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Committee advances health-agreement and procurement changes, continues one ordinance to July meeting
Summary
The Governmental Operations Standing Committee voted to continue ordinance 2025-136 to the July 23 meeting and forwarded ordinances 2025-135 (health department agreement) and 2025-137 (reverse-auction procurement authorization) to City Council with recommendations to approve.
The Governmental Operations Standing Committee took action on several agenda items: it continued ordinance 2025-136 to the committee's July 23 meeting at the request of the chief patron; it forwarded ordinance 2025-135, authorizing the CAO to execute the annual agreement with the Virginia Department of Health for services performed by the Richmond Henrico Health District, to City Council with a recommendation to approve; and it forwarded ordinance 2025-137 to enable reverse auctioning in procurement, again with a recommendation to approve.
Dominic Barrett, senior policy advisor for human services, introduced ordinance 2025-135 as the locality's routine annual agreement with the Richmond Henrico Health District and said the funds cited in the paper were already appropriated in the FY25 budget. Barrett told the committee the change was largely administrative and that Dr. Perry of Richmond Henrico Health District was available online for questions; the committee held a public hearing and recorded no public speakers.
Renee Almerz, director of the Department of Procurement Services, introduced ordinance 2025-137 and described reverse auctioning as a procurement tool available through the City's OpenGov solicitation system. "This is a system that we have as part of our solicitation system, OpenGov . . . to do reverse auctions where all the suppliers would be listed in the system," Almerz said. She said the tool is intended primarily for bulk commodities such as paper, water-treatment chemicals and road salt and that she has used it in other municipalities to achieve cost savings. The committee discussed anticipated uses and asked staff to report back on savings if the process is implemented.
Chair Jordan requested that ordinance 2025-136 be continued to the July 23 committee meeting and the committee approved the request. All forwarded ordinances were approved by the committee with recorded affirmative votes from Council Member Gibson and Vice Chair Abubakar. Public hearings for these papers produced no public testimony.
