign that says no trucks passed, like the business revamp is down the street from my house. The trucks could turn around in there because I'm like the right there by revamp and the old original Adam Street's snack king. 00:50:18.980 --> 00:50:48.920 that's just down the street from my house I don't understand because where he's at where he what he was trying to do was turn from Clinton Place on the Clinton Street go down the alley to Shawnee and then turn under that railroad overpass at Shawnee and Hancock that's been under construction for a while that underpass I don't know if it's if it's been being changed due to the construction but it was 11 foot 6 a semi truck with a van trailer is not going to go under that anyway standard trailer 00:50:48.920 --> 00:50:54.280 is 13 foot 6 inches tall, so what in the world was he trying to do in the first place? 00:50:55.540 --> 00:51:02.300 And this is, like I said, the fourth time this has happened in two years. I'm getting tired of spending 00:51:02.300 --> 00:51:07.560 money that I shouldn't have to spend to do the same thing I've already done three times. 00:51:12.170 --> 00:51:19.940 Thank you. Any other public comments this evening? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. 00:51:19.940 --> 00:51:30.380 So move. Motion made by Alderman Sellers, seconded by Alderman Shadle. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.