2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 7. Local Government › Chapter 3. Alternative Forms of Local Government › Part 44. Municipal Commission-Manager Government Continued › 7-3-4434. Purchase and sale of supplies and property

7-3-4434. Purchase and sale of supplies and property.
(1) The director of finance or city manager shall, in manner provided by ordinance, purchase all supplies for the municipality and sell all real and personal property of the municipality not needed or unsuitable for public use or that may have been condemned as useless by the director of a department. The director of finance or city manager has charge of the storerooms and storehouses of the municipality that may be provided by ordinance, in which must be stored all supplies and materials purchased by the municipality and not delivered to the various departments.
(2) The director of finance or city manager shall inspect all supplies delivered to determine quality and quantity and conformance with specifications, and a voucher may not be honored unless the accompanying invoice is endorsed as approved.
(3) The director of finance or city manager may require from the director of each department, at times that contracts for supplies are to be let, a requisition for the quantity and kind of supplies to be paid for from the appropriations of the department.
(4) Upon certification that funds are available in the proper appropriations, the goods must be purchased and must be paid for from funds in the proper department for that purpose. However, this procedure may not prejudice the director of finance or city manager from purchasing goods for cash to the credit of the stores account to be furnished to the several departments on requisition. The goods must be paid for by the department to which the goods are furnished by warrant made payable to the stores account.
(5) The director of finance or city manager may not furnish any supplies to or purchase any supplies for any department unless the department has an available appropriation balance in excess of all unpaid obligations sufficient to pay for the supplies.
(6) Before making any purchase or sale, the director of finance or city manager shall give opportunity for competition. All proposals must be upon precise specifications and under rules established by the commission. Each order of purchase or sale must be approved and countersigned by the city manager or the deputy city manager.
(7) In cases of emergency, purchases may be made without competition if a sufficient appropriation has been made against which purchases may lawfully be charged. In those cases, a copy of the order issued must be filed with the director of finance, together with a certificate by the head of the department stating the facts of the emergency. A copy of this certificate must be attached to and filed with the voucher covering payment for the supplies. The director of finance shall employ assistants and employees that are necessary to properly carry out the director's duties under the provisions of part 43 and this part. If desirable, the director may divide the office into divisions presided over by an accountant, a treasurer, and a purchasing agent.
History: En. Sec. 68, Ch. 152, L. 1917; re-en. Sec. 5466, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 31, L. 1923; re-en. Sec. 5466, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 11-3267(8) thru (13); amd. Sec. 393, Ch. 61, L. 2007.