Finance Committee - 12/5/2018 Page 9
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Mayor Donchess
We've discussed a couple times the issue of whether we should raise the threshold for the items that we see
and approve. There has been some, a couple of you have asked questions, are we going to forward with
something like that. I’d say some people think that threshold should be $15,000.00, others $25,000.00. One
approach we could use and | just throw it out there, most of the items that come through are Public Works
items where the purchases tend to be very large and where they say Public Works Department indicates that
they spend many, many person hours preparing each of these items and that is sort of why they are interested.
They go before both the Board of Public Works and the Finance Committee and all of this paperwork has to be
prepared.
So one way we could go is we could raise the threshold for Public Works without affecting the other
departments where the purchases are less frequent. Like right here, this whole agenda is Public Works right,
except for the first item. And if we did raise it to $25,000.00 it would knock a couple of these items off but we
would still be seeing the major items because in Public Works, $25,000.00 is not that big an issue, as their
items go, it is not that big an item.
Most of their bigger things are $50,000.00, $75,000.00, $1,700,000.00, $400,000.00 so that is an approach we
can take. So | just throw out for your consideration.
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you Mr. Mayor, if we were to follow up on that suggestion could you please inform us how, would it take
an ordinance to go before the full Board and if you could explain the procedure please?
Mayor Donchess
Just like any other ordinance, so right now we have an ordinance that says that the Finance Committee
considers any item over $10,000.00. An ordinance could be proposed to institute a separate or different
criteria, we could raise it across the board or that ordinance could raise it just for Public Works as we see fit.
So the procedure would be to propose an ordinance, be introduced before the full Board it would get referred
to a committee, maybe this one depending on what President Wilshire would do. And then with
recommendation would go back to the full Board and would have to be voted on by the full Board of Alderman
and enacted in that fashion.
Alderman O’Brien
| would be willing to do such because it does seem to expedite some things, if | do have support from my fellow
members of the Board that could sign on as co-sponsors, | will Chair the lead and ask you to join me if you so
wish to act on this.
Mayor Donchess
The reason we were thinking about Public Works is that there are so many Public Works items; in some
departments, for example we did a $14,000.00 item in Economic Development just now. They don’t come
through that often, that’s not that small for Economic Development, but for Public Works a $14,000.00 item is
one definitely in the small end. So that was the point of thinking about the Public Works approach. But we
could do it across the board, | think that the members of the Committee, we could decide and recommend to
the Full Board whatever we think is best.
