Local Austin vendor preference: adding ETJ

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Don Zimmerman
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:05 am

Local Austin vendor preference: adding ETJ

Post by Don Zimmerman »

Local Vendor Preference Draft Resolution

WHEREAS, with Resolution No. 20140807-113, which was adopted by the Austin City Council in 2014 regarding Local Vendor Preference, the value of preferring local vendors was duly acknowledged; and,

WHEREAS, the City Council finds that awarding contracts to businesses located in the City of Austin – including its Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) – benefits the City and its residents by improving employment opportunities, increasing property values, and increasing sales tax revenues; and,

WHEREAS, the City Council finds that there is no definition of the phrase “principal place of business” in the statues of the State of Texas; therefore, the City adopts its own definition herein as: “Principal place of business” means the business must be headquartered or have an established place or places of business in the incorporated limits of the City, or within the ETJ, as applicable, from which 20% or more of the entity’s workforce are regularly based, and from which a substantial role in the entity’s performance of a commercially useful function or a substantial part of its operations is conducted; a location utilized solely as a post office box, mail drop or telephone message center or any combination thereof, with no other substantial work function, shall not be construed as a “principal place of business”; and,

WHEREAS, the City Council finds that the conclusions and determinations contained herein meet the requirements of the Texas Local Government Code in Sections 271.905 and 271.9051; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT

RESOLVED, that the City Council directs the City Manager to expand Local Preference in purchasing decisions to include the Austin ETJ areas, to notify the Council whenever a Local Preference vendor is qualified to be selected under State law, and use posting language that allows the Council to select a qualified Local Preference vendor when a Local Preference vendor is available.
Don Zimmerman
Council Member District 6 (northwest Austin)