The Gilmer City Council, at its Tuesday meeting, amended its purchasing procedure.

A purchase order will now be required on items costing $5,000 or more, with the finance department having to approve the order, City Manager Jeff Ellington said.

Previously, purchase orders were required on items costing $2,000 or more, he said. He said that department heads can now purchase lower-priced items quicker.

With the change, department heads are to get at least two estimates on products costing more than $5,000.

They also gave an easement to Exxon-Mobil Corp. to make a road across city-owned property near Lake Gilmer so they can drill an oil well on privately owned property.

Ellington said the city had bought about 12 acres a few years ago, but hadn’t done anything with it, including building a road, because the city was short on money.

He said that if the oil company builds a road, it would probably be better than what the city could have done. He said that the public could access the land through the road Exxon-Mobil will build, and that the city would be compensated for any damage done to the land during construction of the road.