Council Agenda - City of Burbank

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Agenda Item - 4


 

 
                               Burbank Water and Power

                                       MEMORANDUM

 
 

 

DATE: October 17, 2006
TO: Mary J. Alvord, City Manager
FROM:

Tom Hoefel, Police Chief

Ronald E. Davis, General Manager BWP

SUBJECT:

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF A MOBILE DATA TERMINAL COMMUNICATIONS PACKAGE FOR THE BURBANK POLICE DEPARTMENT


 

PURPOSE

 

Staff requests that the Burbank City Council (Council) authorize the purchase of a replacement Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) communications package for the Burbank Police Department (Police).

 

BACKGROUND

 

Police uses the MDT to access various external databases (outstanding warrants, stolen vehicles, etc.).  It also aids in the police dispatch function and is used to track police vehicle movement. The MDT mounts on the dashboard and is supported by the communications package and computer equipment: 

  • The communications package has 33 Data Radio modems with Johnson wireless communication devices and Trimble GPS devices. Using about $200,000 in drug asset forfeiture monies, Police purchased the communications package in 1995 from OCS, which subcontracted the work to American Mobile Data. Burbank Water and Power�s Communication Shop (Fund 535) maintains the communications package.

  • Police replaced earlier-generation computer equipment in 2005 with Tracer III computer hardware, software, and upgraded memory at a cost of $159,000 (30 units at $5,300 each). The memory upgrades assure that the units are compatible with the Police Safety Suite. Information Technology (Fund 537) maintains the computer equipment.

The MDTs communicate with a Base Station at Alameda Avenue and Kenwood Street.

 

By 2003, replacement parts for the communications package had become scarce and expensive.  In 1999, General Electric stopped manufacturing product lines in support of the current package.

 

By 2004, communications failures started to occur.  The Base Station caused two time loss outages that year. The failure rate has increased since.

 

Even if the existing communications package were reliable and maintainable, it could not function with the upgraded computer-aided dispatch system that will go live in June 2007, unless it received an expensive software patch.  A new package would avoid this expense, provided that it is purchased soon enough to allow for a delivery and implementation time of eight weeks. Also, the package�s new Data Radio �Radio IP� protocol would support many technical migration paths for Police, including broadband wireless solutions.

 

A new communications package would have an expected life of 10 years, consistent with Police�s experience with the existing package. (The much newer computer equipment has an expected life of five years and a scheduled replacement in FY 2009-10.)

 

ANALYSIS

 

Funding the replacement communications package must take into account both the initial cost as well as the ongoing O&M costs, including depreciation.

 

Initial cost and funding: The initial cost is about $250,000 to purchase 33 replacement communication packages and a new Base Station, and includes about $50,000 to replace the antenna and other ancillary components of the base station. 

 

From a timing of expenditure perspective, Fund 535 has sufficient reserves to enable the purchase during FY 2006-07 without adversely impacting other planned asset replacements or improvements for which these funds have been set aside.  Fund 535 would recover the $250,000 from Police, beginning in FY 2007-08 and ending in FY 2016-17. The one-year delay would allow Police to incorporate the annual recovery amount in their budget. The recovery period would be nine years instead of ten to enable Fund 535 to make full recovery within the expected life of the communications package. 

 

The recovery amount would be $27,778 ($250,000 divided by nine) and would be in addition to the current contribution that Police makes to Fund 535 for the purchase and maintenance of its other radio and phone equipment.

 

Depreciation and funding:  In addition to purchasing the replacement communications package, Police would need to be able to replace it by FY 2016-17. The depreciation amount, assuming the same time period of FY 2007-08 through FY 2016-17, would also be $27,778.

 

Ongoing O&M costs:  Police�s current Fund 535 contribution already covers the ongoing maintenance of the communications package, and would cover the ongoing maintenance costs of the new package as well.

 

Lessons learned:  Asset forfeiture funding has enabled police departments throughout the nation to acquire law enforcement assets (vehicles, weapons, specialized equipment) that could not have been otherwise obtained. Police�s MDT communications package is an example. However, asset forfeiture funding does not provide a mechanism for asset replacement, nor does it allow the use of the funding for O&M. By their nature, funds from asset forfeitures vary widely from year to year and cannot be the basis for long-term funding needs.

 

The Police MDT communications package was acquired at a time (1995) when asset forfeiture was new, and the City did not have the controls to assure that the funds would be available when the package needed to be replaced. Therefore, the funding for this particular item is occurring outside the normal budget process. However, items acquired more recently (helicopters, for example) through asset forfeiture funding have in place a fiscal plan to provide for their O&M and eventual replacement.

                       

Internal review.  The Fund 535 Executive Committee reviewed the foregoing and recommended that the MDT communications package be replaced using Fund 535 reserves, with the understanding that Fund 535 would recover the purchase amount over a nine-year period.

                       

FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT

 

The fiscal impact on Fund 535 is minimal. Fund 535 would fully recover the purchase price.  The timing of cash flows should not adversely impact other planned Fund 535 activities. The only negative impact is foregone interest income.

                       

The fiscal impact on Police (General Fund) is $55,556 per year from FY 2007-08 to FY 2016-17: $27,778 to recover the cost of the new package, and $27,778 to provide for a replacement in FY 2016/17. After 2016/17, Police would set aside $25,000 (today�s dollars) to provide for future replacements on a ten-year cycle. However, Police has a year to adjust its future budgets so as to mitigate the effects of these extra costs.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

Staff recommends that the Council authorize the purchase of a replacement MDT communications package for Police.  If Council concurs, then it would pass a Resolution entitled, �A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF A MOBILE DATA TERMINAL COMMUNICATIONS PACKAGE FOR THE BURBANK POLICE DEPARTMENT.�

 

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c:          Janice Lowers

             Dennis Gibbons 

 

 

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