Troy Niemeyer, finance director, explained to the Budget and Finance Committee on July 25 that the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) is updating its state master contract language and contact information and that Tumwater must sign an updated contract-usage agreement to continue "piggybacking" on state procurement agreements.
Niemeyer said the updated agreement adds roughly three pages of legal terms, replaces a named contact (an earlier finance director) with a generic City of Tumwater attention line to the city clerk, and otherwise leaves procurement options unchanged. He said the usage agreement costs the city nothing.
Councilmember Swarthout moved to place the contract-usage agreement on the Aug. 19, 2025, city council consent calendar with a recommendation to approve and authorize the mayor to sign; Councilmember Agave seconded. The committee voted in favor and the item will appear on the Aug. 19 consent calendar.
Niemeyer recommended the consent-calendar placement because the city does not have flexibility to change much of the master agreement language; local governments use the state master contract to save time and leverage state purchasing power, he said.
No changes to city budget lines were reported; Niemeyer said the agreement requires no payment from the city.