HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974-0301 MEMO - EMERGENCYMarch 1, 1974
cj rom:
Honorable Mayor and City Council
Brian L. Almquist, City Administrator
Council declaration of a State of Emergency
At the adjourned meeting on February 21, 1974, I indicated that due to the
highly critical need to proceed with the road construction to Reeder Reservoir
without calling for formal sealed bids, I would be requesting a declaration of
a State of Emergency from the City Council.
ORS 279.028 does authorize this action when the governing body declares
such a State of Emergency to exist, and this statute supersedes all conflicting
law~, charters and ordinances as outlined on the attached memorandum from the
City Attorney.
This in no way infers that we, through our consulting engineers, will not
secure services without calling for proposals from as many contractors as are
available. It may be possible to secure sealed bids on some aspects of the
dredging, depending on the timing of the completion of the access road.
All proposed work will be first ceived and authorized by the Federal
Government, and will be subjected a detailed audit of these costs.
RI3NALD L. SALTER
ATTORNEY AT LAW
70 NORTH pIONEER STREET
P. O. BOX 727
March 1, 1974
MEMORANDUM:.
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Mayor and Members of the Common Council
Ronald L. Salter, City Attorney
Necessity for bids on public improvement contracts
if there is an emergency.
Mr. Almquist has inquired as to whether it is mandatory
that public improvement contracts be. put up for bid if there is
an emergency. It is my opinion that the declaration of an
emergency by tbe Council would remove the necessity of securing
formal bids.
Our Charter in Article XI, Section 4, does provide that,
in effect, all contracts in excess of $500.00 for a public
improvement shall be put up for bid. However, Cbapter 279 of
the Oregon Revised Statutes deals with "Public Contracts and
Purchasing" and sets forth the procedures for bidding public
contracts. In Section 279.028, it is provided tbat the
requirements of bidding "...do not apply to work deemed by the
public officer as an emergency." Public officer is defined to
include, among others, representatives of a city or town.
Thus, there is an apparent conflict between our
Charter and the State Law. However, our Charter in Section 2 of
Article XI do~s provide that the procedure for making a public
improvement shall be governed by general ordinan~ or to the
extent not so governed, by applicable general laws of the State.
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Memorandum to: Mayor amd Members of
Date - March 1, 1974
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the Common Council
Since we do not have any o~dinances on the subject of
and public improvements, the State Law would fill this gap..
In addition', ORS 279.085 does state that "all laws, charters,
ordinances of any public body applying to bidding
requirements for contracts for public improvements are super-
seded insofar as they conflict with.O~~279.028 .
RONALD L. SALTER
City Attorney
RLS:gm
cc: Mr. Brian Almquist
City Administrator
emergencies
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