By Tyler Waugh, Local Journalism Initiative, The Pearl
Mount Pearl council has passed a series of motions to delegate authority to senior administrators for transactions that fall within a certain dollar threshold and are consistent with policy and legislation.
“Delegating these routine matters within the parameters of procurement legislation will improve process and timelines and reduce administrative burden,” said councillor Bill Antle in introducing the motions during the May 26 public council meeting.
The first motion empowered the chief administrative officer (CAO) to authorize a change order or an aggregate value of change orders up to a value of 10% of the original contract or $15,000, whichever is greater, within the published scope of a call for bid or negotiated contract.
The second motion delegated authority to the CAO to approve invoices for payment of goods and services rendered up to $50,000 per invoice, subject to approved budget and compliance with procurement and financial control policies. The department of corporate services will provide monthly reports to council on these approvals.
The third motion delegated authority to the CAO to approve the write off of business tax accounts deemed uncollectible, up to $25,000, following documented collections efforts, and that periodic reports of said write-offs be provided to council.
Lastly, council delegated authority to the manager of finance to write off small tax balances of less that $15 for under or over payment.
An associated administrative report in the May 26 agenda outlined how, currently, the director of engineering and development and the manager of engineering services can currently approve individual change orders up to 0.5% of the original contract value pursuant to a delegation of authority from council in 2015.
“Change orders exceeding the threshold of 0.5% require council’s approval, often causing unnecessary delays and operational inefficiencies,” explained the report, adding that the City’s internal project execution historical data shows that change orders for facilities management often range around 8.7%, while these accumulate to 8% of total contract value for street projects, both of which far exceed the current 0.5% delegated limit set by council in 2015.
Mayor Dave Aker explained that what the motions achieve are to clean up what he called ‘immaterial’ transactions and that there are internal checks and controls associated with delegating these authorities.
“So, I think this is going to streamline some of the payment processes at the end of the day,” Aker said.