HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/21/2008, C4 - USE OF TRAFFIC IMPOUND ACCOUNT FUNDS TO PURCHASE SOFTWARE AND LICENSES FOR ELECTRONIC COLLISION REP council 10/21/08
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CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Deborah Linden, Chief of Police
Prepared By: Melissa Ellsworth, Senior Administrative Analyst
SUBJECT: USE OF TRAFFIC IMPOUND ACCOUNT FUNDS TO PURCHASE
SOFTWARE AND LICENSES FOR ELECTRONIC COLLISION
REPORTING AND CITATION PROJECT
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Appropriate funding not to exceed $25,000 from the Law Enforcement Grant Fund/Traffic
Impound Account to purchase software licenses and interface software for the grant funded
electronic collision reporting and citation project.
DISCUSSION
Background
On May 12, 2005, Council adopted Resolution No. 9682, authorizing the CAO to submit a grant
application to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to fund a joint Public Works/Police
Department traffic safety project. The project, titled "Automated Collision Analysis and
Tracking System Upgrade — GIS" and also known as the Electronic Collision Reporting and
Citation Project, was designed to improve the City's traffic safety analysis capabilities by
automating collision reporting and traffic citations.
A grant in the amount of $110,000.00 was formally awarded by OTS to the City of San Luis
Obispo on September 30, 2005. The funding from the OTS Grant was used to purchase hardware
and software, including wireless computer "tablets" for traffic and patrol officers and software
that allows officers to generate citations and collision reports electronically.
Status of Project
The project is almost complete and is being field tested by a traffic officer. However, additional
software and user licenses must be purchased before the system can be fully operational. In order
for an officer to access the electronic collision and citation forms in the field, the system must
connect to the Police Department's Spillman Computer Aided Dispatch/Records Management
System. The department pays a license fee to Spillman for each mobile data computer (MDC)
currently installed in the patrol vehicles. In order to fully implement the new electronic collision
reporting and citation project, additional MDC licenses are needed for six police motorcycles and
four unmarked police vehicles. In addition, one additional license is needed for the Fire
Battalion Chief vehicle which will be paid for from the Fire Department's budget. The MDC
Council Agenda Report -Traffic Impound Account Page 2
hardware has already been purchased, however costs for the additional Spillman Mobile licenses
were not factored into the original Automated Field Reporting project.
Staff is also requesting funding for a software interface program that will allow the City's Traffic
Engineering Department to receive collision data from the Police Department electronically
rather than staff having to enter the data by hand into Traffic Engineering's collision analysis
program. The electronic collisions and citation project is designed so that when an officer enters
data directly into the collision and citation forms using the wireless tablet, the data automatically
uploads into the Police Department's Spillman database. Once the report has been approved, the
data is made accessible electronically to Traffic Engineering's software. Because the existing
software used by Traffic Engineering is unable to accept the data directly from Spillman, an
additional software interface is needed to convert the data. This cost was not anticipated because
staff initially believed an interface would not be needed.
Funding Source
Staff recommends that funding for the Spillman Mobile licenses and the software interface
program be appropriated from the Police Department's Law Enforcement Grant Fund/Traffic
Impound account. This account was established in 2000 pursuant to a California Office of
Traffic Safety Grant. The grant required the City establish a special account for the purpose of
receiving and expending fees collected from violators whose vehicles were impounded because
they were driving without a valid license. Pursuant to the grant requirements, these funds must
remain separate from the general fund, require Council approval of any appropriations from the
account, and may only be used for traffic-related programs, including technology utilized in the
prosecution of traffic offenses. The purchase of the additional licenses and software
programming meets these guidelines.
CONCURRENCES
The Director of Finance and Information Technology and the Director of Public Works concur
with the CAO recommendation.
FISCAL IMPACT
All costs associated with the purchase of the mobile licenses and software interface will come
from fees accumulated in the Law Enforcement Grant Fund/Traffic Impound Account. The
current balance is $58,800. There is no impact to the general fund associated with this action.
The following is a breakdown of costs:
Automated Reporting Related Costs Amount
Spillman Technologies— 11 Mobile Licenses $14,800.00
Intersection Magic- Interface Software $10,000.00
Contingency $ 200.00
Total $25,000.00
Council Agenda Report -Traffic Impound Account Page 3
ALTERNATIVES
1. Do not purchase the licenses and software. This alternative is not recommended. The
Spillman Mobile application is required to access the electronic collision reporting and
citation forms which will result in more accurate and efficient capturing and sharing of
collision and citation data.
2. Purchase the licenses from the general fund. This alternative is not recommended. The
Law Enforcement Grant Fund/Traffic Impound Account is designated for traffic-related
programs. The proposed expenditures fit within the guidelines for this account and the
use of general fund money is not necessary for this purchase.
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