Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Procurement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mayor Pro Tem presses for vendor vetting after state-level debarments; council pulls related consent items
Summary
Mayor Pro Tem Crystal Chisholm flagged three vendors listed on the consent agenda as debarred at the state level and urged the city to add sam.gov checks to procurement policy; staff said current local policy relies on BuyBoard and three-quote rules and offered to return with proposed policy updates, while the council pulled the related items for further review.
Mayor Pro Tem Crystal Chisholm told the council she had found three vendors tied to consent items that appear listed as debarred in the state-level SAM.gov system and asked whether the city’s procurement checks include that registry.
"When a vendor is debarred, this means that this vendor cannot be re-awarded government contracts because they have failed in performance, committed some kind of act of fraud, or did some sort of breach of contract," Chisholm said, urging staff to consider more robust vetting. Development Services Director Madel Casey and the finance director (Miss Sutton) explained that current local practice calls for three quotes and BuyBoard compliance but does not require a SAM.gov check; Miss Sutton said adding such a check would require a policy update.
City Manager Al Goffrey told the council staff could revisit the vendors and procurement policy and recommended pulling the items from the consent agenda while staff performs additional vetting. The council voted to pull items related to the Westmoreland project’s materials-testing and other contracts (items 7, 9 and 10) for separate consideration and follow-up. City staff said the items could be deferred so the council could make a policy decision on whether to adopt additional vetting steps.
The exchange left council members focused on two questions: whether a state debarment should automatically disqualify a vendor for municipal work, and whether the city should require an explicit SAM.gov check in its procurement rules. Staff committed to returning with options.
