"Quality

service. Responsible spending"

That's the

mission statement of Fairburn's Purchasing Department in a nutshell. The

City Council had two weeks to look over the 20 page document first presented

to the group by City Administrator Jim Williams at their July 14 meeting.

At that time,

council member Marian Johnson made the motion to table the proposal until

Monday's meeting in order to give the City Council time to absorb all

the new information in the packet.

In the interim,

City Attorney Brad Sears fine-tuned the wording of some sections and a

clear and concise purchasing manual was adopted Monday night.

In order to

assure the public's "confidence in the integrity of its government"

a code of ethics stressing fairness and impartiality set down eight specific

goals for the Purchasing Department.

Among the ideals

stressed were efficient service to the public, enhancement of the city's

reputation and employees, an equal and courteous treatment of all its

citizens and a desire to refrain from special privilege.

The obtaining

of quotes is separated into verbal, written and sealed bids. Two to three

verbal quotes are required for bids under $500 and $5,000 respectively.

Three written

quotes are required for amounts over $5,000. Formal sealed bids are used

when the amount is over the $10,000 mark. It was also noted that sales

tax, freight and set-up costs would be included in the quotes.

In the instance

that a sealed bid is required, a bid package is distributed to all potential

candidates. Bids between $10,000 and $99,000 have a period of 15 days

from the established bid opening date to submit a proposal. Twenty days

are given for bids over $100,000 and less than $250,000. Larger amounts

will receive a 30 day preparation period.