City manager’s contract approval increases to $100K | Douglasville Sentinel

“It simplifies the process,” said Mayor Pro Tem Terry Miller, who chairs the city’s Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. “We don’t want everyone to have to come before the council when they need a transmission for a city vehicle.”

Council members approved the change in two steps. First, they amended the city charter’s section on contracting procedures. Previously, the charter authorized the city manager to approve contracts up to $25,000.

Monday’s amendment does not specify an amount. Rather, it allows the city manager to approve contracts where “the value of the city’s obligation does not exceed an amount as set forth in the City of Douglasville’s Code of Ordinances.”

In the second step, the council adopted a new ordinance that sets the spending limit at $100,000. The two-step process makes future changes in spending authority simpler as council members will only have to approve an ordinance change after a single reading and not a charter amendment, which requires two readings.

“If, in the future, that amount needs to change, it would only have to change in the ordinance and not in the charter, which requires an extra step for that being adopted at two different meetings,” said City Attorney Miranda Jordan.

The new contract approval limit falls in line with those at many other metro Atlanta cities. Last year, the City of South Fulton increased its limit from $25,00 to $100,000. Sandy Springs has the same cap.

In East Point, spending by the city manager is allowed up to $25,000 and the limit in Villa Rica is $10,000….