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 — Tonight, City Council will consider spending $1,770,665, more than half of which would go to HVAC system upgrades at City Hall.
Earlier this year, City Hall announced plans to evaluate all the buildings in the city that have not undergone proper seismic retrofitting. Degenkolb Engineers will likely get a $91,524 contract to identify "older buildings and structures that are subject to collapse during a seismic event and the aftershocks that follow."
The process should take less than six weeks. Required changes could be costly to building owners.
Water cleaner
There's nothing worse than manganese and iron in your water. That's why council will likely pay $133,000 to the Olin Corporation for sodium hypochlorite, which is used to remove contaminants from groundwater at the water treatment plants.
Happy people? We'll see
RAND needs another $90,000 to expand the scope of the ongoing Local Wellbeing Index. City Hall has already pledged $650,000 to the project, which seeks to measure happiness in the happy city through research from experts in the fields of behavioral science, psychology, economics, sustainability, public policy, public health, and technology.
The widened scope would improve, among other things, user experience.
"This scope of work will result in the strategy, technical documentation, and implementation assistance needed to bring the index to life for the multiple end user groups who will interact with and contribute to the data, including City staff, external partners, and residents," city officials said.
College riders
An agreement between Santa Monica College and the Big Blue Bus could bring in $4.2 million over the next three years. As of 2007, the college was the primary trip generator in the city. SMC and BBB worked out the "Any Line, Any Time" program, which allows students to ride for free with reimbursement from the college. The program is a success, city officials said. There were 2.6 million college riders last fiscal year, and even more projected this fiscal year.
BBB trashcans
BBB needs $45,700 to buy seven new trashcans at high traffic stops. Waxie Sanitary Supply will likely get the contract.
Losing Hertz
City officials are starting from scratch with the city car sharing pilot program. Hertz, the rental car company originally selected for negotiations, has been icing City Hall. Repeated letters to the company have been ignored, city officials said. They're moving on.
Memorial Park plan
The Memorial Park Neighborhood Plan seeks to dictate land uses in the area around the 17th Street Expo Light Rail station. AMEC will likely get $378,000 to perform the environmental impact report for the plan, as required by state law. AMEC is doing the same report for the Downtown Specific Plan.
Bidding company gets the bid
This is meta. PlanetBids, the company that City Hall uses to solicit for bids from vendors, will likely win the bid to maintain its system. This will cost $25,611.
City Hall HVAC
The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in City Hall are getting old. Bon Air, Inc. will likely get the $871,200 contract to fix them up.
Dumpsters
City Hall needs about $50,000 to buy large trash and recycling dumpsters from Ball, Bounce and Sports, Inc. City Hall will likely spend about a million bucks on these dumpsters over the next three years, but that is contingent upon future budget approval from council.
Telephony
Council will likely approve $85,630 to be added to a contract with Windstream, to provide Internet telephony services. The company has been providing voice-over IP to City Hall for several years and, according to city officials, they're doing a good job. The contract expires in June and city officials are recommending an extension.
dave@www.smdp.com
