City Council
MEETING DATE: 4/25/2018
TITLE:
Title
American Traffic Safety Contract Renewal
End
FROM:
Travis Walker, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council either renew the current contract between the City of Cathedral City and American Traffic Solutions Inc. at the monthly rate of $10,500 or in the alternative cancel the contract between the City of Cathedral City and American Traffic Solutions Inc.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The Cathedral City Police Department began its Red-Light Camera program in August 2006, with cameras at the intersection of Date Palm Drive and Ramon Road. After evaluating the cost of the program and the initial reduction in traffic collisions at this intersection, two more intersections were outfitted with cameras in February 2009. The two intersections that were added were Ramon Road and Landau Blvd., and Vista Chino and Date Palm Drive. The initial annual fees for the program was $179,640, and this price was reduced to $126,000 per year ($3,500 a month per camera) upon the renewal of the contract in 2009, and remains set at this amount today.
The contract with American Traffic Solutions is set to renew on June 2, 2018, as part of our second one-year renewal options, as outlined in the 2014 contract.
DISCUSSION:
The Red-Light Camera Program has been operational for over ten and a half years now, which provides us with a good historical perspective on the functionality of the system.
The following is three years’ worth of data on citations issued:
2015 - 3,212 violations reviewed. 2,310 citations issued.
2016 - 3,150 violations reviewed. 2,890 citations issued.
2017 - 2,650 violations reviewed. 2,520 citations issued.
We have seen accidents fluctuate at the three intersections over the past three years:
2015 - 91 accidents
2016 - 110 accidents
2017 - 75 accidents
Collectively, the two officers assigned to this program spend an average of 84 hours per month handling the administrative duties associated with managing the Red-Light Camera safety program. These duties include, but are not limited to: Viewing every violation that occurs, completion of the citation process, preparing for court on contested citations, and courtroom testimony. These officers also spend time answering phone inquiries regarding violations, and facilitating the review of violations at the police station. The cost associated with the 84 hours of staff's time translates to $128,016 a year for the officers to maintain this program. The officer's salaries are funded from the City's General Fund, and, pursuant to the vehicle code are not funded by any revenue generated from citations issued.
Staff sought a legal opinion from the City Attorney to determine if we could have other members of the department's non-sworn staff review violations, issue citations, and represent the city on contested citation in court. The City Attorney's office opined that we should only have sworn staff reviewing violations and issuing citations.
The revenue from the Red-Light Safety Camera violations are deposited into the Traffic Safety Fund, which averages approximately $260,000 per year. This fund is funded by all fines collected from traffic related fees collected citywide, which includes revenue generated from all traffic-related citations, and fees received from the California Department of Motor Vehicles totaling an average of $380,000 per year. The funds in this account cannot be used to fund any sworn peace officer positions, but does help fund other traffic safety positions and programs within the city, which includes up to five part-time crossing guards, a traffic consultant and provides resources for traffic and speed studies to name a few.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The annual renewal cost of the American Traffic Solutions contract is $126,000. There would be an additional financial impact to other city-run traffic safety programs that are funded by the Traffic Safety Fund. The total annual budget in the Traffic Safety Fund is $342,130.
ATTACHMENTS:
See Attached