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Director Berry stated that he has been in ongoing communication with the HELP Foundation, and they have a standing monthly meeting to address any concerns that arise. He acknowledged that they have struggled to make the level of profit they were hoping for, but that the Human Services Department is committed to doing everything in their power to support them. Director Berry assured Council that he has full confidence in the partnership going forward. otion by President Litten seconded by Vice President Kepple to suspend the rules to pass the M ordinance on second reading. A roll call vote was conducted as follows: Yes: Baker, Bullock, Kepple, Litten, Marx, Rader, Shachner Nays: none Motion passed. Rules were suspended. President Litten made a motion to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Vice President Kepple. All members in favor. Motion passed. S. Ordinance 19-2023 adopted as substituted. Discussion: Councilmember Bullock commented that he wants Council to be more involved in the discussions leading up to the agreement renewal for next year and that he was very much in support of Director Vargo’s idea for them to meet at the café at the Cove Center for such discussions. 4.Report from Finance Committee regarding meeting held September 18, 2023. (to be provided) Councilmember Shachner provided the following oral report: We discussed two ordinances at today’s finance committee, the first, Ordinance 16-2023 was really about authorizing the transfer and advance of certain funds, this is a quarterly transfer it is pretty routine, according to Director Raconteur, we are right on track and don’t have to deviate from the budget plan, so everything is looking good, and that was moved out of committee for approval by the whole council. The second item, was Ordinance 18-2023, which would establish new purchasing limits under Ohio Revised Code for the city of Lakewood. Essentially right now, for any professional service or contract that is over $7,500 – that has to be publicly bid. Members of the administration shared with council how that it is limiting their ability to make purchases or repairs on vehicles, to make purchases in the time required, and also it shuts out a lot of potential contractors, where the projects are not big enough for them to spend all those resources in completing a bid packet. The recommendation from the administration is to align our threshold with the revised code which is at $75,000 so that is a ways from $7,500 to $75,000, and it would be that threshold gets raised by 3% every year following 2024, so starting in 2025. Questions were asked by Council pointing to the different methods and mechanisms that the administration can ask for certain authority or waive those bidding requirements. Also, questions were asked in terms of the processes that exist that those thresholds, when if they are raised, how those contractors would be evaluated, and how those purchases would be made, and who would be reviewing those purchases. We didn’t 3