Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/118445
Sarasota News Leader March 29, 2013 Page 13 Administrator Randall Reid or his designees can authorize. "Mr. Coyman, it's been a long time in the making," Robinson told him. "Thank you for your work on this. … We've put you through a lot." She added, "We took our time with [revising the code] to try to get it right. … Thank you for your diligence." "Thank you," Coyman responded. With no other comments, Mason called for the vote, which was unanimous. Procurement Official Ted Coyman addresses Later that day, during the board's evaluation of the County Commission on March 19. Photo Reid's first year on the job, Robinson said, "I by Rachel Hackney am really relieved to see that Procurement has made the leaps and bounds [in] improvements "We've thoroughly embraced all the elements … It's been a good chapter to close." of this that can be applied," Coyman told the During the commission's Feb. 26 regular meet- commission on Feb. 26, referring to the ABA ing — when the board approved holding the standards. public hearing on the revised code — Coyman Among the proposed changes the commission pointed out that after he was named the new already had reviewed, he pointed out, was the procurement official in August 2012, he undertook a comparison of the Sarasota County inclusion of an Ethical Standards section — code with those of 11 peer counties, and he something the existing code lacked. sought legal review of recommended changTHRESHOLDS es through the County Attorney's Office. He noted that the National Institute of Govern- Regarding the new levels of purchasing aumental Purchasing had audited new county thority, Coyman noted that anything less than practices in November, and he utilized a num- $5,000 can be bought by an employee with a ber of "subject matter experts" to revise the county purchase card if the price is generalordinance. ly the same at any place the item or service "Their input was vital," he added. "I want to could be bought. raise your confidence level that this document has really been scrubbed and vetted," Coyman Anything costing between $5,000 and $24,999.99 would require three verbal quotes. told the commission. The new code also encompasses a number of An item or service valued between $25,000 best practices recommended by the American and $99,999.99 would necessitate three written quotes. Bar Association.