Agenda Item Wording:
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Approve Agreement with County Radio Shop - Authorization to renew and approve a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding for City Wide radio installation, maintenance, and programming services with Tulare County Information & Communications Technology, the County’s Radio Shop, for an estimated $225,000 over a 5-year period.
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Prepared by:
Chief Jason Salazar, 559-713-4215, jason.salazar@visalia.city;
Financial Analyst, Liz Ybarra, 559-713-4250, liz.ybarra@visalia.city;
Police Specialist Dex Valencia, 559-713-4655, dex.valencia@visalia.city
Department Recommendation:
Authorization to renew and approve a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for city wide radio installation, maintenance, and programming services with Tulare County Information & Communications Technology (TCICT), the County’s Radio Shop, for an estimated $225,000 over a 5-year period.
Summary:
The MOU, signed in 2020, has expired and requires renewal. TCICT’s Radio Shop provides services to County Departments and to other local agencies, as their schedule allows. The Visalia Police & Fire Departments uses the radio shop extensively; however, the MOU covers all City Departments that require radio shop services. The cost of services for FY 25/26 is $105.00 for hourly labor plus the actual cost of parts and supplies plus a 10% administrative fee. The hourly rate is adjusted annually, according to the approved County cost allocation plan as approved by the State of California. This new MOU expires on 6/30/2030.
Background Discussion:
The Police and Fire Department uses TCICT for the maintenance of all handheld and car radios, antennas, batteries, battery chargers, and channel programming for the various assignments. The Department is required to use TCICT for radio programing in order to input and mark radio identifiers on all handheld and in car radios. This function needs to be updated as officers move into different assignments and different functions within the Department. The City’s Fleet Department does have contracts with other vendors, such as LEHR in Sacramento and Cooks Communications in Fresno, that can provide other electrical fleet services for our units. The Fleet manager determines the most cost-effective method to have our fleet vehicles serviced and TCICT is just one of those options.
TCICT programs all radios and does a variety of other radio maintenance for all surrounding agencies including Farmersville PD, Exeter PD, Woodlake PD, and Tulare PD. The benefits of using TCICT include:
1. Inter-agency unification - All other local agencies utilize TCICT to program their radios; therefore, there is no risk of duplicating identifiers on the same radio channel.
2. Cost - TCICT’s hourly rate is $105.00, and the next nearest vendor located in Fresno is $165.00 an hour.
3. Location - TCICT is in Visalia and the nearest other vendor that can perform the same functions is in Fresno.
Fiscal Impact:
No new impact on budget but a new service contract is required and prior contract C21028 closed. Expenditure is budgeted during the biennial budget process as each Department budgets for their operations. The annual budget for Police is $30,000 and Fire’s budget is $10,000. There are other Departments that require the use of TCICT and a budget is included in the 5-year projection of $225,000.
Prior Council Action: None.
Other: N/A
Alternatives: None recommended.
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to renew and approve a five (5) year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for City Wide radio installation, maintenance, and programming services with Tulare County Information & Communications Technology (TCICT), the County’s Radio Shop, for an estimated $225,000 over a 5-year period.
Environmental Assessment Status: N/A
CEQA Review: TBD.
Deadline for Action: 7/21/2025
Attachments: Tulare County Information & Communications Technology MOU and Radio Maintenance City Wide Budget.