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April 26, 2007
City Council Adopts Local Preference Purchasing Policy
On April 17, 2007, the Madison Common Council approved by voice vote a Local Preference Purchasing Policy for the City of Madison. This was the culmination of work by Progressive Dane alders, the Progressive Dane Economic Issues Task Force (EITF) and other political and business groups over several years.
The final version of this policy (see: http://legistar.cityofmadison.com/DetailReport/Reports/Temp/4172007151133.pdf) was crafted by a joint subcommittee of the Madison Board of Estimates and the Economic Development Commission. It was sponsored by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Alders Larry Palm and Austin King and was co-sponsored by alders Mark Clear and Satya Rhodes-Conway. Only one amendment (friendly) was offered from the council floor by Progressive Dane's alder Satya Rhodes-Conway to add March 1st of each year as the date for city staff to report back to the council regarding the policy's impact on city purchasing patterns. The path to this juncture is an interesting history of persistence and collaboration in promoting public policy. Here are a few of the many steps taken:
- In 2004, the Madison Board of Estimates asked the city attorney's office for a description of how the city made purchases. The office produced a draft memo listing laws and policies related to purchasing. Progressive Dane alder Brenda Konkel obtained the laws and policies listed in the memo and compiled them for future reference.
- In the spring and summer of 2005, the EITF produced a list of initiatives it might pursue to benefit the small business community, including the adoption of a city purchasing policy to give preference to locally owned businesses.
- Between the fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006, Satya Rhodes-Conway wrote a memo on local purchasing policies, concluding that it would benefit the local economy, that such policies have been enacted in other municipalities, and that we may have allies in the business community in seeking such a policy. She also collected sample ordinances.
- EITF members pitched the possible campaign to DMI, whose members seemed interested, but not enthusiastically so. The EITF held a town hall for businesses, intending to discuss the possible campaign there, but turn-out was scant.
- EITF members met with the city procurement staff to learn how the city currently makes purchases
- EITF members mentioned the idea to the mayor, and he seemed to generally like the idea, though he did not immediately specify how he might support it.
- EITF members attended a meeting with the city Sustainable Design and Environmental Commission, where the primary topic was environmentally sustainable purchasing policies. Some of the strategies used by other communities to promote green purchasing were noted as potentially useful for implementing local purchasing policy.
- In the fall of 2006, the mayor identified a local preference purchasing policy as one of his top priorities. He was criticized for so doing by a Wisconsin State Journal editorial (see: http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/10/16/0610150076.php)
- EITF members Vicky Selkowe and Rick Richards responded to that criticism with a guest editorial (see: http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/10/25/0610250018.php)
- Also in the fall of 2006, EITF members met with Josie Pradella of the Dane County Buy Local Initiative (web site: http://www.danebuylocal.com/article/5) to share ideas and support. EITF members began attending bi-monthly meetings of the Dane County Buy Local initiative.
- The joint task force of the Madison Board of Estimates and the Economic Development Commission met multiple times over the winter of 2006-2007 to craft a local preference purchasing policy. PD alders Austin King and Judy Olson were members of this committee. Alder Larry Palm, also on this joint committee, submitted his own multi-page draft policy for the committee's consideration. EITF members and Dane County Buy Local representatives attended these meetings and offered numerous suggestions and encouragement.
- The final version (referenced by a link at the beginning of this history) was forwarded to the parent committees and ultimately to the city council on March 20th, 2007. As noted above it was passed by voice vote on April 17th, 2007.
The final policy reflects a great deal of compromise, especially regarding laws that dictate the use of federal funds as well as the realities of the City of Madison’s purchasing structure (a very small central purchasing department with widely dispersed purchasing authority).
However, some very important principles are incorporated including a fairly robust definition of what makes a business local (the original proposal was only that a business have a local address), an avoidance of micromanagement combined with periodic reporting back to the city council, and a flexible, tiered process that reflects the realities of the city’s purchasing structure.
(Thanks to PD member Shelly Fite for documenting some of the above history in a July 23, 2006, memo to the EITF)
Posted by prodane at April 26, 2007 12:41 AM
