(A) The city seeks to encourage the participation of local businesses to provide goods and/or services to the city, resulting in increased economic activity through more local jobs, tax revenues and to entice businesses to locate in the city.
(B) For purposes of this section, a LOCAL BUSINESS shall be defined as follows:
(1) The business has established and maintained a physical presence within the city limits via the ownership or lease of a building or portion of a building, for a period of not less than 12 consecutive months;
(2) The business employs a minimum of two full time employees at the physical location inside the city limits;
(3) The business has maintained a valid business license for the past 12 months;
(4) The business is not delinquent to the city in any payments; and
(5) There are no active code enforcement or planning/zoning actions against the business.
(C) Local preference exemptions:
(1) Purchases greater than $25,000;
(2) The local preference policy is not applicable to contracts required by state or federal statutes or regulations to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder; and
(3) Purchases funded by outside agencies that prohibit the use of preferences; examples include but are not limited to state or federal funding.
(D) A local business shall indicate on the quote or bid submission that the business qualifies as a "local business" under this policy. The city is not responsible for investigating whether a business qualifies as a local bidder if the indication is not included on the submitted quote or bid.
(E) The preferential discount of 5% may be applied to the low bid of "local business" when determining the lowest responsible bid. This policy applies to the purchase of goods and services that are purchased with a total cost of less than $25,000.
(F) In instances where a local business and a non-local business submit equivalent lowest responsible bids or tie bids, the purchasing agent has the option to give preference to the local business.
(G) The purchasing agent may provide the local business bidder, who is within 5% of the lowest responsible bidder, with a notice and an opportunity to reduce its bid to match the lowest non-local bid. Notice may be given by telephone, in writing, or electronic mail. The local business shall have three business days after the date of such notice to match the lowest bid in writing. Should the local business match, it may be deemed the lowest responsible bidder.
(H) No contract awarded under this section shall be assigned or subcontracted in any manner that permits more than 50% of the dollar value of the contract to be performed by an entity that is not a local business.
(I) The city shall not make any preference to local businesses that may result in burdensome or unreasonable costs to the taxpayers nor should it restrict the city from rejecting inferior products or services.
(J) The city reserves the right to waive or amend this policy when deemed appropriate and the City Administrator has the sole and final authority to resolve any disputes that may arise over this policy.
(Ord. 18-032, passed 12-11-2018; Ord. 2021-015, passed 6-8-2021)