Vendors and others looking to do business with Peachtree City now have some updated and slightly altered parameters for the purchasing process.

The City Council recently approved some amendments to the city's Purchasing Ordinance, which has seen only a few minor changes in the ten years since it was written. Recommended changes in amounts and approval limits for various types of bids, first presented at the Council retreat in March, were approved unanimously at the April 15 Council meeting.

Previous guidelines called for verbal quotes on bids up to $1,000, written quotes up to $2,500 and sealed bids beyond that. The amended amounts are up to $5,000 for verbal quotes, up to $10,000 for written quotes and more than $10,000 for sealed bids.

Approval of the City Manager, previously allowed on spending of up to $20,000, is now approved up to $25,000, with a monthly summary given to the City Council on all budgeted expenditures over $10,000. Any budgeted expenditure over $25,000 or unbudgeted expenditure over $5,000 requires approval of the Mayor and City Council.

An additional consideration is now in place with regard to state contract use. According to the amended ordinance, the purchasing agent may use State of Georgia contracts for purchasing any products that are available to local governments. By using this method, the necessity of bidding items over $10,000 is eliminated due to the fact that the state has already bid the item.

In other recent City Council business, Water and Sewerage Authority General Manager Larry Turner requested that the city transfer one of its surplus natural-gas vehicles to his department for use during his staff's second and third shifts.

Turner noted that an upcoming watershed assessment done by the Authority would be of benefit to the city, since the data from this study would be shared with the Water Management Committee and save the city some expense. He also proposed that the Authority pump out the city's septic tanks at no charge in exchange for the use of this vehicle. The request was approved unanimously by the Council.

Nathan Esparza, owner of R.N. Esparza Realty, Inc., requested a rezoning of property he recently purchased at 427 Ga. Highway 72 N. for his business. The tract is not currently zoned for commercial use.

City staff recommended approval of the request, with stipulations. Among them are the relocation of overhead utility lines underground, removal of the septic tank and connection to the sanitary sewer system, removal of outbuildings on the property, a continuous 20-foot buffer on the rear of the propery, and that the existing structure be conformed to properly serve as an office.

Esparza told the Council that he plans to build a new office building at the site within a couple of years, and he has no problem with the stipulations. The Council voted unanimously to approve the request.

Residents of the Cypress Pointe subdivision came out to tell the Council of their displeasure with a neighbor's decision to install a swimming pool on his property at the entrance to the subdivision, at the corner of Braelinn Road and Monterey Drive. The entire lot measures 7,024 square feet, according to land records displayed at the Council meeting.

The applicant, Terry Malmer, requested a variance for the pool. Staff recommended that the need for a variance was created by a drafting error on the final plat for the subdivision, and the appropriate action would be a replat and no hearing on the variance.