HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/3/2008 - STAFF REPORTS - 2.N. FpALM
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City Council Staff Report
DATE: September 3, 2008 CONSENT AGENDA
SUBJECT: Acceptance of an additional $29,000 in funding to the existing $110,000
Office of Traffic Safety DUI Enforcement and Awareness Program Grant
and authorize the purchase of a License Plate Reader System
FROM: David Ready, City Manager
BY: Palm Springs Police Department
SUMMARY
It is recommended that the City Council authorize the City Manager to accept an
additional $29,000 in funding to augment the existing $110,000 DUI Enforcement and
Awareness Program Grant from the California Office of Traffic and Safety (OTS). The
new total grant amount will be $139,000. These additional funds will be used to
purchase a License Plate Reader System (LPR). This new LPR technology and
equipment will be installed in a police traffic enforcement vehicle and used to locate
known unlicensed drivers, habitual known impaired drivers, and wanted persons and
vehicles.
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Accept an additional $29,000 in funding to the existing $110,000 Office of Traffic
Safety DUI Enforcement and Awareness Program Grant to purchase a License
Plate Reader System,
2. Approve the purchase of one License Plate Reader System from ELSAG North
America of Brewster, NY in the amount of$29,066.56.
3. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents.
STAFF ANALYSIS:
The Police Department rigorously enforces DUI laws, and some of the tools used are to
conduct DUI checkpoints, saturation patrol and awareness programs. These projects
are labor intensive and thus expensive. The department conducts 24 - 38 of these
ITEM NO. &4
City Council Staff Report
September 3, 2008 -- Page 2
Accept$29,000 OTS Grant and Purchase LPR
enforcement projects each year. The department has been successful in obtaining
grants to pay for the personnel and equipment costs for these programs.
The Police Department was able to solicit additional OTS funding for the current traffic
grant and was awarded an additional $29,000 to purchase a license plate reader
system which is part of a pilot program through OTS in only three California cities.
The current OTS grant was previously awarded and approved by Council on July 18,
2007, Minute Order # 8064. This grant period is for DUI enforcement and awareness
between 10/1107 and 9/30/08. In order to obtain this additional funding, the LPR
equipment must be purchased during this grant period.
Staff researched and evaluated the three major brands of LPR's currently locally
available. PIPS Technology, Plate Scan, and ELSAG North America. Staff conducted
field tests and in the evaluation process determined that the LPR's offered by PIPS
Technology and Plate Scan did not meet our specifications required for this application
or failed to properly perform as represented by the vendors. Issues discovered in the
field tests were computer crashes during operation, failure to properly read the plates
that were observed, and overheating in our desert climate. The ELSAG North America
unit performed as represented by the vendor and in an extended 3 day field test,
functioned well and did not experience any problems. Staff also spoke with Corona
police department that is currently using the ELSAG equipment and received very
positive feedback and high satisfaction levels. The ELSAG model will easily integrate
with existing software the Traffic Unit is using and allow simple upload of the data
necessary to locate DUI or unlicensed driver offenders.
Staff met with the Procurement Manager and reviewed the results of the field tests and
the prices offered by each. The Procurement Manager concurs that based upon the
results of the field tests conducted, the best value for the expenditure of the grant funds
is the ELSAG model at $29,065,56, The Plate Scan model was quoted at $26,027.11
and the PIPS Technology model was $29,885.12. It should also be noted that the
pricing offered by ELSAG is based on a cooperative purchase agreement #PC 62119
with WSCA, Western States Contracting Alliance, for which section 7.09.010 of the
municipal code allows Council the authority to utilize.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The majority ($29,000) of this purchase will be funded by the OTS grant. The balance
($65.66 will be for from existing allocated funds.
David Dominguez, Police Cp e
David H. Ready, City