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The Hays County Commissioners Court amended the procurement and budget policies Tuesday to allow appropriate officials to make quick purchases related to COVID-19.
In order to get any state and federal reimbursements for COVID-19 expenses, Hays County must keep strict purchasing and procurement guidelines and documentation.
Most of the purchases made related to COVID-19 will go through an Expenditure Request Form and a routing process with three quotes to ensure they have been reviewed and are truly needed for the countywide COVID-19 response. Minor purchases under $500 made out in the field are already exempt from the purchase order and the COVID-19 Expenditure Request Form.
The court amended the procedures to allow purchases of personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectant and some specific medical supplies up to $5,000 without an Expenditure Request Form.
The amendment was made partially because it is difficult to complete the purchase order request for items that have changing quotes; surpluses and prices of PPE are constantly changing from as low as 25 cents to $9 for an N95 mask. Fire Marshall Scott Raven explained that when it comes to COVID-19 supplies, $500 will not go very far. Additionally, in the time it takes to get a purchase order approved, in a crisis situation, those supplies are probably already gone.
County Judge Ruben Becerra supported the amendment saying, “Our stockpiles are almost depleted and we only are at 61 cases. We are barely getting out of the box compared to our neighboring cities and our backups are already empty.”
The court also moved $75,000 from contingencies to the COVID-19 Pandemic Fund.
Emergency Management Coordinator Alex Villalobos emphasized that supplies for masks are running low in parts of the county. There is an order of bleach from the state that should be delivered Wednesday. They have an order on the way of 1,000 N95 masks, 1,000 surgical masks and 3,900 surgical gloves that will be distributed across the county.
School districts that distribute food to many students are critically low on disinfectant and have made requests for more.
The county is considering student recreation centers and recently closed clinics and medical facilities for additional bed space in anticipation of hospitals exceeding capacity. They are also looking into hotel space for first responders who need to isolate from their families.
Becerra’s report on the Hays County Jail was the best report to date according to Becerra, after many inmates were released to protect the jail population and the community from spreading COVID-19. Hays County Jail’s daily average was 394 and peak was 400 between March 29 through April 4.
