(A) There is hereby created a Board of Control consisting of the Mayor, the City Administrator, and the Director of Finance. The Board of Control shall award all contracts on behalf of the City, except as provided in Division (C) of this Section and except that the Charter Review Commission shall award contracts and authorize expenditures related to its powers, duties and functions. The Board of Control may act by a majority vote of its members taken either at a meeting or by a signed written order without a meeting after the order has been presented to each member of the Board.
(B) Except as provided in Division (H), when a contract will involve an expenditure of more than the amount specified by the general laws of the State of Ohio for which a contract by a city may be awarded and made without advertisement and bidding, that contract shall first be authorized and directed by ordinance or resolution passed by Council, and bids for that contract shall be received only after (1) advertisement once a week for at least two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the City, if there is such a newspaper, and (2) posting notice of receipt of bids on the City's website for a period of at least fourteen days. The City may also advertise for such bids in trade papers or other publications and on other electronic platforms as deemed appropriate by the Board of Control for the purpose of generating bids. If satisfactory bids are received, the Board of Control shall award a written contract to the lowest and best bidder.
(C) When any contract involves an expenditure of an amount not more than the amount specified by the general laws of the State of Ohio for which a contract may be awarded and made by a city without advertising and bidding, the City Administrator shall award the contract or authorize the expenditure in the case of all departments, division, boards, commissions and other bodies of the City, except the Department of Law and the Charter Review Commission. The Director of Law and the Charter Review Commission shall award such contracts for their respective department or commission.
(D) Alterations and modifications to contracts shall be made only by the appropriate contracting authority. No order for an alteration or modification shall be effective until the price to be paid for the work or material, or both, under the altered or modified contract, shall have been agreed upon in a writing signed by the contractor and by the appropriate contracting authority on behalf of the City.
(E) No contract, agreement or other contractual obligation involving the expenditure of money shall be entered into or authorized by the appropriate contracting authority unless the Director of Finance shall first certify that the money required to be expended by the City under the contract, agreement or obligation:
(1) Is in the City's treasury or in the process of collection, and
(2) Has been appropriated by Council for the specified purpose and remains unencumbered.
The Director of Finance shall cause the applicable certification to be filed and maintained in the accounting records of the City and shall cause a copy to be furnished to the vendor or contractor. Without such certification, City contracts, agreements and obligations shall be void and unenforceable against the City unless recognized by Council as a moral obligation.
(F) No City contracting authority shall divide an order or contract to avoid competitive bidding requirements.
(G) The City shall have the authority to prepare, or cause to be prepared, plans and specifications for, and to solicit bids for, all public work projects.
The City may, but shall not be required to, prepare separate plans and specifications for, and accept separate bids for, contracts for each separate trade or kind of mechanical labor, employment or business involved in a public works project, or for the furnishing of materials therefor, or both. The City may prepare, or cause to be prepared, plans and specifications for, and accept bids for, a contract including two or more separate trades or kinds of mechanical labor, employment or business involved in a public works project, and the materials therefor, at its discretion, the general laws of Ohio notwithstanding.
(H) Without the advertising and bidding as contemplated in Division (B), the Board of Control may award, and the City may enter into, a contract:
(1) for work or services in the case of a real and present emergency or an urgent necessity requiring immediate work or services for the security and protection of City residents and other persons or City infrastructure and property;
(2) for the purchase for supplies or services by participating in a State contract under a cooperative purchasing program or a contract for the purchase of supplies and services upon equivalent terms, conditions, and specifications but at a lower price than it can through a State contract;
(3) with a professional design firm for professional design services for public improvements following the procurement procedures provided by general laws of the State of Ohio;
(4) with a construction manager or a construction manager at risk for a range of construction management services for public improvements following the procurement procedures and meeting the requirements provided by general laws of the State of Ohio;
(5) with a design-build firm for design-build services for public improvements following the procurement procedures and meeting the requirements provided by general laws of the State of Ohio; or
(6) that otherwise may be made by a statutory city without advertisement and bidding under the general laws of the State of Ohio.
(Amended 11-6-01; 11-2-21)