§ 20-A — Purchasing department or agency

§ 20-a. Purchasing department or agency. Each city, except a city of\nthe first class having a population of one million or more inhabitants,\nis hereby authorized and empowered to create and establish by ordinance\nof the common council or similar legislative body and to maintain a\npurchasing department or agency. Such department or agency shall\nconsist of a purchasing agent, who shall be its head, and such\nassistants and with such salaries as the body which is by charter\nauthorized to designate the number of employees and fix salaries, may\nfrom time to time authorize. The purchasing agent shall be appointed and\nremovable at pleasure by the same official or body who or which by\ncharter is now authorized to appoint the heads of city departments. The\npurchasing agent shall appoint and remove at pleasure such assistants\nand employees as may be authorized.\n The purchasing department or agency shall purchase and be responsible\nfor the proper receipt of all materials and supplies, including those on\nwhich bids are obtained after publication of notice pursuant to law\nunless the legislative body shall by ordinance otherwise provide, as\nwell as those purchased without the requirement of competitive bidding,\nfor such departments, boards, bureaus and offices of the city as shall\nbe designated in the ordinance creating the department. Boards of\ncontract and supply in second class cities and boards with similar\npowers in other cities and the common council or similar legislative\nbody in cities which have no boards of contract and supply or bodies\nwith similar powers, shall make rules and regulations not inconsistent\nwith general laws or their charter, which shall prescribe the procedure,\nconditions, methods and practices that shall prevail in regard to all\npurchases of materials and supplies by the purchasing department or\nagency, and all departments, boards, bureaus and offices of the city for\nwhich supplies are purchased shall obey and comply with such rules and\nregulations. The purchasing department or agency may sell, under the\ndirection of the board of contract and supply or any body having similar\npowers or the common council or similar legislative body in those cities\nwhich have no boards of contract and supply or body with similar powers,\nall property, real and personal, of the city not needed for public use\nand authorized to be sold. The purchasing department or agency shall\nhave charge of such storerooms and warehouses of the city as the\nlegislative body by ordinance may prescribe.\n The purchasing agent and such other subordinates of the department as\nthe common council or other legislative body may designate, shall within\nten days after appointment execute bonds to be approved by the mayor,\npayable to such city in amounts to be prescribed by ordinance of the\ncommon council or similar legislative body contingent on the faithful\nperformance of the duties of their offices and for a due accounting of\nall property that may come under their care, custody and control.\n