The commission considered a request from county maintenance staff to purchase 55 gallons of a cleaning chemical for $1,916.20 and debated whether the purchase should have been competitively bid.

A county official said the vendor offered similar products at higher prices and recommended trying the lower-priced product. A commissioner moved to authorize the maintenance supervisor to make the purchase; the motion was seconded. Other commissioners raised concerns that the county had not solicited multiple bids for the purchase and used an example purchase earlier in the meeting to argue the county should adopt clearer, uniform bidding rules.

Commissioners discussed elements of a procurement policy: a $10,000 threshold for formal advertised bids (below which staff should obtain quotes), a roughly $200 publication cost for advertising formal bids, and recognized exceptions such as emergency purchases, sole-source procurements and purchases made under existing state or federal cooperative contracts. Commissioners also discussed establishing a process for preferred vendors for emergency response to avoid delays when immediate repairs are needed.

One commissioner asked staff to research what other counties use for thresholds and to draft a procurement policy that includes thresholds, emergency exceptions, and use of existing government contracts. The commission additionally discussed that future routine maintenance purchases should aim to obtain three quotes when feasible and that bids already in hand should be made available to other prospective bidders when a formal solicitation is issued.

Separately, county staff asked permission to spray county-owned property around the Crawford County Museum and to proceed with follow-up steps on several other operational items including tax-sale scheduling and ordering replacement parts for equipment.