Committee approves procurement policy, folds bids-and-quotations into board-adopted procurement manual

The St. Mary Parish policy committee voted to revise district purchasing policy into a procurement policy and to use a board-reviewed procurement manual for day-to-day purchasing procedures.

The chair said the change is intended to give district staff flexibility to handle daily procurement operations while preserving board oversight: the manual would be approved by the CFO and the superintendent and presented to the board; specific statutory references remain summarized in the policy. An official explained that the request-for-proposal and sealed-bid obligations will include adherence to the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics and to the St. Mary Parish accounting procurement manual, which was referenced in the packet as formally adopted in December 2025.

A board member asked for "layman's terms" and was told the summary means there is an accountability framework for every purchase made with public money: "this tells us what we have to do to buy things in a legal manner because we're using public money." Another board member praised the checks and limits in the manual and moved to approve the procurement policy; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

The committee then moved to repeal the separate bids-and-quotations policy (DJE D) because those procedures have been consolidated into the procurement policy and manual. Miss Brent moved to repeal; Miss Anselm seconded, and the motion carried by voice vote.

The board packet shows a separate, more detailed procurement manual with statutory references; the committee noted that updates to the manual will be presented to the board for adoption when required by law.