Bowie council moves purchasing rules from charter into city code; raises competitive-bidding threshold

The Bowie City Council on Sept. 2 adopted a charter amendment resolution and a companion ordinance that move purchasing provisions from the city charter into the city code and raise the city’s competitive-bidding threshold.

City officials said the change is intended to allow the council to update purchasing procedures by ordinance in the future rather than through the slower charter-amendment process. “What this will enable the city to do is in future times when we’re looking at making amendments to our purchasing procedures, it’ll be a little bit easier administratively and legislatively for the council,” the deputy city manager said during the presentation.

The council first approved charter amendment resolution CAR-2-25, described on the agenda as amending Section 61 (purchasing and contracting) and Section 62 (cooperative bidding) of the city charter to authorize the city council to set purchasing requirements and procedures by ordinance. No members of the public signed up to comment on the resolution. The council then adopted Ordinance O-8-25, which amends Bowie City Code Chapter 19A (procurement procedures, Article I: procurements generally), increases the competitive-bidding threshold, and prescribes additional procurement regulations including alternative procedures in appropriate circumstances. A staff presentation said portions of the purchasing rules were previously written into the charter, and the ordinance brings that language into code while updating procurement thresholds that had not changed in many years.

Both items were approved after public hearings with no public comment. The council voted to adopt CAR-2-25 and then to adopt O-8-25; the mayor announced each vote as carried after members answered “aye.” The ordinances and the charter amendment were presented as companion items and passed on first consideration that evening.

Council and staff said the changes will allow future adjustments to thresholds and procedures to proceed by ordinance rather than by charter amendment, which they called a more administratively flexible approach. No details were offered in the meeting about the exact new dollar thresholds in the adopted ordinance beyond staff’s statement that thresholds were increased and that the code now includes alternative procurement procedures in some circumstances.

The council’s action followed staff presentations and closed the public hearing with no speakers. Staff advised the council the ordinance language had been drafted as the companion to the charter amendment that moved procurement provisions out of the charter.

Councilmembers did not raise substantive changes to the ordinance on the floor during the vote. The items will appear in the city code and will be enforceable per the effective date contained in the ordinance text (not specified during the meeting transcript).

The council also amended the consent agenda earlier in the meeting and sent one item (R74-25, relating to message boards with license plate readers) to a future meeting for rewording; that tabling was handled separately and is recorded in the city’s minutes.

The council’s clerk recorded no public comments on either the charter amendment or the ordinance during the public hearing periods.

The council’s approvals of CAR-2-25 and O-8-25 conclude the formal adoption steps taken at the Sept. 2 meeting; staff said the ordinance contains the purchasing language that had been removed from the charter and that the code changes and threshold updates are intended to increase administrative flexibility going forward.

Ending: The adopted charter amendment resolution and ordinance move Bowie’s purchasing provisions into city code and raise the competitive-bidding threshold. Staff said the change will allow future procurement rule changes to proceed by ordinance rather than by charter amendment. The city clerk’s file will contain the adopted texts and the effective dates.