In the absence of Councilmember Dana Byrd, the Montevallo City Council recently approved a new purchasing policy for the city but took no action on a city sales tax holiday.

&8220;Basically we&8217;re trying to put an organize system in place to get expenditures pre approved,&8221; said Montevallo Finance Committee Chairman and Councilmember Greg Pendleton.

&8220;In this case it&8217;s tax dollars,&8221; he said. And he explained that the policy is a system of accountability.

He said of the current purchasing system, &8220;It&8217;s been quite disorganized.

Pendleton noted that it would cost the city money for notification and to set up a sales tax holiday. But Councilmember Becky Cox-Rodgers said, &8220;Greg I have received from area merchant… Montevallo merchants… their desire to take part in this. They&8217;ve even started planning sales events and things for their stores.&8221;

However, the matter was carried over to give Pendleton and the Finance Committee time to come up with cost estimates.

In another matter, the council took no action on a vehicle policy which will come back before the council.

The council discussed approved a one-time adjustment in pay to cover the use of a city vehicle about $3 per day. In the future employees affected would be responsible for paying tax on that use or leave the cars with the city