05-12-26 City Council Workshop Packet

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6 216348v2 • Refuse hauler and tipping fees • Automotive gasoline and diesel fuel • Professional services under contract approval by the City Council • Copier Leases • Mandated licenses, permits, and fees to the State and Federal Government • Electric wholesaler • Fiber Optic wholesaler • Debt Service Payments as listed in the Debt Service Schedule in bond documents Decentralized Purchasing The City of North St. Paul has a “decentralized” purchasing program where individual departments are responsible for making their own purchases. There are a few exceptions including State Bid vehicles and other similar state or cooperative purchasing agreements. All other purchases should follow the rules below: • Determine the need for commodities or services. • Research the cost of the purchase and determine proper purchasing alternative. • Determine the appropriate account coding and whether there are sufficient funds available in that budget line item. • Follow the quick reference matrix to determine preapproval process. If bids or quotes are required, ensure these are included with the preapproval process. • Make sure all approvals are obtained prior to purchasing. • Upon receipt of the invoice, make sure all goods or services have been received and are in satisfactory condition prior to paying the invoice. • Code and approve the invoice for processing. • Accounts payable listing is approved by City Council. • Payment is made by the Finance Department. Local Vendors City employees will make every effort to purchase goods and services from local vendors and award purchases to those vendors when cost effective. This can be accomplished by insuring that local and state vendors who have goods or services available are included in the competitive shopping process that will precede most purchases. Ethics / Relations with Vendors The City of North St. Paul holds its employees to the highest ethical standards. Purchases shall be conducted so they foster public confidence in the integrity of the City’s procurement system and encourage open and free competition among prospective suppliers. In keeping with these values, employees must avoid the following practices when making purchases on behalf of the City: • Circumventing competitive bidding requirements – Examples include but are not limited to: o Splitting purchases so that they can be made through several small purchases o Using the emergency procedure process when no true emergency exists o Using a “sole source” exemption when competition is available • Denying one or more vendors the opportunity to bid on a contract – Examples include but are not limited to: o Using overly-restrictive specifications o Pre-qualifying bidders on a discriminatory basis o Removing companies from a bidders list without just cause