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City Attomey Yamamoto stated that in order to make the Charter more clear, <br />proposed amendments to the Charter would need to be placed before the voters <br />of the City. He stated that the notion of lowest responsible bidder is consistent <br />with the California State Public Contracts Code and with the Public Works <br />contracts whereby the requirement is to go out to bid and award to the lowest <br />responsible bidder. He stated that the lowest responsible bid is not necessarily the <br />cheapest depending upon the kind of work being bid. With regard to the price, it is <br />only one aspect of being the lowest responsible bidder. The Charter specifically <br />provides that the award of the contract must go to the lowest responsible bidder <br />and inasmuch as the Charter does not delineate a specific procedure for that <br />process, attorneys create an analogy. The Public Contracts Code first looks to the <br />monetary distinction between bids. In the first instance, the question would be, are <br />you able to make a distinction between bids, and if so, the first hurdle has been <br />reached. The question of looking at who the responsible bidder is, it is not simply <br />looking at who is the most responsible because the Council has gone out for bids <br />seeking bidders who are responsible. If the bids, as submitted, can demonstrate <br />that the bid is intended to provide the work requested under the bid instructions, <br />then it is responsive. So the process is not to look at the most responsible, but it is <br />a matter of finding that they are the lowest monetary responsible bidder. <br />Council Member Jordan asked whether it is possible to incorporate a doorstep <br />circulation formula, possibly using price as the numerator and number of residents <br />or circulation as the denominator to determine the lowest responsible bidder. <br />City Attomey Yamamoto stated he was not prepared to respond to that inquiry <br />with any degree of expertise because he had not looked at the Charter under <br />those specific circumstances. He stated he would perform the examination, but <br />that the difficult question that cannot be answered at that time is whether it is <br />possible to implement it under the existing language in the Charter. <br />Council Member Hartnett stated that his understanding of the question is whether <br />or not certain qualifications can be required when going out to bid. In this <br />particular instance, we may not be requiring certain qualifications when soliciting <br />bids to judge against in order to determine whether someone is responsible and <br />lowest. If legal advice is such that it is possible to require some reasonable <br />minimum requirements that were not necessarily specified in the Charter, but were <br />consistent with what bidding allows, then could the Council reject all bids and <br />resubmit specifying the clear criteria. <br />City Attorney Yamamoto stated that, if directed, he would examine that possibility. <br />Council Member Ruskin stated that over the last several years of comments on <br />this issue, one of the criteria mentioned was, whether there was a significant <br />difference in price. He further stated that while many enjoy reading the Daily <br />News, the circulation is quite minimal and the Independent is delivered to most <br />homes. He stated that the most salient point for him is whether there is confidence <br />REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 13, 2003 <br />MINUTES PAGE 5 <br />