Last night, the City Council approved two items on the consent calendar with a 5-0 vote, including:
The City Council also heard and approved three items of business with a 5-0 vote, including:
A new copy machine for City Hall
At four years old, the current primary City Hall copy machine is in need of replacement. Staff proposes that the current copier – a Xerox Imagistics XC560 – be replaced with the Xerox XC60, which fulfills the requirements of a networked, reliable multifunctional copier that can scan, print, fax and route files. In addition, IT staff’s existing familiarity with Xerox’s networking software would also facilitate a smooth transition to the new machine.
Staff recommends that the City Council authorizes the Finance Director to enter into a five-year lease agreement with Xerox for the XC60 at a cost of $559 per month.
The purchase of a new in-car video system for the police department
Since 2007, the San Gabriel Police Department has used the L3 In-Car Mobile Vision system to record audio and video in its emergency patrol cars and motorcycles. These devices help provide evidence in court and serve as a valuable tool for citizen complaints and internal affairs investigations as well as a training tool that can be used to improve areas of performance. In addition, the video system also serves as a risk management tool that can mitigate the department’s exposure to potential liability.
However, the L3 system is now out of date and out of warranty. Since the system is reaching its end of life, the police department recommends that the City Council approve the purchase of the Watch Guard In-Car Video System at a cost of $81,129.05. After an analysis of several different vendors, Watch Guard was chosen for its ability to provide a digital video system for both cars and motorcycles.
The purchase of new motorcycles for the police department
Currently, there are two motorcycles assigned to the police department’s traffic division fleet that have been budgeted for replacement. City staff has determined that two Honda ST1300 motorcycles – one from 2007, and the other from 2011 – have reached their end-of-life as front-line emergency vehicles, after accruing over 74,000 service miles.
Since repairs are becoming increasingly expensive, the police department is proposing to replace these motorcycles with the 2018 BMW R1200RT-P as front-line emergency motorcycles. The BMW was chosen for its proven reliability, superior performance, better fuel economy and lower maintenance costs. In addition, the BMWs are more cost effective than comparable Honda, Harley Davidson and Kawasaki models.
Staff recommends that the City Council to waive the formal competitive bidding procedure and authorize the Chief of Police to utilize piggyback pricing from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s contract to purchase two new motorcycles for $30,537.38.
Finally, the City Council gave staff direction to move forward with a proposed ordinance:
Changing the date of the city’s general municipal election in compliance with SB415
Senate Bill 415 requires local entities to move their election cycles to coincide with state elections if their local election turnout is at least 25% below the average turnout in the last four statewide general elections. Since the City Clerk’s office has determined that the city does not meet this requirement, the city must implement changes to coordinate its odd-numbered year election cycle with the statewide even-numbered year cycle.
The City Council gave direction to staff to prepare an ordinance that will synchronize with statewide elections in March of each even-numbered year, increasing city officeholder terms by 12 months beginning in March 2020.
For more information about the meeting, please view the full November 7 agenda here.