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Regular Council Meeting December 14, 2020 Page 7 doing this, the City would receive a significant amount of funding that was not directly tied to an abnormal Covid-19 expense and in affect, would give the City options for spending the money. Mr. Path reported the City had three external commitments, which included the third party administrator, the Health District and the Schools. He said all other expenses were internal and for testing kits, ventilators, cleaning supplies, masks, payroll and overtime and the budget was able to absorb these expenses without exceeding the budget. Mr. Path explained the available options on expending the funds which included reimbursing the City funds on the expenses by adding the money to the reserve. He said another option was to set this money aside for a purposes such as future street work, capital improvements, equipment purchases, etc. Mr. Path said the third option was to set this money aside for the pursuit of disaster -related purchases, and this option was the one he was recommending. City Council discussed the three options. Council Member Pilgrim favored the idea of setting the money aside for the next disaster but wanted all Covid expenses paid first. Mayor Clifford agreed with Council Member Pilgrim and said the first thing that shouldbe done was all legit Covid expenses paid, then reimburse any reserves that were used, and then set aside money for emergency preparedness. Council Member Portugal inquired if the City had received a refund on test kits that were ordered. Finance Director -Gene Anderson said the City was able to cancel the, kits it had not received and receive a refund. He also said on the kits the City had actually received, the City was unable to get a refund and that the City had:. about 3,500 test kits: Mr. Path said staff would bring back a resolution with the actual numbers. Following additional discussion, it was a consensus of City Council to pay Covid expenses first, reimburse any funds used from reserves and set aside the remaining money for emergency preparedness. 24. Discuss and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2020-052: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS APPROVING THE ADOPTION OF A POLICY FOR CONTRACTING FOR AND ',DELIVERY OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS NAD SETTING OUT CRITERIA- FOR DETERMINING IF A PROSPECTIVE BIDDER IS A RESPONSIBLE BIDDER. Mr. Path said he and Ms. Harris had worked on this policy using Texas Government Code Chapter 2269 as the basis. Ms. Harris said the resolution and policy incorporates State Statute, which controls governmental procurement of contracts for the construction, alteration, and renovation of public facilities and public works. She also said Chapter 252 of the Local Government Code had competitive bidding components and to the extent that it conflicts with Chapter 2269, that Chapter 2269 controls. Ms. Harris informed Council there were multiple procurement methods. Mayor Clifford inquired about the definition of responsible bidder and Ms. Harris said there was not a statutory definition of responsible bidder, and that would be up to staff to develop criteria. Council Member Portugal said for instance they would look at the safety record and performance and if a company did not complete that, the City would not want that company doing work for the City. Mayor Clifford said this does give the City a little more flexibility and they were not required to just go with the lowest bidder. Ms. Harris said the staff would qualify the bidders. Council Member Stone said she likes that companies would be held accountable. Council Member Portugal expressed appreciation to staff on their work on this policy.