2022-072 City Manager’s Expenditure Authority in FY21-22November 10, 2022 Report No. 2022-072
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
City Manager’s Expenditure Authority in Fiscal Year 2021-2022
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with information on the City Manager’s
expenditure authority for budgeted funds in fiscal year 2021-2022. The intent is to be transparent
and share this information at the end of each fiscal year.
DISCUSSION:
In September of 2006, City Council passed Ordinance No. 2006-237 (Attachment 1). This
ordinance raised the City Manager’s general expenditure authority of budgeted funds from $25,000
to $100,000 due to inflationary trends. General expenditures are defined as fees, professional
services, personal services and other categories exempted from the bid process. The purpose of
granting expenditure authority to the City Manager is to maximize efficiency, preventing Council
and meeting agendas from being burdened with routine purchase approvals.
To further maximize efficiency, the City Manager has delegated expenditure authority to the City’s
Purchasing Manager for non-contractual, general purchases up to $50,000. At least three quotes
are required by state law and are obtained for purchases between $3,000 and $50,000. State law
does not require a formal, competitive bidding process for non-contractual agreements in this
dollar range. The purchases are completed through a purchase order in the City’s financial
software.
In September of 2009, City Council passed ordinance No. 2009-189 (Attachment 2), granting the
City Manager additional expenditure authority specific to Denton Municipal Electric (DME). This
ordinance is separate from the general expenditure authority and allows the City Manager to
authorize up to $500,000 for DME purchases meeting the following criteria:
(a) the procurement is for materials and services for electric production, transmission,
distribution, and station projects;
(b) the project is included in the approved budget/CIP
(c) the cumulative total of purchases for any project does not exceed the amount available for
that project;
(d) purchase, in excess of $250,000, that have been recommended for approval by the PUB or
approved by City Council (whichever meets first) and;
(e) standard purchasing practices have been followed.
The general purchases up to $100,000 that were approved by the City Manager during fiscal year
2021-2022 are provided for informational purposes (Attachment 3). Fourteen purchases and
amendments were approved by the City Manager using this authority. The City Manager’s
additional expenditure authority for DME purchases up to $500,000 was not utilized in fiscal year
2021-2022.
November 10, 2022 Report No. 2022-072
CONCLUSION:
Granting the City Manager expenditure authority for general purchases up to $100,000 provides
Council more time and opportunity to review larger expenses and non-routine purchases. This also
allows the departments to proceed with projects and purchases more expeditiously. These
approvals will be provided to Council at the conclusion of each fiscal year.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Ordinance No. 2006-237
2. Ordinance No. 2009-189
3. FY 2021-2022 purchases below $100,000
STAFF CONTACT:
Christopher Moar
Ethics & Compliance Officer
(940) 349-8174
Christopher.moar@cityofdenton.com
PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS:
Procurement
Finance
STAFF TIME TO COMPLETE REPORT:
2 hours
City Manager Signature Contract Log
FY 2021-22
Bid/File Vendor Description Approval Date Total $ Submitting Department
7867 EJ Ward Inc. EJ Ward SaaS Support (Cloud hosted Fuel View IOT) 11/19/21 $49,140 Fleet
7897 Nezat Training & Consulting On-Site Sewer Jetter Truck Safety & Certification Training 12/8/21 $51,096 Water/Wastewater
7859 Genomic Life, Inc. Cancer Guardian program services 2/4/22 $55,640 HR/Risk Management
7905 Itron Inc. Meter Data Management Maintenance 2/1/22 $59,323 Tech Services
7394 Insight Public Sector, Inc. Insight Public Sector Services 2/3/22 $60,000 Tech Services
8087 Barry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker LLC Computer-aided Dispatch Records Management System Assessment 8/22/22 $60,000 Tech Services/Public Safety IT
7739 SHI Government Solutions Rock Solid/Engage Denton Software Platform Renewal 3/14/22 $61,456 Public Affairs
7900 Kirby Smith Machinery Inc. Concrete Saws 12/21/21 $67,554 Fleet
7906 Newgen Strategies & Solutions LLC Depreciation study for DME and TCOS Rate Filing 6/1/22 $72,000 Finance
7519 SHI Government Solutions Technology Equipment, Products, Services, and Software 10/5/21 $90,000 Tech Services
7793 King & Spalding LLP Outside Counsel – Tenaska 10/20/21 $95,500 Legal
8006 Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle Uri Litigation 4/13/22 $99,500 Legal
7994 Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle Covid-19 4/28/22 $99,500 Legal
7991 Booth, Ahrens & Associates General Matters 7/26/22 $99,500 Legal