A policy designed to take the politics out of city purchases advanced a step this week.
City council voted unanimously Monday to pass through three readings a proposal to give city staff authority to make purchases without council approval, provided they're in accordance with the council-approved financial plan.
In most cases, only council can approve purchases above $1 million under the current policy.
Adopting the new process would eliminate the incentive for vendors to lobby council,administrative services general manager Walter Babicz told council.
Purchases will be made more quickly because staff would no longer need to run decisions by council for approval, he added.
"And frankly, I'm not sure how fair it is to bring a matter to council for approval in this manner when council wasn't on the evaluation team and doesn't have all the detailed information that the evaluation team had when scoring the proposal," Babicz said.
Updates on purchases would be provided to council on a quarterly basis.
The policy also features "development of local sources of supply to the extent permitted under the applicable trade agreements" for purchases of goods and services up to $75,000 and construction work up to $200,000. Three quotes will be required for such purchases.
And for purchases above those levels, scored "social procurement factors" will be included in the tenders.
Nine other large B.C. municipalities have adopted the approach.
Coun. Brian Skakun called the move "substantial" and initially said he was not sure he was comfortable with the lack of a ceiling. But after getting answers to a series of questions, including whether council will be kept informed of the decisions made, Skakun said it appears it will streamline the process and voted in favour.
Coun. Jillian Merrick said the proposal will bring the city in line with nationally-recognized policies. "This is the standard of how business is done and bringing us in line makes us more effective," she said.
The proposal must still go through fourth and final reading.
