HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 2a: Federal Legislative Advocacy Priorities for 2010DATE:
TO:
FROM:
SUMMARY
BACKGROUND
February 2, 2010
STAFF REPORT
Office of the City Manager
Mayor and City Council
Donald Penman, City Manager
By: Linda Garcia, Com y unications, Marketing and Special
Projects Manage :?
SUBJECT: FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY PRIORITIES FOR 2010
Recommendation: Approve
The Ferguson Group has represented the City of Arcadia for more than a decade with
regard to federal legislative matters and revenue opportunities. Their efforts have
resulted in the receipt of millions of dollars to assist with various City projects.
Every year the City Council reviews and approves projects for which The Ferguson
Group will focus on in the next legislative session. This report summarizes the areas
staff is suggesting we work on in the coming year and asks that the City Council set the
federal lobbying priorities for 2010.
The City of Arcadia uses The Ferguson Group to assist in obtaining federal funding for
local projects that benefit the residents of Arcadia and in some cases the residents of
the San Gabriel Valley, including Arcadia. This assistance comes in the form of direct
lobbying with federal legislators as well as helping City staff navigate the complicated
world of federal grant and appropriations procedural requirements.
An additional service The Ferguson Group provides to Arcadia is policy and legislative
advocacy. That is, in addition to assistance and guidance related to revenue
opportunities, The Ferguson Group works with Congress to keep them cognizant of
issues that are important to cities in general and Arcadia in particular. These issues
include legislative matters as well as this last year seeking more flexibility in the
distribution of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies.
Since the beginning of our association with The Ferguson Group and our efforts to
lobby the federal government for financial assistance, Arcadia has been successful in
obtaining millions of dollars to assist with projects we would otherwise have difficulty
completing. Money has been received for traffic and street improvements, counter-
Mayor and City Council — 2010 Federal Legislative Priorities
February 2, 2010
Page 2
terrorism training, the Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum, and the most
significant and ongoing funding has been for joint Arcadia /Sierra Madre water
improvement projects that are designed to ensure the integrity of our water system and
the safety and reliability of drinking water in the event of a major seismic incident.
While Arcadia has had excellent results with our federal lobbying program, it should be
noted that the availability of funds and the priorities of the federal government vary from
year to year, as does the willingness of legislators to provide money to local
jurisdictions.
DISCUSSION
Staff recently met with Trent Lehman of The Ferguson Group to review several projects
and alternatives for approaching the City of Arcadia's funding requests this year so that
they will best meet federal criteria and be favorably received with respect to the current
environment in Washington, D.C. Along with the ongoing water and transportation
projects, discussion took place on such things as construction of a new City Hall, a Joint
Emergency Preparedness Training Facility or a Museum Education Center; purchase of
a Reverse 911 Computer Software System; an upgrade of police radio equipment;
purchase of a police logistical vehicle; installation of fiber optics connection at City
facilities and funding for the online tutoring program at the Library. On the advice of Mr.
Lehman, staff is suggesting that we carry on the approach of concentrating on the
highest priority projects that fall within the general guidelines and areas where there is
the most discretion in terms of appropriations. Specifically, staff is recommending that
the City focus on three areas: water projects, transportation and the installation of fiber
optic connections. A brief summary of these projects is listed below.
Water Projects
The Joint Water Infrastructure Project of Arcadia and Sierra Madre encompasses the
design, creation of plans and specifications, and construction of water system facilities
that will safeguard the quality and reliability of the drinking water supply for Arcadia and
Sierra Madre in the event of a major seismic event in the region. These facilities
increase the yield of the basins and provide additional supply capability.
A second water project is to assure water system reliability that protects and enhances
the City's domestic water system. This project is called the Arcadia /Sierra Madre Phase
1 Water Environmental Infrastructure Restoration Program and it includes the planning,
design, and construction of water infrastructure projects associated with the
implementation and recommendations contained in the East Raymond Basin Water
Resources Plan that was completed in 2006.
Mayor and City Council — 2010 Federal Legislative Priorities
February 2, 2010
Page 3
Huntington Drive Capacity Improvements
The project consists of traffic capacity improvements to the Huntington Drive Corridor
from Santa Anita Avenue to Colorado Place in the City of Arcadia including the widening
of intersections, the addition of turn lanes, the addition of a through lane and the
widening of Huntington Drive at specified locations. Specifically, improvements are
proposed at three specific locations: the Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue
intersection will be widened to add a second left-turn lane for both the north leg and the
south leg of Santa Anita Avenue; the Huntington Drive and Santa Clara Avenue
intersection will be widened to add a second right -turn only lane in the eastbound
direction; and the Huntington Drive and Colorado Place intersection will be widened to
add a third through lane for the westbound direction.
The Arcadia segment of Huntington Drive carries over 30,000 vehicles on an average
day as well as four transit bus routes. Due to the increased number of motorists and
the resulting deficiencies in the road, the segment bottlenecks and causes considerable
traffic congestion and delays. The traffic signals along this segment are synchronized
to optimize traffic flow, but with the lane deficiencies and congestion, the flow is
continually hindered and the synchronization breaks down. The proposed
improvements will facilitate traffic flow, improve signal synchronization and reduce
delays and vehicle idling emissions.
Installation of fiber optic connections at City facilities
This project calls for extending fiber optic connections to various City facilities from
existing fiber infrastructure that was installed for the use of a centralized traffic
monitoring project. Fiber optic cable would be extended from existing pull boxes into
City Hall, the Police Department, Fire Station 105, Fire Station 106, the Arcadia Public
Library, the Recreation and Community Services Department and Community Center,
and the Historical Museum. Due to limitation of existing fiber infrastructure, presently it
would be cost prohibitive to extend fiber optic to the Public Works Service Center and
Fire Station 107.
Due to increases in data and bandwidth requirements for e- commerce, streaming
media, live web training demonstrations, online bill payments, permit applications,
library cataloging, registration of library and recreation programs, the City is
experiencing the need to upgrade the current T1 lines originally installed more than
fifteen years ago.
The utilization of fiber will create faster, more secure, and more reliable connections
between City departments allowing for greater service to the community. Having the
fiber optic infrastructure will allow the City to offer improved service to the community
through the Internet as the infrastructure would facilitate the required web based
applications and provide enough bandwidth for the City to consider future technology
and developments that could further enhance services.
Mayor and City Council — 2010 Federal Legislative Priorities
February 2, 2010
Page 4
In addition to providing adequate bandwidth to host future web based application
demands, the fiber optic infrastructure would also be used to serve as the backbone for
the City's consideration of voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) for telephone services in
the near future. VOIP is a general term for a family of transmission technologies for
delivery of voice communications over Internet networks. With fiber optic in place and
essentially the core of the telephone system, the cost of future telephony upgrades
would substantially decrease.
FISCAL IMPACT
The purpose of this report is to ask the City Council to set the priorities for our legislative
efforts in the coming year. While there is a cost to execute the projects mentioned in
this report, there is no fiscal impact at this time.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize staff to direct The Ferguson
Group to work on behalf of the City of Arcadia to seek funding for the projects
referenced in this report; and further, authorize staff to submit any documents or
application forms for federal funding that may be needed for each project.