Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks City Hall’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 — Computers have a shelf life before they need to be replaced with a newer model, and City Hall plans to spend approximately $1 million overhauling aging machines used by its employees.
The deal is an extension of an existing agreement with computer company Hewlett Packard, which provided computers for City Hall in 2008.
The machines come with a four-year warranty including replacement and on-site maintenance, and can be had for $1,109,250.
Old machines will be donated to local public schools and qualified community service agencies.
The full consent agenda totals $1,517,240.
Fiber optics
Everything’s cheaper if you buy in bulk.
City staff is requesting $200,000 to do mandatory updates on its dark fiber network, an Internet service it provides to local businesses that tops speeds of 10 gigabytes per second.
Required updates are normally done piecemeal, with individual $40,000 contracts. To speed things up, City Hall wants to link all of the smaller project updates into a single, larger contract that would secure faster service and cheaper costs.
The $200,000 contract would cover excavation and installation of fiber optic utilities for dark fiber customers within 90 days of the beginning of their contract.
To be competitive, the work needs to be done faster than can be provided by private members of the telecommunication industry, according to the staff report.
Asphalt truck
The City Council is likely to approve $147,990 to buy a truck to patch asphalt.
The truck, to be purchased from Reynolds Buick, Inc., would be used by the Street Maintenance Division to patch, repair and maintain streets, alleys, sidewalks and parking lots.
City Hall received three bids on the project. Reynolds Buick offered the lowest price and a model of chassis that best fits the division’s needs.
It’ll also arrive within 90 days rather than the 330 and 365 days promised by the other competitors.
BBB schedules
City Hall is requesting an extension on a design contract with Ilium Associates to accommodate changes in store for the Big Blue Bus schedules and routes.
The bus system overhauled certain routes last year, and anticipate more changes to service in the years to come, particularly as the Exposition Light Rail line inches toward Santa Monica.
Officials estimate that they’ll need another $60,000 to cover the costs involved in designing new timetables, maps, signage at 1,100 bus stops and on the municipal web sites through June 2014.
ashley@www.smdp.com
