Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.
CITY HALL — Continuing efforts to manage Santa Monica’s traffic are expected to take another step forward Tuesday if the City Council approves a new traffic signal detection system.
According to a city staff report, the systems would be installed at 10 intersections primarily on the eastern end of the city, replacing old systems that cost more to maintain and don’t detect cars and bicyclists as well.
Iteris, Inc. is expected to receive the $176,030 contract for the new video systems. The company has already installed 20 throughout Santa Monica as part of previous phases of the traffic system upgrade.
The new systems will be installed on Fourth Street at the Interstate 10 on-ramp and Civic Center Drive, at Cloverfield Boulevard at Broadway, Colorado Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Michigan Avenue and the 10 Freeway on- and off-ramps and 26th Street at Olympic Boulevard and Colorado Avenue.
The entire consent agenda comes in at relatively modest $1,261,856.
Water main woes
Problems with the installation of a water main at Arizona Avenue and Third Court require an additional $174,000 for two contractors.
According to a staff report, Williams Pipeline Contractors and SA Associates need another $100,000 and $74,000 respectively to complete work on a water main that began in September 2011.
The project costs began to mount when workers discovered a 36-inch reinforced concrete pipe storm drain that required a redesign of the project, numerous utilities in unexpected places including Time Warner fiber buried 3 inches into the ground rather than industry standard of 18 and that the water main itself needed to be installed 2 feet deeper than previously thought.
Those unforeseen circumstances added 100 days to the project, which was originally bid at 105 days of work.
Overall, Williams Pipeline Contractors, Inc. has received a contract total of $1,022,784 and SA Associate has a total of $155,400.
Lawyer up
The City Council will likely extend legal services relating to debt financing and bonds Tuesday to cope with the unwinding of its Redevelopment Agency.
City Hall is reviewing debt financing and refunding options as well as making adjustments to the management of its existing redevelopment debt to comply with new rules imposed by the Legislature, which declared the local Redevelopment Agency dead as of Feb. 1.
Officials have contracted with the law firm Stradling, Yocca, Carlson and Rauth since 2007, and want to bring them on to help with the redevelopment puzzle for an additional $150,000, bringing the total contract to $550,000.
Bike Center
The best laid plans go awry, and the City Council will have to grapple with that Tuesday when it’s asked to approve an additional $139,776 for the recently-opened Bike Center.
A relocated transformer, additional emergency exit signs, telecommunications cabling and fixes to the power doors number a few of the unforeseen changes needed to complete work on the Bike Center, which opened officially in November 2011.
Icon West, Inc., the construction company on the job, will likely receive another $117,666 for its work, while Civil Source, Inc. is slated for $22,110 for management services.
This represents the fifth contract change for Icon West and the fourth for Civil Source.
Black gold
Call it bargain hunting.
City staff is expected to request a two-month extension on a contract to buy gasoline for emergency response vehicles to give enough time to complete an independent bid process for fuel.
City Hall participated in a cooperative bid with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 2007, and has the ability to continue buying premium and regular unleaded gasoline from SC Fuels at those prices.
To ensure that the city is getting the best bang for its buck, staff is in the process of putting the contract out to bid, and will bring the results back after April 30.
In the meantime, emergency vehicles still need to fuel up, and can do so for the next two months for an additional $115,550 for a grand total of $3,564,938 over the lifetime of the contract.
New tires
City Hall needs to spend an additional $89,000 on tires for light duty and passenger vehicles to cover old debts and future needs, according to staff.
The Byron Woodley Tire Co. provides delivery and repair of tires for City Hall.
In the 2011-12 fiscal year, City Hall racked up $12,000 in outstanding invoices to the company outside of the $30,000 allotted for that time.
Staff also recommends that the company continue to provide services to City Hall for an additional $77,000 through June 30.
Customer service
The City Council will consider bringing in an outside contractor to maintain and support its secure fiber optic network that provides Internet and other service to local businesses.
While staff can continue to provide network support for the internal network, the increase in fiber optic customers has jumped up the workload beyond what staff can muster.
Staff recommends Lightsquare to provide 24-hour network operation services for $67,500 through fiscal year 2013.
Tree removal
The City Council will likely approve an almost $350,000 contract to move 52 trees out of the way of the incoming Exposition Light Rail line, which will be built along Olympic Boulevard by 2015.
The right of way adjacent to Olympic Boulevard between Stewart Street and Cloverfield Boulevard is home to 66 trees, and staff recommended that 52 of them be moved to city property.
If approved, Valley Crest Tree Co. will receive a $350,000 contract to move 19 palm trees, two melaleucas and 31 ficus for planting elsewhere in the city.
The remainder were less certain to survive, or more expensive to relocate because of impacts on infrastructure like utilities, buildings or hardscape around the current tree site, according to city staff.
A smaller version of the item appeared on the Feb. 14 consent agenda, which proposed that only 39 trees be moved.
ashley@www.smdp.com
