The Valencia County Commission voted unanimously to give the county manager the authority to approve contracts worth under $5,000 without bringing the contracts before the commission.

Commissioners said the move is intended to allow the manager to expedite approvals of contracts related to basic operations. The business manager will also be responsible for reviewing the contracts.

“This is an attempt to clarify process,” County Manager Eric Zamora said. “We’ve had certain processes in place without a specific definition of what that authority is, and this is just a means of clarifying that.”

Commissioners cut language allowing the manager to delegate his authority to approve contracts from the new policy.

Zamora said things he might approve are stand-by maintenance agreements for generators or lease agreements for copiers, printers and a postage machine.

“One of our neighboring county managers has the authority to enter into contracts up to $250,000,” he said last month when discussing the issue, adding, “It’s just a practice that’s defined in other counties.”

This page was published on August 5, 2009 at 9:17pm and is filed under Archive.