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Home My WebLink AboutAgenda Report - July 5, 1984 (116)CITY COUNCIL MEETING ---JULY 5, 1984 CMD IAN IC'wICIV.S Counci l'was infotried that a p.-oposal had been received frorn (MuATAW,S Dr. I'lenry L. Richter of the Richter Group for that finny to SERVICES continue to provide cenr mieations consulting services to APPFUVED the C't t f Loci' y o �. Staff reported that during the next year the Ci ty %vi 1 I be instill l ing the N 1 telephone syste►: nail wi I I need asci stance in that area. The City has not yet installed it call reporting; device ,incl, wfien this is done, it would he Professional to have assistance in imalyzing the reports iuui recommending further cost reduction measures. FoIImvirig discussion, with questions being directed to S t a f f Coune i l, on mn t i on o f Counc i 1 Malt) r Ol son, I i i i&r% in second, approved retaining the Richter Group to continue to provide conminications consulting services to the City of Lodi at a cost to be negotiated by Staff. TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE SUBJEC'i : UNCIL COMMUNICATIVAN DATE NO. JUNF. 29, 1984 AGREEMENT WITH R I CIITER GROUP FOR CONST 'LT I NG SERVICES I ..ave recti i v -d the at t ached proposal from Dr. Henry I.. Ri cht e r of the Ri:Iiter Group for that firm to continue to provide communications consulting services to the City of Lodi. During this next year, we wilI be installing; the 911 telephone system, and we will need assistance in that area. We have not vet instal led a cat 1 report i ng device and. when t h i s is clone , it would be profess ionai to have assistance in analyzing the reports and recommending further cost reduction measures. Dr. Richter has agreed to provide the services out Iined in his tetter for $500 per month, which will include consultation services in the installation of the 911 system. Council is requested to authorize the City Manager to enter into it letter agreement with Dr. Richter to provide the neces iF ary commun I ea t I oil s consultant services. )I-A SISTANT CITY MANAGER JLG:vc RICHTER GROUP Communications Consultants Henry L. Richter, PhD, PE April 10, 1984 Mr. Jerry Glenn CITY OF LODI P.O. Box 320 Lodi, CA 95241 Dear Jerry: 178 W. LONGDEN AVE.. ARCAD`IA, CA., 91006-8231 818 / 445.0249 101/2/255 Congratulations on the new telephone system! You and I have been through quite a bit together! The new Police and Fire Dispatch Center and Police radio system also went fairly smoothly. I want to propose a continuation of my services to you and the rest of the City management. You now have a quite sophisticated telephone system and dispatch center, with a very significant investment. The City of Lodi is now in a position to give the very finest of dispatch of Police and Fire response to your citizens. It is not easy to maintain that degree of operational proficiency as a system comes on line and as changes may subtley take place. I have several clients that have chosen to continue my services on a regular monthly retainer basis in order to have a communications engineering pro- fessional overseeing their system and its operations on a continuing basis. This letter is to propose such an arrangement to the City of Lodi; I think such a service would be very cost-effective both for the fine-tuning of your system and its operations and for continuing operational and technical surveillance. You have a very excellent and dedicated service organization but still need an operational and engineering resource. Your new dispatch operation has the additional challenge of soon being an integrated police and fire 9-1-1 center. I am sure that you realize that there will be a number of growing pains and necessary adjustments to be made to make certain t;lat the needs of both Police and Fire are met in a satisfactory mar►nz.r. C)ftentimes, the interpersonal problems surmount the technical problems in such an operation.) I feel that I have developed a good rapport and credibility with both Police and Fire and City management and that I could be an impartial and neutral resource to be used in helping to anticipate and resolve operating and technical areas of conflict. Mr. Jerry Glenn, City of Lodi Page TWo One other benefit that my clients have expressed to me is that a periodic visit by a person who is familiar with the system in its proper operating status can often recognize incipient problems that develop slowly and which tend to be the accepted norm without people realizing that degradation is taking place. By an occasional visit, observation, and listening to radio channels, I can often detect the start of abnormal operation in plenty of time to point it out and have it rectified before it becomes serious. Telephone system questions will also arise from time to time. Under my normal continuing retainer arrangement, I would expect to spend an average of one day per month (and this amount can be negotiated up or down) with City management and with Police and Fire management and in the dispatch center to stay current with operations and problems. Operating as an extension of your staff, I would be available for unlimited telephone consultation. From time to tine, I would make inspection of the equipment and monitor maintenance adequacy. I often get involved in ongoing training, the review of policy and procedure documents, and making certain that system documentation is kept up to date. I imagine that continuing interface with the County will be desirable as they develop t.hcir new telephone system, since it interacts with your's. I would propose doing this for a regular monthly figure of $650 per month. I would perform the above services as well as to continue in assisting with FCC license renewal, any other regulatory matters appropriate to the system, and whatever other ongoing tasks might be appropriate. I would, of course, exclude any major system projects that come along. Examples of items that might fall into that classificaticn would be the development of a computer-aided diApatch system, the development of an automated records or management information system, or the development of any major specification or project material. The regular monthly retainer would include minor specification development for the procurement of mobile or portable radios, a new base station or repeater, or other such simple tasks. The fundamental intent of the retainer arrangement is to provide an ongoing, minimal 47 degree of professional engineering expertise to the City. Local government entities do not have the luxury of being able to maintain excess staff or capability. Staffing within local government organizations is generally set to handle (hopefully, comfortably) the ongoing, minii:al level of activity, and major projects such as the new dispatch center require the acquisition of outside temporary help to carry the project through. Mr. Jerry Glenn, City of Lodi Page Three I would propose that the retainer arrangement begin the end of April, at which time I expect to be through with the final trouble- shooting and adjustment of the telephone system. I could supply many more details of what I do for other clients, but in the spirit of keeping this letter reasonably brief, let me simply make the proposal contained above to you. I would be happy to discuss this with you or any other City management involved. I can tell you that having my services available on an ongoing basis would be very worthwhile insurance to the long-term effectiveness of your new 9-1-1 dispatch center. Best perso 1 ds, Henry L. Richter, PhD, PE HLR/b Z; QU 5597 m QIUIA 1 OF C A��