No officer of the Town shall, in his/her official capacity,
make or pass upon or participate in making or passing upon, any sale,
contract, agreement, or the terms or amount of any payment in which
the Town is interested and in which such officer has any personal
financial interest, direct or indirect, other than union or employment
contracts.
All contracts entered into by the Town which are subject to
federal or state procurement requirements shall be awarded only after
there has been full compliance with such requirements. No contract
shall be split, separated or divided for the purpose of reducing the
amount thereof in order to avoid the procurement requirements. When
federal or state requirements necessitate the solicitation of quotes,
the Town officer shall seek said quotes in writing from at least three
or more reliable parties, regularly engaged or employed in such work
or business. So far as practicable, contracts for less than the applicable
state or federal threshold for soliciting quotes shall be made or
awarded in such a manner as to secure the benefit of reasonable competition,
utilizing sound business practices.
If a contract or purchase is made without competitive bids under the exceptions allowed in §
49-3A and
B, such contract or purchase shall have attached to it, previous to its audit by the Chief Financial Officer, a certificate by the officer, board, or committee authorizing the same, setting forth the reason why competitive bids were not obtained.
No contract involving an obligation of the Town in excess of
$500 shall be binding upon the Town unless it is in writing and is
signed by at least a majority of the board or committee duly authorized
or having control of the appropriation against which such obligation
is incurred.
No board or officer shall make any contract in behalf of the
Town, the execution of which shall necessarily extend beyond three
years from the date thereof, except as otherwise provided by law,
unless specific authority to do so has been given by vote of Town
Meeting.