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 — City Council will consider spending $1.47 million in this week's consent agenda, with several of the items lasting beyond this fiscal year.
Furniture, a flaming truck simulator, the Santa Monica Festival and a color copy machine are the big ticket items.
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Furniture
City Hall is taking a trip to Ikea. Not really, but they do need new furniture and it's going to cost $620,000 over the next three years.
Thanks to office modernizations, moves, staffing changes, and wear-and-tear, city officials expect they'll need a bunch of new workstations, mostly in the Public Works, City Manager, Planning, and Finance offices. Western Office Interiors will likely get the bid, which will include three years of work.
Copies
Council will likely approve the lease of a color copy machine for the next five years at a cost of $346,020. In 1996, council granted City Hall its first color printer. City Hall's print shop makes more than a million copies a years. Nearly 80 percent of those are color copies made on two machines. The lease on one of those machines is up and City Hall wants to replace it with a newer, more cost-efficient copier. Xerox will likely get the five-year bid, which includes maintenance.
Santa Monica Festival
In the 20th year since it moved to Clover Park, the Santa Monica Festival will likely get $100,000 for this year and another $100,000 for next year.
The festival started on the Santa Monica Pier in 1991 and moved to Clover Park in 1994. Community Arts Resources, producers of Chinatown Summer Nights and the Getty Museum Family Festival, will likely get the bid to organize the event.
The festival includes visual arts, workshops, food, and family activities. Pending future council approval, the company could get another $100,000 to put on the festival for each of the three following years.
Hazmat tanker training
The Santa Monica Fire Department needs a new mobile hazardous material tanker fire training system at a cost of $250,092. The quarter million dollars in funding will come from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant. It's a replica of a HAZMAT tanker, which allows first responders to train as if a tanker is on fire. The purchase will make Santa Monica a satellite-training site. Fireblast Global will likely get the bid.
Zoning ordinance
The Zoning Ordinance still isn't updated yet and City Hall needs another $20,000 for consulting. Thus far, consultant Dyett & Bhatia has been paid $1,733,470.
The Planning Commission is currently reviewing the updated ordinance and it's taking a little longer than expected. After the commission is done with it, council will take a crack at it later this year.
The additional cash would go toward tracking public comment, producing and revising maps, and revisions made before the matter goes before council. One senior member of the company would attend five planning commission or council meetings.
Traffic study
A traffic study of Berkeley Street is going to cost another $30,000. In 2012, council gave Stantec Consulting $60,000 to complete a study of the street between Stanford Street and Wilshire Boulevard.
The work is 90 percent complete and with the extra cash Stantec would design recommended improvements, including two median islands, a "traffic calming circle" at the intersection of Lipton Avenue, and the realignment of the intersections with Stanford Street.
dave@www.smdp.com
