TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Anthony Conrad, Chief of Police
PREPARED BY: Jeremy Durrant, Lieutenant-Police
SUBJECT:
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Approval to Purchase a Public Safety Mobile Command Center, CIP# 21022
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RECOMMENDATION
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Approve the purchase of a Mobile Command Center from LDV Custom Specialty Vehicles;
Approve the purchase of ten police radios from Motorola for the Mobile Command Center; and
Amend the Fiscal Year 2024/25 CIP Budget as described in the fiscal impact statement.
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PRIOR ACTION/VOTE
On August 15, 2023, the City Council adopted Joint Resolution No. 23-4699 et. al, approving Fiscal Year 2023/24 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget and approving the Fiscal Years 2023/24 to 2027/28 Capital Improvement Plan (Vote: 5-0).
On June 4, 2024, the City Council adopted Joint Resolution No. 24-4745 et. al, approving Fiscal Year 2024/25 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget and approving the Fiscal Years 2024/25 to 2028/29 Capital Improvement Plan (Vote: 5-0).
CITY COUNCIL GOAL
Provide a high level of innovative public safety.
BACKGROUND
In 2023, the City Council approved Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) project number 21022 to plan for the purchase of a new public safety Mobile Command Center (MCC). The MCC's primary mission would be to support emergency responders as they handle public safety events in the City of Murrieta and give them a much-needed operations center to manage critical incidents more efficiently.
This vehicle would also provide the City with a necessary backup to its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the form of a fully upfitted mobile command center that could be situated anywhere if the City’s primary EOC were to become compromised. The MCC would be capable of providing between 15 and 20 workstations for assigned EOC personnel to accomplish their missions and provide invaluable technological capabilities for EOC operations.
Mobile Command Centers serve a unique purpose and need to be custom configured to exacting standards based on the customer and their intended use case scenarios. These vehicles are typically not mass-produced and are not available “off the shelf” from a wide variety of vendors. As a result, most vendors of these types of vehicles work one-on-one with their customers to create custom vehicles based on their specific needs.
Staff research has shown that LDV Custom Specialty Vehicles (LDV), located in Burlington, Wisconsin, is a widely known and reputable vendor of these vehicles for public safety agencies throughout the United States. Nearby LDV customers include the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the City of Hemet, the City of Long Beach, the City of Carlsbad, the City of Costa Mesa, the City of Ontario, the City of Escondido, and the City of Victorville. Staff spoke to representatives from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the City of Hemet, and the City of Carlsbad. These agencies reported that their procurement and build processes were relatively trouble-free, each providing recommendations for this vendor.
LDV participates in the H-GAC (Houston-Galveston Area Council) Procurement Program to provide fair and reasonable pricing for its custom vehicles. The Murrieta Finance Department has reviewed the H-GAC contract AM10-23 between H-GAC and LDV and determined that H-GAC solicited pricing through a competitive bid process from qualified manufacturers, dealers, distributors, and service providers of Ambulances, EMS, and Other Specialty Vehicles.
To foster greater economy and efficiency, the City may join cooperative purchasing programs with other public agencies as allowed by Municipal Code Section 3.08.295 Cooperative Purchasing when the administering agency has made its purchases in a competitive manner.
Staff has conducted extensive research into determining an appropriate build and configuration for the City of Murrieta. Since these vehicles are custom-made, hundreds of configuration choices and decisions must be made. After numerous meetings with LDV representatives, consultation with other LDV customers, and internal working group discussions, a proposal containing preliminary specifications for the ideal MCC has been drafted.
LDV proposal number C40MCC-35992-23 is outlined below.
LDV’s proposal covers pricing for everything necessary for the essential operation and functionality of the MCC. Because each customer uses their MCC in unique and different ways, LDV expects their customers to procure and provide their own specifically desired technological equipment. LDV will accept the customer-provided equipment and fully install and integrate it into their custom vehicle, ultimately delivering a comprehensive and complete product.
Staff research into the ideal MCC for Murrieta’s use identified several technological needs. The necessary equipment and estimated costs for each are outlined below.
The Motorola police radios will be procured using the Sourcewell cooperative purchasing agreement RFP #042021 between Motorola Solutions, Inc., and Sourcewell, a State of Minnesota local government agency and service cooperative created under the laws of the State of Minnesota (Minnesota Statutes Section 123A.21) that offers cooperative procurement solutions to government entities.
Between the LDV proposal and the estimated cost to procure the required customer-provided equipment, the total estimated cost for the Mobile Command Center is estimated at $1,811,703.97.
The City has obtained $900,000 in federal grant funds through Congressman Darrell Issa’s Community Project Funding Request. The Department of Justice (DOJ) administers the funding through the COPS Technology and Equipment Program (TEP). The City completed its application for disbursement of the federal funding on July 1, 2024. The Murrieta Police Department will bring a separate agenda report to accept the COPS TEP grant.
The projected total cost of the MCC was initially estimated at $1.2 million, and the City had allocated $300,000 in local funds to fully support this project. However, with the updated total cost now estimated at $1.8 million, the requirement for local funding has increased to $911,704. The additional funding will be sourced from Measure T and DIF-Law Enforcement Funds, as detailed in the following paragraph.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this MCC would likely be completed and delivered before the CIP project becomes fully funded. Therefore, the Finance Department is proposing a budget amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024/25 and 2025/26 CIP budget to appropriate $330,000 in FY 2024/25 and an additional $281,704 in FY 2025/26 using DIF-Law Enforcement Funds and a total appropriation of $120,000 from the Measure T Fund, for a total of $1,811,704 in available funding sources as shown on the table below.
LDV requires a 50% deposit of the total price, amounting to $769,601, to lock in the agreement and start the vehicle build. Since this CIP project is set to be funded over several years, only $480,000 is currently available. In speaking with the vendor, they stated they would accept $480,000 as a down payment, along with City Council approval, to lock in pricing and start the vehicle build.
LDV estimates that their custom vehicle build timeline will take between 1.5 and 2 years to complete. During that time frame, LDV gives their customers six “inspection trips” to inspect and evaluate the build. These trips include airfare and lodging and typically involve a group of three employees flying out twice to check the build process.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City has obtained $900,000 in federal grant funds through Congressman Darrell Issa’s Community Project Funding Request. As shown in the table below, the Murrieta Police Department will bring a separate agenda report to accept the COPS TEP grant for the $900,000 federal appropriation during current FY 2024/25.
Staff recommends an amendment to the CIP 21022 budget for FY 2024/25 and 2025/26 by establishing an appropriation of $330,000 in FY 2024/25 and an additional $281,704 in FY 2025/26 using the DIF-Law Enforcement Fund and a total appropriation of $120,000 from the Measure T Fund, for a total of $1,811,704 in available funding sources, as shown on the table below.
To ensure funding is available by the time the MCC is delivered and the DIF-Law Enforcement Fund maintains a positive fund balance, staff recommends an amendment to the CIP 21042 Police Department Building Expansion project by reallocating the $1.6 million appropriation established in FY 2024/25 through a four-year period. Staff recommends an appropriation of $400,000 for FY 2024/25 through FY 2027/28, as shown in the table below, totaling $1.6 million.
ATTACHMENTS
1. LDV Proposal Number C40MCC-35992-23
2. LDV Sales Drawing
3. LDV Sole Source Letter
4. H-GAC Contract Number AM10-23
5. Quote from Dell for Computers
6. Quote from CDCE for Cradlepoint Router and Antenna
7. Quote from CDW-G for Network Switches and Wireless Access Point
8. Quote from Verizon for Desk Phones
9. Quote from Motorola for Police Radios
10. Sourcewell Contract