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Montebello council adopts procurement ordinance updates after state audit review
Summary
The Montebello City Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance updating procurement and contracting procedures, a change staff said responds to recommendations from a state audit and clarifies internal policy but does not itself create a local-preference procurement rule.
The Montebello City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance updating the city’s procurement and contracting rules, a measure staff said restates and clarifies existing policy in response to recommendations from a state audit.
City Manager Alvarez told the council the changes are intended to “restate what our policy is internally” and to further address concerns raised by the state auditors. Council member Peralta moved to approve the ordinance; Mayor Pro Tem Tamayo seconded. A roll-call vote recorded ayes from Councilor Alonzo, Councilor Romero, Mayor Pro Tem Tamayo, Councilor Peralta and Mayor Melendez.
The ordinance does not add a local-preference provision, staff said. When asked whether the ordinance contains language to “encourage any local hiring or priorities prioritizing businesses that are based in Montebello,” staff responding that such preferences are typically implemented through scoring in formal RFP processes rather than through an ordinance. “This ordinance in itself does not include, I think what you're referring to is a local preference type language,” a staff member said. Staff said they would evaluate the possibility of a citywide policy on local preference separate from the ordinance and return with more information.
Council member Peralta asked how the ordinance related to prior state audit recommendations; staff said the 2018 state audit highlighted procurement issues and that the ordinance is part of the city’s effort to resolve outstanding auditor concerns. Staff emphasized the ordinance reflects internal policy clarifications and does not signal new authority beyond existing public contracting code obligations.
The council adopted the item on a unanimous vote. Council members did not identify any amendments to the ordinance during the meeting, and staff said they would return with additional information if the council wished to pursue a formal local-preference policy for future RFP scoring.
The measure was placed on the consent/regular calendar as item 7 and carried after discussion. The city clerk recorded the motion and roll call and the ordinance will be implemented according to the schedule in the staff report.
