Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-10-08 Finance Committee MinutesFINANCE COMMMEE October 8, 2003 Minutes Council Attendance: Tremble, Nealley, Palmer, Greene, Alen Staff Attendance: Cyr, Pellegrino, Olsen, Daniels, Hellmann Others: _ Scott Lapher, Budget; Ray Moss, Enterprise 1. Consent Agenda A motion was made and seconded to approve the consent agenda items. a. Used Equipment Purchase — Forldift - Motor Pool -$23,500 b. Council Resolve 03-304, Accepting & Appropriating a Small Community Air Service Development Grant for $310,000 2. Bids/Purchasing a. Rock Salt—Public Works— International Salt Co. -$145,899 A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. It. Car Rental Agencies — Airport — Continued From Meeting of 9/17/03 In response to a question raised by Councilor Palmer at the previous Finance Committee meeting, Pellegrino said that the City Solicitor has determined that the City can negotiate excise taxes from car rental agencies to be paid to the City of Bangor, Subsequently, Budget has offered to register all their cars in Bangor. Regarding a fifth seasonal car rental vendor at BIA, It would give one agency an unfair advantage as the fifth vendor would come during the peak season. Staff's recommendation remains the same to award the contact to Budget Rental. In response to Nealley, Daniels said he did a search in looking at airports of similar size and type. Neplley made a motion, which was seconded, to move staff recommendation. Tremble made an amendment to Nealley's motion which would direct staff to Include as part of negotiation for half of the car rentals inventory in Bangor be registered in Maine, specifically in Bangor. Nealley asked If the issue would thenneed to be put back out to bid. Pellegrino asked for idarification from the Committee as to their recommended amendment. It could cause a delay in reaching an agreement. The current contracts expiredthe end of September. Nealley indicated it could be voluntary on the part of the agent es at this point and part of future negotiations in the RFP process. Palmer asked why staff did an RFP process rather than a straight bid on this issue. Pellegrino said the bid process defines everything except price and the final bid is the last element of the process: The RFP is used when the issue mvolves wnsideramons -other than money and It Is the beginning of the negotiation process. Palmer suggested looking at what Is in the best financial interests of the City in the excise tax process. Tremble made a motion W pursue how many rental vehicles can be registered in the City of Bangor. The amended motion was seconded. This amendment was W Nealley's motion to approve staff recommendation. Palmer voted in favor of the amendment but expressed concern about the bid versus the RFP process. He asked staff to review the procedure in terms of automobile rentals. Ray Moss of Enterprise talked about the process and said he has never been through a process such as thing; i.e. congratulations youVe won, now let's negotiate. He feels there are issues with the proposal that are not acting in the best interest of the City. The contact allows co -granting which allows the company to have one or two more names at the counter. He also addressed concession fees. If excise tax is going to be involved, Enterprise is the largest rental agency In Maine. The total Handal Impact on the City to not include Enterprise is not taking the City's best Interest into play. The motion was made and seconded to approve staff's recommendation as amended by a 3-2 vote. Councilor Allen doubted the motion. c. Storm Windows - Airport - Portland Glass -$11,325 The windows will be installed at the General Aviation building. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. d. Request for Proposals for Air Service Development Services - Airport - Boyd Group. Seven to eight proposals were received, four companies were interviewed by a review committee which recommended The Boyd Group/ASRC, Inc. for development of air service route and market proposals as well as a quarterly statistical analysis. Staff also recommended Sabre Consulting Group for a one-time collection of travel data on the region. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. The item will appear on the upcoming Council agenda for final approval e. Pager Services - City Wide- Northeast Paging The City currently has 70 pagers mainly at the Airport and at the Police department. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff. recommendation. f. Review of Recommended Procurement Policy Changes In the past, the Committee has expressed an interest in reviewing and making changes to the City's procurement policy. Recommendations by staff are: (1) Increasing the formal bid limit from $5,000 to $10,000, (2) increasing the formal quote limit from $1,000 to $2,000, (3) increasing the informal quote limit from $200 to $500, (4) increasing the limit for small purchases from $200 to $500; (5) adding policy language that will allow electronic auction bidding. (6) a Procurement card program; and (7) delegation to other City officials for purchases. Nealley felt that the Committee doesnt need to be bogged down with details and can focus on the issues that are more material. Palmer agreed that the proposed changes are reasonable. He wondered If the auditors should review the procurement policy, Cyr said she would do so but that the auditors dont look at the policy side but the financial side. They will pull three bids that have been awarded and follow the Citys process through. Pellegrino Indicated that electronic auction bidding is fairly new and has been successfully used by other municipalities with commodities that have uniform specifications such as rock salt, chemicals, traffic paint, etc. Nealley and Palmer expressed support. Pellegrino talked about the procurement card. It is programmed with a limit and allows control of amounts spent, the number of Items purchased as well as the type of items purdiased. Individual employees would be given personal responsibility for their card for purchases up to $500. The individual will be responsible for keeping their sales slips and responsible for their purdiases. It allows the City to make one electronic payment per month to the vendor as opposed W hundreds of payments. Currently, the City uses 5-000-6,000 purchase orders per month.- Procurement cards will allow greater control. Pellegrino suggested it be started with one or two departments for a pilot program for three to she months and then report back to the Finance Committee. Tremble noted that with purchase orders a payment is now withheld if the vendor owes back taxes to the City. With the new card system, this couldn't take place. Allen expressed support for the card system. It is successfully used at the University. Nealley questioned if the limit on the card should be higher. Pellegrino discussed delegation of purchase authority to other City officials and indicated It is basically In place now With the Motor Pool Director. Dawes has purchased used equipment which doesn't lend. itself to normal purchasing policies. Tremble asked about a section of the policy dealing with emergency repair purchases. Pellegrino said it Is addressed in the policy but he will check the policy and change some of the language. A motion was made and seconded to approve staffs recommendation. Staff will update the policy with the changes and amendments clearly marked. It will come before the full City Council for final approval. - 3. Executive Session — Hardship Abatement A motion was made and seconded to go into executive session. 4. Open Session — Hardship Abatement Decision A motion was made and seconded to approve the h request.