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 $1,493,065, on Tuesday, with most of that going to "up-fitting" Santa Monica Police Department vehicles.
It costs about $13,500 per up-fit — adding, for example, emergency lighting, warning equipment, police radios, and prisoner transport systems to vehicles.
If the work is done in-house, city officials say, they'd have to hire three full-time mechanics, spend about $50,000 on training, and purchase about $60,000 worth of equipment.
Instead, they recommend granting a $792,000 contract to Airwave Communications Enterprises to do the work for the year. Potentially, 176 vehicles will need to be up-fit over the next three years.
New Mills Act properties
Council will consider granting historic property preservation agreements to five City Landmarks.
The deal, created under a 1972 state law called the Mills Act, offers a lower tax rate to provide an incentive to the owner to maintain the historic property rather than tear it down.
• A residence at 1602 Georgina Ave. is a great example of Mexican Spanish Colonial Revival Style designed by a local architect, city officials said.
"The low-profile ‘hacienda' residence reflects an excellent example of a John Byers' ‘Adobe' designed buildings from the 1920s and 1930s," city officials said.
• Three bungalows at 1047 Ninth St. embody the American Colonial Revival style, which housed Santa Monica's work force. They were built 1923.
• Santa Monica's iconic 12-story Clock Tower building at 225 Santa Monica Blvd. was built in 1930.
• Two-story Streamline Moderne-style apartments at 947 through 953 11th Street, were built in 1937. They are representative of multi-family apartment courtyards common in the 1930s.
• The former American Colonial Revival-style home of Thomas and May Bundy was built in 1913 at 401 25th St.
Soils reports
City Hall needs another $270,000 for soils testing. Since two firms were brought on in 2012, at $70,000 apiece, the Building and Safety Division has been receiving more applications for plan checks than anticipated. These require soil tests.
"This is mainly a result of changes in building codes, which drove customers to get their projects submitted for plan check before the new codes took effect," city officials said in a report.
Both firms, Cotton, Shires & Associates Inc. and Koury Geotechnical Services, stand to get an additional $135,000 to cover the increased volume.
Bulletproof vests
The Santa Monica Police Department got two federal grants totaling $53,000, which will cover the replacement of about 140 bulletproof vests. The vests need to be replaced every three years because the bulletproof materials degrades over time and with use.
Animal Control truck
The police department's Animal Control Unit needs to replace an older truck and council will consider spending $65,665 to do so. South Bay Ford Lincoln will likely get the contract.
Water main replacement project
Someone needs to inspect the 11,500 feet of replaced water mains and SA Associates is expected to get $365,400 to do so.
Earlier this year, council set aside money for the company that will construct and replace the mains. The construction is expected to be completed by February of next year.
