Saratoga Town Council holds discussion regarding bids and purchase policy leading up to rec department pickleball event
Expenses presented from the recreation department were the catalyst for a conversation regarding bidding processes, approval policies and the spending of public money during the July 18 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council.
Councilmember Kathy Beck, who serves as the council representative to the recreation commission, presented a bill for $741 from Cowboy Couture for t-shirts and discussed a $780 bid from Hangry Services, Inc.. Both bids, which were for the pickleball tournament on July 22, seemed to have brought the Town of Saratoga into a legal pickle.
The discussion regarding what the Town of Saratoga can and cannot do first came up when discussing the bill from Cowboy Couture.
“There were 57 bought and we intend to sell them at the event at $20, so it’s a $7 revenue for each one of those for participants and attendees of the event. We did go out to quote with several suppliers in town,” said Beck, who joined via Zoom. “ We went with Cowboy Couture so that we could sell these t-shirts at the event and future pickleball events that we have.”
According to Beck, the shirts had already been produced and delivered for the event. When asked by Councilmember Jacob Fluty if it was standard procedure for purchases to be approved in advance by the council as a whole, Beck said the purchase was under $1,000 and therefore could be approved by a single council member.
“Technically we reviewed this with our rec commission and I approved the purchase after the supporting documentation was provided for various quotes and designs and the rec commission voted on the design,” said Beck. “This was intended to be a revenue and advertising opportunity.”
Beck admitted that the intent of selling the shirts at a mark-up was a diversion from how the recreation department had operated in the past. Previous events hosted by the Saratoga Recreation Department, per discussion among the council, had included shirts as part of the registration.
“Technically, we have all the supporting documentation showing we went out to quote from various suppliers in town, so I didn’t see that as an issue,” said Beck. “Otherwise, the purpose of this was to be a revenue opportunity and for advertising for the event. I didn’t see a conflict there.”
Kylie Waldrip, legal counsel for the Town of Saratoga, seemed to have a different opinion according to Mayor Chuck Davis. The mayor read from parts of an email sent by Waldrip to the council and referenced the email when Fluty asked about the legality of the Town of Saratoga being able to buy and resell items.
“In the attorney’s opinion, it’s a very gray area. Her advice was not to allow the purchase of the t-shirts. You guys did go out to quote, you went to more than one spot so that helps but her thing was the town paying for non-essential items,” said Davis. “The biggest thing was trying to keep us out of trouble.”
In addition to the t-shirts, food service at the pickleball tournament also seemed to present a legal issue. According to Beck, the recreation commission had solicited bids from “various restaurants in town and caterers.” The bid, said Beck, was for 52 boxed lunches with Hangry Services, Inc. bidding $780 or $15 per boxed lunch.
After soliciting bids, and approving one from Hangry Services, Beck said the recreation commission decided to change their plan for providing food at the event.
“We went the route, instead of having a committed number of boxes, of having the truck on site,” said Beck. “The question really is, can we approve the truck on site? Will the town cover an expense of sales? Do we just have no food on site? I feel kind of bad because we have an agreement with this restaurant.”
Davis, again citing concerns from Waldrip, said buying food and giving it away for free at an event could be considered gifting as the food wasn’t available to the public. Another concern, according to the mayor, were allowing only one food truck to provide food service at the event.
“It’s not necessarily limiting it to one. We went out for quote. The concern I have is that we have this agreement and Hangry Services already purchased all of the food expecting that this $780 would be covered,” said Beck. “It seems the simplest way to resolve this is we just don’t agree to pay that as long as we still have the truck there if we update the permit and any other food trucks can be there. It wasn’t intentional, it wasn’t like we selected her for that purpose, it was just an easier route than the box lunches.”
Despite there being a policy in place allowing a single council member to approve purchases less than $1,000, the governing body discussed such purchases coming before the council.
“I guess with everything else, it always comes here first and they take a vote on it, on approving anything as far as town money gets spent instead of spending a bunch of town money and asking for reimbursement. I think that’s where the issue starts,” said Fluty. “From here on out, like the police department or anybody else, things need to be approved here before anything is decided on for spending public money.”
Beck, however, disagreed with Fluty. According to Beck, the recreation department was different from other departments with the Town of Saratoga.
“We have line-items where we actually have money set aside for hosting new events. That’s what this money is set aside for; for us to spend money to have an event and then have an opportunity to improve our revenue by selling things or including meals in things,” said Beck. “It is sort of apples and oranges when you’re talking about the police department asking for us to pay $17,000 in maintenance on their radios or materials or equipment usage for the public works. We as a department have money in our budget to spend on events. That’s where we justify the use of this money.”
Fluty, in response, made the point that it was the purpose of the council and holding council meetings to “decide as a group how public money should or shouldn’t be spent.”
Ultimately, the town council approved paying the bill from Cowboy Couture pending legal review. The council also approved an amendment to the special event permit for the Saratoga Recreation Department to allow food at the pickleball tournament.
The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on August 1 at Saratoga Town Hall.
Town Hall
Marie Christen appointed as part-time interim town clerk
Special Events Permit for Aunt Scary’s Extra Fun Run on August 5 - Approved
Special Events Permit for 12th Annual Girls Nite Out at The Yard on August 19 - Approved
Wyoming Association of Municipalities Annual Membership for $2,284 - Approved
PineCove Consulting Phishing Protection Three Year Contract for $1,224.75 - Approved
Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Audit - Accepted
FEMA Flood Map Public Hearing set for 4:30 p.m. on August 22 at Saratoga Town Hall
Police Department
Motorola Service Agreement $17,071.90/per year - Approved
Department of Public Works
Lewis and Lewis Liquidated Damages Assessed - $65,204.02
Ardurra Engineering Invoice - $1,117.50
Two Tool Boxes for Streets Department - $2,899.98
Reader Comments(0)