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Franklin trustees adopt revised purchasing policy, clarify 5-year limit on total contract duration
Summary
Trustees adopted a revised procurement and purchasing credit card policy on Nov. 24, 2025, directing staff to clarify language so that any contract plus option years do not collectively exceed five years without council approval and removing a fixed 48-hour limit on emergency administrative purchasing authority.
At a Nov. 24, 2025 special meeting, the Village of Franklin trustees adopted an updated purchasing/procurement (credit card) policy with amendments clarifying contract-duration limits and emergency procurement authority.
Peter (staff) summarized edits incorporated after the prior meeting, pointing to draft language in section j-2-i that would allow the village administrator to exercise option years on contracts previously approved by council provided the total duration did not exceed five years. "It states the village administrator has the authority to exercise option years and contracts that were previously approved by village council so long as the contract duration is no longer than 5 years," Peter said.
Trustees debated whether the five-year cap should refer to the original contract term plus options (inclusive) and agreed the policy should be explicit that the total of the original term and any exercised options cannot collectively exceed five years without returning to council. They also discussed an emergency procurement sentence in the draft that limited administrative emergency purchasing authority to a 48-hour period. Several trustees said emergencies can extend beyond 48 hours and questioned whether any fixed time limit was needed. Trustee comments ranged from preferring to strike a time limit entirely, to proposing 72 hours or a week as a limit; one trustee noted the 48-hour figure stemmed from the previous meeting discussion rather than statute.
Following discussion, Speaker 3 moved to adopt the Village of Franklin procurement/purchasing/credit card policy as amended per David Goldberg's comments; Speaker 4 seconded. The motion carried by voice vote; no roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript. Council directed staff (Rachel) to revise the policy text to remove or rework the 48-hour emergency sentence and to make explicit that contract durations inclusive of option years may not exceed five years without council approval.
The updated policy sets internal expectations for periodic contract review and market checks at least every five years and retains a framework allowing the administrator to exercise option years within the five-year ceiling. Trustees said this change balances administrative flexibility with council oversight of multi-year commitments.
Next steps: staff will clean up the draft language per the council's direction and present a final resolution for the village record.
