Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a First Amendment in the Amount of $100,000 with ECS Imaging Inc., for a Total Compensation for the Work Not to Exceed $170,000 for Scanning and Archiving of Planning and Building Permit Documents. (Planning, Building & Transportation 481001)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Authorize the City Manager to extend an amendment to the contract with ECS Imaging Inc. (ECS) to provide document scanning and archiving services for Planning and Building permit documents. Due to the need to vacate all Planning and Building file storage at the former Carnegie Library building (Carnegie) by July 1, 2019, it is recommended the ECS contract amount be increased by $100,000 to cover the costs of archiving the additional document volume. The proposed amendment will increase the total compensation of the agreement to $170,000.
BACKGROUND
Under state law, the City of Alameda (City) is required to keep permit records permanently. Over the course of nearly 100 years of permitting, the physical archive of permit records has grown to over 1,000 boxes and rolls of paper blue prints that have started to deteriorate. The storage locations for these archives span the City Hall attic, Building 2 at Alameda Point, and Carnegie. ECS has been providing document scanning and archiving for Planning and Building records since 2003. The City has continued to use ECS to provide this service in order to maintain a consistent file index structure. This indexing is critical for public access to historical records through Laserfiche and the Accela permit tracking system that has been in use for more than ten years. The current agreement with ECS was executed by the City Manager in March 2019 in the amount of $70,000 for ongoing scanning and archiving of both historical records and current hardcopy records.
DISCUSSION
On April 5, 2019, the Planning, Building and Transportation Department (Department) was informed that the Carnegie must be vacated by July 1, 2019, in order to facilitate building rehab and reuse. Due to the need to relocate approximately 200 boxes of permit archives currently stored in Carnegie while continuing the ongoing archiving work, the Department is requesting an additional $100,000 to be added to the ECS contract. ECS has storage capacity to accommodate the Carnegie file volumes, but it estimates that scanning the files will require one year or longer. This amendment provides the transport, storage, auditing, inventory and scanning of these additional files. These 200 file boxes were not anticipated or included in the original agreement.
Converting the permit files to digital format reduces inconveniences associated with offsite storage as well as reducing time and labor for archive retrieval. Scanning the deteriorating paper documents will also permanently preserve the important documents. The digital archive also greatly improves customer service and public access to old permit records. The Department’s effort to build the digital archive will benefit homeowners, businesses, architects and real estate professionals in the City, who are the most frequent users of this information.
ALTERNATIVES
Relocation Only: An alternative to amending the contract includes simply relocating the Carnegie archives to Building 2 at Alameda Point where other Department archives are currently stored. However, the relocation option does not address the needs of public access to permit records and further defers addressing the deterioration of old paper documents. For this reason, staff does not recommend this alternative.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This First Amendment will increase the total compensation of the agreement by $100,000 for a total of $170,000 without a change to the term or scope of the agreement. The source of the additional funds is the Planning and Building Fund (Fund 209), which has records management costs built into its revenue from permit fees. There is no impact to the General Fund.
|
Contract |
Approval Date |
Authorized Amount |
Expended to Date |
|
Original |
3/11/2019 |
$70,000.00 |
$70,000.00 |
|
1st Amendment |
5/22/2019 |
$100,000.00 |
$ 0.00 |
|
Total |
|
$170,000.00 |
$70,000.00 |
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is in compliance with City Council Resolution 15354, which establishes the City’s Records Retention Schedule. Per the schedule, which follows records retention requirements under state law, the majority of Planning and Building permit records and building plans are to be kept permanently.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to section 15378(b)(4) of the CEQA Guidelines, because governmental fiscal activities that do not have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment are not a project under CEQA.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
The scanning and archiving of permit records is consistent with a longstanding practice of the Department to move away from paper-intensive permit processes. Since 2014, all Planning permit plans and drawings have been accepted in electronic format. In 2017, the Permit Center implemented electronic plan review for large-scale development projects, such as Alameda Point, which has saved thousands of dollars in blueprint printing costs and paper material. While not directly quantifiable, the reduction in paper use in recent years has saved many trees and forests from being cut for raw materials.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a First Amendment in the amount of $100,000 with ECS Imaging Inc., for a total compensation for the work not to exceed $170,000 for scanning and archiving of Planning and Building permit documents.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
Due to the need to scan and archive the documents located in the Carnegie building, the City Manager recommends approval.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas, Acting Planning, Building & Transportation Director
By,
Allen Tai, Planning Services Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Original Contract
2. First Amendment
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager