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Council considers 'veteran-friendly' procurement policy, debates guardrails around 6% goal
Summary
Council discussed a proposed veteran-friendly designation that would proactively notify veteran-owned businesses and include a suggested 6% good-faith set-aside for municipal contracts; members debated objective guardrails and legal implications before returning the draft for fine-tuning.
Council members discussed a draft resolution to designate Old Tappan a "veteran-friendly municipality" that would, among other items, encourage proactively notifying veteran-owned businesses about bids and pursue a "good faith effort to award 6% of municipal contract dollars to veteran owned businesses."
Council President Boyce summarized program elements and described the suggested 6% target: "Part of that... requires, to proactively notify veteran-owned businesses of public bids and opportunities. Good faith effort to award 6% of municipal contract dollars to veteran owned businesses." Members expressed support for the spirit of the policy but urged clearer objective criteria so the borough would be protected from claims that the policy improperly favored higher-priced bidders. A council member noted that state law can allow preference to qualified veteran-owned firms even if not the lowest bidder, and several members suggested specifying a margin (for example, within a percentage of the lowest qualified bid) so the policy is transparent to bidders.
Council asked staff to refine the draft, add guardrails that define qualification and acceptable percentage thresholds, and return with a revised text that preserves the intent to support veterans while reducing exposure to legal challenge. No final vote was taken; a follow-up session will refine the ordinance language.
