With little discussion, the Board of Selectmen this week decided to raise the minimum amount of contracts that require approval as standalone items at public meetings by half again as much.
In recent years, the selectmen during bimonthly meetings have dedicated an agenda item and discussion to all contracts of more than $10,000 that require approval from their elected body, while contracts valued at $10,000 or less are approved in a block vote, nearly always with no public discussion.
On Tuesday, First Selectman Dionna Carlson suggested upping that minimum to $15,000.
“I know that in prior meetings there’s been a request to increase the threshold for contracts to come to us above the $10,000 dollar level,” Carlson said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “So we thought in an incremental stage to move it to $15,000 and so wanted to get your approval to do that.”
Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll readily agreed and the trio voted 3-0 in favor of the change after about 74 seconds of discussion.
Murphy Carroll said, “I would be glad to do that.”
Karl said, “We’ve discussed this in the past,” adding, “It definitely would cut down some of the time of our meeting.”
He added that “there’s probably not too many between [$10,000 and $15,000].”
At that very meeting, two contracts in that range were discussed and voted on, including one to install a new ceiling at Lapham Center.
Carlson said “it’s been at $10,000 for a very long time.”
The selectmen last increased the minimum—from $5,000 to $10,000—in August 2020.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Selectmen approved a total of 41 contracts in its block vote, across 11 departments, totaling $158,548.90, with no discussion. They included contracts for election software, hearing tests for DPW workers, identity theft software and police K9 training. Three of the contracts came in at $10,000 exactly.