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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.