The Mayor may make any contract or purchase supplies or material, or provide labor for any work in any department, not involving more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars or the amount stipulated by State law, whichever amount is the greater. When any expenditure within any department other than the compensation of persons employed therein, exceeds Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars or the amount stipulated by State law, whichever amount is the greater, such expenditure shall first be authorized and directed by ordinance of the Council, and when so authorized and directed the Mayor shall make a written contract with the lowest and best bidder after advertisement for not less than two nor more than four consecutive weeks in a newspaper having a bona fide daily general circulation of 20,000 copies or more within Cuyahoga County, Ohio. All bids shall be sealed and shall be opened at twelve o’clock noon on the last day for filing the same by the Mayor at his office in the City of East Cleveland, Ohio, and be publicly read by him. Each bid shall contain the full name of every person or company interested in the same, and shall be accompanied by a sufficient bond or certified check on some solvent bank that if the bid is accepted a contract will be entered into and the performance of it properly secured. If the work bid for embraces both labor and material, they shall be separately stated with the price thereof. The Mayor shall report all the bids to the Council at its next regular meeting and shall recommend which, if any, bid shall be accepted. The Council, regardless of the recommendation of the Mayor, may reject any or all bids. No such contract shall be entered into by the Mayor until the approval thereof by the Council has been first had and obtained.
The contract shall be between the Corporation and the bidder, and the Corporation shall pay the contract price in cash. Where a bonus is offered for completion of a contract prior to a specified date, the Corporation may exact a pro rata penalty in like sum for every day of delay beyond the specified date. Where there is reason to believe there is collusion or combination among bidders, the Mayor shall reject the bids of those concerned therein.
Whenever it becomes necessary in the opinion of the Mayor in the prosecution of any work or improvement under contract to make alterations or modifications in such contract, such alterations or modifications shall only be made by such Mayor after the same have been authorized by resolution or ordinance of the Council; but such resolution shall be of no effect until the price to be paid for the work and material, or both, under the altered or modified contract, has been agreed upon in writing and signed by the contractor and the Mayor on behalf of the corporation. And no contractor shall be allowed to recover anything for work or material, caused by an alteration or modification unless such contract is made as aforesaid; nor shall he, in any case, be allowed, or recover for such work and material, or either, more than the agreed price.
The Council may authorize, in specific cases, expenditures of the funds of the city in amounts exceeding the limit hereinabove stated, without bidding, for the acquisition of real estate, for the discharge of non-contractual claims against the city, for personal services, for the joint use of facilities or exercises of powers with other political subdivisions, for the product or services of public utilities (including those municipally operated) or in the case of urgent emergency, for the immediate protection of public property or public safety.
(Amended 11-8-77)