(a) All purchases and expenditures in excess of four hundred dollars ($400.00) shall require one of the following approval processes before being made:
(1) An ordinance and resolution other than the annual appropriation, budget, and or tentative budget enactments;
(2) A contract approved by the Council;
(3) Approval by the Municipal Manager per other applicable law, provided said purchase and/or expenditure is five thousand dollars ($5,000) or less;
(4) Approval of the expenditure by the Council at a regular or special meeting of the Council, the consent to which shall not be unreasonably withheld, if it is within the bounds of the annual budget measures of the Village.
(b) In addition to subsection (a) hereof, no purchases or expenditures shall be made on behalf of the Village, by or for any department, employee, board, agency, or unit thereof, without first obtaining a "purchase order" from the Village Fiscal Officer which certifies that the funds needed for the purchase or expenditure are available, and further submitting a "purchase requisition" on a form approved by the Village Fiscal Officer. Such "purchase requisition" shall be signed by the Municipal Manager, or in his absence, by the Village Fiscal Officer.
(c) Emergency purchases and expenditures are exempt from the provisions contained in this section; however, ratification of the emergency purchase or expenditure shall be sought from the Municipal Manager and a purchase order from the Village Fiscal Officer at the earliest available opportunity. The burden of proof of an "emergency" is on the person making the emergency purchase or expenditure.
(d) The penalty for violating subsection (a) or (b) hereof, shall be any or all of the following, at the discretion of the Council (to which the effected department, employee, board, agency, or unit thereof, shall have the right to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas or Preble County, Ohio, within thirty days of the finding of the Council):
(1) Restitution for the illegal purchase or expenditure, to be made by the person or persons violating subsection (a) or (b) hereof;
(2) An oral or written reprimand from the Council, directed to the person or persons violating subsection (a) or (b) hereof;
(3) A written suspension, without pay, of the person or persons violating subsection (a) or (b) hereof, for a term not to exceed ninety days;
(4) For illegal purchases and expenditures in excess of eight hundred dollars ($800.00) or situations in which the person or persons violating subsection (a) or (b) hereof, has or have been found to be a prior violator by the Council, a discharge of the person or persons violating subsection (a) or (b).
(e) All departments, employees, new employees, boards, agencies, or units thereof, are to receive a copy of this section. Further, any person or persons threatened with a penalty under subsection (d) hereof, shall have the right to notice of the hearing before the Council, the right to be present at the hearing, the right to retain legal counsel to represent them at the hearing, and the right to present evidence in their own defense.
(f) Subsection (d) hereof, shall not apply to any situation in which a potential violator of subsection (a) hereof, has first obtained a written preliminary opinion from the Municipal Manager that the contemplated purchase or expenditure in excess of four hundred dollars ($400.00) is an "emergency".
(Ord. 2007-07. Passed 3-2-07.)