Woodward, Okla. — Woodward City Commissioners will take action during their meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall to increase the city manager's purchasing authority.

City commissioners are slated to consider amendments to the city's code of ordinances outlining purchasing procedures to increase the amount that the city manager can essentially spend without additional approval and without public bidding.

These amendments are included in 2 separate proposed ordinances.

The first proposed ordinance seeks to make the following amendments:

A) Increase the maximum limit which the city can spend on supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services without having prior approval from the city commission itself.

Currently the limit is $5,000, meaning that purchases over $5,000 would have to have commission approval prior to the purchase transaction or the signing of service contracts.  Any amount under $5,000 does not need commission approval.

The proposed amendment would increase this limit tenfold to $50,000.  This would enable the city manager to spend up to $50,000 without prior approval by the city commission.

B) Increase the limit on purchases made in the open market rather than through public advertising and competitive bidding.

Currently only purchases up to $10,000 may be made without soliciting bids.  The proposed amendment would increase the limit to $25,000.

C) Add a new section titled §39.05 to outline "Payment of Invoice Procedure" that will authorize the city manager or his designee to approve payment of invoices submitted against the city.

The new section includes the establishment of "an internal control structure adequate to provide reasonable assurance against the unauthorized or illegal payment of invoices."  The internal control structure is supposed to include several control procedures, which were listed simply as: "(1) Proper authorization of transactions and activities; (2) Adequate segregation of duties; (3) Adequate documents and records; (4) Adequate safeguards over access to and use of assets and records; and (5) Independent checks on performance."

The second proposed ordinance simply revises the code outlining the city manager's responsibilities to coincide with the proposed amendments to the purchasing procedures.  It includes amending the purchase amount from $5,000 to $50,000 on amounts that may be spent without commission approval, and adding a line to say that the city manager shall follow the additional procedures proposed in the new section on invoice payments.



FAA INSPECTION RESPONSE AND GRANT ACCEPTANCE

In other action Monday night, city commissioners will be presented with another response to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recent compliance inspection report relative to non-aeronautical land usage of former airport property.

Commissioners previously were presented with a response that City Attorney Aaron Sims wrote and mailed to FAA officials on Aug. 20, which stated that while the city was offended by certain allegations in the FAA report, the city would take action to correct other issues raised by the report.

While that letter included a statement from Sims that "The City considers all issues addressed and this matter closed," it turns out that wasn't the last word on the matter.

City Manager Alan Riffel told The News that while written on behalf of the city, Sims' letter was not the city's official response because it was not on city letterhead and had not been approved by commissioners before it was mailed.

Riffel said that after FAA officials received that letter, which was on the letterhead from Sims' law firm, they indicated a desire to receive a response that came from city leaders rather than the city attorney.  He said the city was then granted an extension until Sept. 17 to draft an additional response, which is why commissioners are slated to act on the approval or disapproval of the new response during Monday's meeting.

Despite recent disagreements with the FAA over land usage at the airport, it appears that a previously approved FAA Airport Improvement Project to improve taxiways at the West Woodward Airport may still go forward.

Commissioners are also slated to take action Monday to accept an FAA grant offer dated Sept. 6, 2012 to fund the rehabilitation of Taxilane "F," connecting taxiways, the north taxilane, and taxiway intersection at the airport.  The total project cost is almost $960,000, but with the 90/10 FAA Airport Improvement Project grant, the city's portion will be $87,268, while the FAA will contribute the other $872,671.