City Council - workshop

If we all can turn on our microphones. So good evening, honorable city council members, to our mayor, to our treasurer, our city clerk in her absence, our city attorney, chief of staff, and administrative staff. Today is Monday, August 24th, 2026. This is the City of Romulus City Council Special Meeting Study Session. This meeting is to discuss the proposed amendments to the purchasing ordinance. At this time, we'll have roll call. Councilwoman Abdo.

Here.

Councilman Bullock.

Here.

Councilman Jones. Here. Councilwoman Roscoe.

Here.

Councilwoman Talley.

Here.

Councilman Wadsworth. Here. And Councilman Wilhite. Here. Madam Chair, we have a quorum for tonight's special meeting.

Thank you.

The special meeting agenda is as follows. Number one, roll call. Two, agenda. Three, discussion. Proposed amendments to the purchasing ordinance. Number four is public comment. And number five is adjournment. And a motion would be in order to accept tonight's special meeting agenda as presented.

So moved. Support. It's been motioned by Ms. Abdo, seconded by Mr. Jones for the approval of the agenda for the study session. Ms. Abdo? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Mr. Bullock? Yes. Ms. Roscoe? Yes. Mr. Wadsworth? Yes. Mr. Wilhite? Yes. Chair votes yes. Motion approved.

Thank you, City Council. We are now under discussion, and I believe to lead off our discussion will be the Mayor.

Good evening, City Council. Thank you for taking time to be here today. As you guys are aware, every quarter we can find our team to an all-day meeting to talk about what things are working, what's not working, what we can do better at. We continue to sharpen the sword and make sure we're being as efficient as possible. In one of our most recent quarterly meetings, it was discussed, you know, how can we more efficiently serve the residents of this community, and we wanted to talk about our purchasing ordinance and how we can make sure thresholds are where they need to be. The checks and balances are still there, but how can we make sure we're as efficient as possible? Because we all know that sometimes working or doing business with the municipality is not as efficient, so sometimes if we're not that efficient, we might lose on a qualifying time for what we want to do or also delay process. We tasked our purchasing coordinator, Christina Parker, up with looking at our ordinance, make sure we're up to date with rules and regulations, talked to our directors and department heads to find out what they needed to do to be able to perform in their duties in the most efficient manner. to serve the residents of this community, and that's what brings us here today. So I want to thank Christina for the hard work she's done in going through our purchasing ordinance, talking to our directors to make sure that she understood their needs, and also looking at other communities' purchasing ordinance as well to make sure we're in line with community standards. So that being said, I will turn it over to you, Christina, to finish up on the presentation and talk to city council about what we'd like to see done.

Thank you, Mayor. And I want to say good evening to Mayor, City Council Member, and thank you everybody for giving me the opportunity to come today and go over the recommended proposed changes with the purchasing ordinance. So the purchasing ordinance is established by Charter Bank in 2014. So since that time, there have been four revisions to it. So that would be 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018. So we thought it was time to look at it again to see if there was anything that we could improve on efficiency, best practices. clarify some language just make the overall process better most importantly we're not attempting to remove any controls that are there we want to make recommendations so all of these uh recommended changes those have been reviewed by corporate Council One of the recommend, part of the review that we looked at was through NIGP. So NIGP is the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing. So it's a professional organization that specifically focuses on health procurement. So we use their guidance along with local government practices in order to meet other local governments for their thresholds, their policies, So I'll walk you through some of the recommendations that we have for the . So we want to discuss recommendations for purchasing efficiency and clarity, get feedback from council, any concerns that you might have, direction for how we can finalize these amendments. And again, our goal is to create a process that is efficient, transparent, and still has the accountability in place with the approval processes, and it's consistent with the best practices today. So some of the current challenges that we have today with purchasing are one of the biggest ones we had and one of the main ones that we were getting from a lot of department heads was the threshold limit. So that's something that's pretty outdated. So we did have recommendations as far as what the increases should be, and we'll see that in a couple more slides. Existing ordinance language, kind of defining, make more clear what the roles and responsibilities are of the department heads, administration, and council. Some of the administrative processes that are in with this, causes delays after the approvals . So there's some recommendations in there to kind of make that process more efficient. Third slide. So again, we'll be reviewing purchasing thresholds, some ordinance provisions. and related procedures regarding the second year term of council. So one of the added principles that we're recommending is to have council periodically review the purchasing threshold guidelines and procedures and that would be done every second term of council. That way New council members, if they're coming in, they have a year or so to kind of get acquainted with council and procedures before they make any decisions on the purchasing thresholds and guidelines that are in place. So the proposed changes are going to focus on three things. So verification of efficiency and appropriate controls. So we want to identify who has authority, what responsibilities follow with purchasing, administration, and council. AND ALSO WE WANT TO ELIMINATE ANY UNNECESSARY ADMINISTRATIVE DELAYS WHERE WE'VE ALREADY HAD THE APPROPRIATE APPROVALS OBTAINED. SO SLIDE FIVE, TAKE A LOOK AT THAT. SO HERE'S SOME OF THE RECOMMENDED THRESHOLD INCREASES. SO YOU CAN SEE OUR CURRENT THRESHOLDS. THEY'RE PRETTY LOW COMPARED TO A LOT OF COMMUNITIES. SO WE'RE RECOMMENDING INCREASES You know, small purchases, it's currently anything lower than $1,500 to go up to $2,500. Purchases that are not so deep are going to get support credit cards. And purchases that are not on a blanket POR credit card, we're recommending the increase be from $3,000 to $6,000 to kind of help reduce administrative burden for the lower value purchases. Written quotes, we are requesting recommended threshold of 6,000 to 16,000. So this would require departments to obtain at least three written quotes that are comparable. That way we're still making sure we're maintaining competitive processes and documenting that. The formal quotes, so the ITBs or the RFPs were asking to increase that from 12,000 to 16,000. So this would be more in alignment with update thresholds for that process. public works projects that one we're asking to increase it from 30 000 to 40 000. um this would be reflective of an increased construction cost so that would require anything under 40 000 we have to get the quotes free written votes anything exceeding 40 000 would require a itb or rfp replace replacement of filled or failing equipment currently that's at 20 000 when i'm speaking for 30 000 and what that does is if there's anything that would occur in a failure of equipment wise under 30 000 they could purchase that needed without any they would at what point they'll at least do an FYI to make them aware of that purchase that was done for that urgent time. They even purchasing that's something that we do often there's a lot more collaborative purchasing contracts out there that have been competitively bid that allow us to utilize the pricing and save money for us. So this Council approval threshold, we are recommending going from 12,000 to 16,000. So this would be updating outdated threshold amounts. And it also helped reduce administrative burden on the departments and on purchasing as well. It's one of the things that we're hoping to kind of alleviate is the lower thresholds. It does cut a lot of administrative burden as far as having to get so many different approval levels. GO TO BID, YOU KNOW, THINGS LIKE THAT. THAT WAY WE CAN STILL MAINTAIN OUR COMPETITIVE REQUIREMENTS, BUT ALSO KEEP THINGS WORKING MORE EFFICIENTLY. SO FOR OUR NEXT SLIDE, SO THIS IS THE ANALOGY THAT WAS USED TO CUT OFF A RECOMMENDATION. SO AGAIN, neighboring cities, cities that are similar to ours. We also found that the CPI index, using that as an increase for our threshold, was something that is recommended by the NADP as part of the process, the overall process, not just looking at neighboring communities, because every community is different or specific into what their purchasing needs are. So overall, looking at that over the last 10 years, we're looking at like a 32% cumulative inflation growth. So that is how we came up with our increased threshold amounts for the most part. Last slide is just kind of a summary of the recommended changes. I gave you guys a copy of the recommended new versus old. That way, if you had any questions, you can see exactly in the audience where those changes were made. Does anybody have any questions on anything specific?

I just have a couple questions. And it just could be because I just don't know. So I hope it's not a dumb question. So I'm going to use the ITB for tax printing. So is this $12,000? the recommended up to $16,000. So do you still need to do bids on that if it approved up to $16,000? And is that within the year or is that contract?

So if it's contract.

Okay.

So if it's $16,000 overall contract or a single purchase, anything exceeding $60,000 would require council approval.

Okay.

Or if it has to go out too big, it's over $60,000. Okay. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HAVING LIKE A CONTRACTED BIDDING THAT WE COULD USE IN PLACE OF THE LAMP.

WHICH WE'VE DONE, YES. SO FOR A YEAR, USUALLY, BECAUSE IT'S ELECTION CYCLE. SO THEN I WOULD STILL NEED TO GO THROUGH THE BIDDING PROCESS. WHICH WOULD BE FINE, BUT OKAY. AND THEN THE OTHER QUESTION, AND I THINK I KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS. I JUST DON'T KNOW THE PROCESS. THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT JUST GOING OUT AND LET'S SAY SOMETHING BREAKS AND YOU GO BUY SOMETHING FOR $30,000, $40,000, WHATEVER, THEY STILL HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE GETTING THE BEST PRICE AND NOT GETTING IT FROM YOUR BROTHER, GEORGE, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, RIGHT? OKAY. OKAY, JUST CURIOUS. THANK YOU.

I MEAN, THERE ARE EVEN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE The safer one, we've got one of the safer back door truck is out getting looked at. And they're diagnosing it. They have to take it apart to diagnose it. So to get quotes at that particular time when there's a very necessity for them. you need that piece of equipment. So that one gets to where it gets kind of hard to get that coat because then you've got to put it back together, set it up to another one to have them affiliated to get the gracing on it. So certain circumstances you might not be able to get necessarily through close, but that's where we will get each one of them individualized and make the best.

I APPRECIATE YOUR ANSWERS, AND YOU DO A GOOD JOB. KEEP IT UP.

TINA?

MR. LAZARO?

IF I CAN GO TO THE PAGE NUMBER THREE, IT SAYS CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL IN BENEDICT. THE OLD PRESSURE WAS $12,000. NOW THE BRAND-NEW ONE IS $16,000. So up to $16,000, as long as it was budgeted, it doesn't need to come to council for approval. Is that correct?

As long as it's budgeted or they have the funds available for that. If it was something that maybe came up that wasn't budgeted.

If something wasn't budgeted and it was under $16,000, it would still have to come to us then. Am I correct?

No, it would still go through the approval process that we have in place now for up to $12,000. So we're just moving that marker up a little bit higher. So anything that is under $12,000 currently has to go through all the approval process.

Okay, but now it's $16,000 is the threshold. So if it's under $16,000 and it's been budgeted, it doesn't have to come back to us.

Correct.

Okay. All right, fine. Thank you.

If it's budgeted and it's, let's say, $12,000. If it's not budgeted, if it's budgeted, it goes to the reg department. It doesn't have to come to council.

Regardless of if it's budgeted or not, anything exceeding $16,000, we have to go to council for approval.

Okay. If we get it to $16,000, Okay. If it's less than $16,000, whether it's budgeted or not, it doesn't have to come to council? Correct. Even if it's not budgeted? Correct. Okay.

That's where it would go through anything you've seen. If it exceeds $2,500, it would then go to, may or may not approve it, may or may not approve it, and then we're just going to have to approve it. Okay. So anything up to $16,000 will go through all those approval levels, depending on what that pressure is.

Gotcha. Okay. And then over 16, it will come to council, whether it's budgeted or not. Correct. So quick question when we talk about budgeted or not. So the line above where it says budgeted purchases allowed when appropriate, what are we saying, just so I'm clear?

When they're appropriate? Mm-hmm. If it's something that the department needs that much.

So if they're budgeted? already, they still have to come through council over that threshold of $16,000.

Yes, that's how it is now currently.

Right, okay. And I guess when appropriate, I'm not sure when it says when appropriate. So I'm clear. On that line above where it said budgeted person allowed when appropriate. Which page am I on? The same page that was above the city council approval where we were just at.

For piggybacks.

Oh, I'm sorry, yeah, piggyback purchasing. Oh, piggyback, okay. I'm sorry.

So that's going to be, like, the piggybacks, those can be used in place of, during that $6,000 to $16,000 that we're recommending, that can be used in place of the free quotes.

Okay, right.

So if that exceeded the $16,000, that would still go in the house?

That would still go in the house. So just so I'm clear, I'm sorry if I'm making too big of it, but I just want to make sure I'm clear. Budgeted purchases allowed when appropriate. What does that mean? That wording.

Could it just be bad language in there?

No, it may not be. It's clear to everybody else, but I'm just trying to make sure I'm grasping what it's saying okay.

It might be easier to frame it up this way. What would be inappropriate? Yeah.

Yeah, I guess. Because if they're budgeted, yeah, I'm just a little confused with the language of it, I guess.

Yeah, there might be something. purchasing that's going to be anything that's going to be between that six to sixteen thousand where you would need quotes that can also be used in place of a bid if it was necessary for you know competitiveness because those have already been competitive in bed so those are things you guys do um award on now as far as like using a piggyback to do like vehicle purchases or anything that's got different personnel that we are able to utilize on those contracts that voted already. Anything piggybacked under over 16,000 would still go to you guys for approval of that piggyback contract.

Okay. Mr. Chair? Ms. Abdo, I'm sorry.

You made a comment about the department, the needs, not wants. Who ascertains the needs?

I mean, really that's going to come down to you know, depending on what the amount that the department has to be, one, figuring out what the need for food and wine is. And then it's still going to go through the approval levels where it's going to have, you know, finance also looking at it to see if they need it, if it's something that they need, and also the mayor's office.

Okay, thank you.

Mark? First of all, I just want to say, great job on this. I read through this and all three levels of it, and it was really good. 39.5, I just have a question. It's on page 3 of 9. The clarification of contract execution rules. We talked about it in a meeting, and it was the mayor and the mayor's authorized designee, and we said that about the clerk also, and it wasn't mentioned in here, so I was just, is that?

So that is, it was recommended in, let's see, for the document here, old versus new. So it does recommend in there, or the recommendation is that the clerk would be Certifying, attesting, or otherwise executing documents would require a speech order. So I did clarify this with counsel as far as whether or not this clerk is required to sign on every single contract. She's not. It's going to be basically if she would need to attest to something or if it's something required by law which we need to sign.

Through the chair, in short, council person, the clerk does not need to sign most contracts that are there. The language that is there for the attestation and stuff is stuff that's basic in the clerk's duties for many documents. And it's just there for clarification that we're not changing what the clerk's duties are by law. But generally, the short answer is that the clerk, even though it's been past practice, the clerk does not need to sign contracts.

Okay.

That's it in a nutshell, just with a qualification to make sure that we're not changing anything about what the clerk's role is in general.

Right. Yeah. Right. Okay.

Stacey, did you?

I just was looking up that language just for a little bit of clarification. Okay. It just makes sense. Okay. You are permitted to make purchases that were included in the approved budget, but only when the purchase is appropriate and justified for the intended purpose. So, for example, 5,000 was budgeted for office equipment. The department can purchase the equipment when it is needed and appropriate.

Okay.

It does not necessarily mean that the department must spend the full 5,000 simply because it was budgeted. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Got you. That makes a lot of sense to me. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions?

I have a question not about this, but about something else we're purchasing. This past week, we bought two vehicles. And we bought them on the piggyback thing they have. And we bought them out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. My question, and I didn't think about this last week, if there's a recall on this vehicle or there's a warranty on this vehicle, do we have to transport that vehicle all the way back to Grand Rapids?

It's a manufacturer's warranty.

Wait, I couldn't hear the answer.

It's a manufacturer's warranty, so you can take it to any... We can go to any dealer.

Any Ford dealership. The only reason we bought them from Grand Rapids is they had them on a lot.

Okay. I just, you know, I've never... And after I walked out the door, I thought about that question. I should have answered it that night. Fair question. If it's a warranty or a recall, it can be taken locally to any dealer. Okay, fine. That answers my question. Thank you.

Okay. Anybody else? Christina, thank you for the work you've done on this, even with the pre-meetings and just being proactive and reaching out ahead of time. So thank you so much. I concur with what Mark said. You did a great job, so thank you.

To the chair, just one final comment. Just to surmise this. Again, this is not trying to usurp any level of authority or checks and balances because even though we're working in the same direction right now, you never know what might happen in the city in years. We still need to have these checks and balances.

Mm-hmm.

But when I put on my DPW hat and coming from that world, some of the things that we purchase down there or we utilize are such a small vendor's world. So by the time you start calling people for bids and numbers, they know they're not getting the work, so they're reluctant to submit because they know that we usually go a different route. So it just helps to make the process better, and especially having fewer council meetings right now, If we don't get something approved, it's going to take longer to effectuate that. So we're just trying to streamline this and sharpen the pencil. And Christina did a great job going through it and talking to the directors, finding out what they needed. And also the directors that were a key part of this, just finding out what's the best way to best serve the residents of the city is to have those checks and balances in place. Thank you. And again, no action is being requested. Right. So that way we have time for you guys to think about it and give some input or feedback. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

So I did have one kind of like recommendation. I'll give you guys all a copy of this, but this is where... In our ordinance, it defines the dollar amount.

Okay.

So I found that there's a recommendation, as opposed to having a specific dollar amount for a threshold, whether it be quotes or having to get formal bids, that it states threshold established by the resolution of the city council, as opposed to having to go ahead and amend the dollar amount each time. Okay. So say every four years you do two. It's just going to say whatever threshold is established by council by way of legislation. Okay. So that's something that I'll hand it out to you guys so you can come over, but that's something that I think would be good. It would alleviate a lot of having to change an amendment.

Okay. No, thank you. Okay.

All right. If there's no more discussion from council, number four is public comment. And this is the portion of the agenda for anyone in the audience that would like to address city council regarding tonight's special meeting agenda. We got any written requests? No. Okay.

We're going to close that part out. All right.

Number five is adjournment. The time is 6.56. So moved. Support.

It's been motioned by Mr. Wadsworth, seconded by Ms. Roscoe for the adjournment of this special study session. Mr. Wadsworth. Yes. Ms. Roscoe. Yes. Mr. Wilhite. Yes. Mr. Bullock. Yes. Mr. Jones. Yes. Ms. Abdo. Yes. Chair Voschess, motion approved. We are adjourned. Thank you. 7.30.