HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-10 - AGENDA REPORTS - CRYWOLF CONTR (2)O
Agenda Item: 8
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CITY OF SANTA CLARITA AGENDA REPORT
CONSENT CALENDAR
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:1
DATE: November 10, 2020
SUBJECT: CRYWOLF FALSE ALARM AND NOISE DISTURBANCE
MANAGEMENT SERVICES CONTRACT
DEPARTMENT: Administrative Services
PRESENTER: Brittany Houston
RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Council:
1. Award a three-year contract in an amount of $135,000, not to exceed a 26 percent net
revenue share paid to CentralSquare Technologies for false alarm and noise disturbance
management services.
2. Appropriate an ongoing annual amount of $35,000 to Treasury expenditure account 12102-
5161.037.
3. Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute contract and all associated documents,
subject to City Attorney approval.
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clarita (City) Finance Division is responsible for overseeing activities related
to false alarm and noise disturbance enforcement citywide. False alarm and noise disturbance
enforcement is needed to uphold provisions of the Santa Clarita Municipal Code. The City's
false alarm function is made up of two distinct elements - the issuance of false alarms and noise
disturbances, and the subsequent processing and management of those citations. The City
contracts with Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for false alarm and noise disturbance
citation issuance, while false alarm and noise disturbance processing and management is handled
in-house by City staff.
In September 2019, the City awarded a ten-year contract to Superion, LLC/CentralSquare
Technologies (Central Square), for the replacement of the City's enterprise resource planning
(ERP) system, also known as its financial system. As part of its proposal, CentralSquare
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proposed the CryWolf solution to service the City's false alarm and noise disturbances. It is now
industry standard for these billings to be handled as a service and software is no longer available
for City staff to continue to handle these billings in-house. At the time of CentralSquare's
proposal, City staff chose to postpone a decision for a billing solution until it had time to
evaluate CryWolf s billing and reporting capabilities and compare them to its current processes.
Over the last several months City staff has worked with CentralSquare on the implementation of
the City's new ERP system and recommends moving forward with CryWolf. CentralSquare has
demonstrated its high quality of work, focus on customer service, and expertise in the matter.
CentralSquare's CryWolf solution offers several benefits to the City. First, they have the
capability to send bills within days of an event occurring instead of on a monthly basis, enabling
residents to be aware of events as soon as they occur. Residents may also opt to receive their
bills via email, further reducing the time in which they receive a bill. The solution also offers an
online payment option as a convenient payment method. Resident's false alarm accounts can be
viewed online and their contact information can be updated on an as needed basis. Since the
solution is web -based, resident addresses and contact information may be accessed by the
Sheriffs Department to better assist with contacting residents when an event occurs.
As part of this agreement, the processing of false alarm and noise disturbance citations would be
handled by CryWolf staff at the direction and management of the City. This work effort includes
online, telephonic, and U.S. Mail processing of citations and payments from violators, managing
appeals, and handling customer inquiries which will result in time savings to City staff.
CentralSquare will be compensated based on a percent share of the program's revenues after
direct costs including bank fees, credit card processing fees, and mailing costs are deducted. The
revenue share to be paid to CentralSquare is 26 percent or approximately $17,000 annually. The
City will retain the remaining 74 percent of net revenues or approximately $47,000 annually.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
Other action as determined by the City Council.
FISCAL IMPACT
Upon approval of the recommended action, the Treasury expenditure budget will be increased by
$35,000 for a total annual expenditure budget of $45,000 excluding public safety costs. Annual
gross revenues are estimated to be $90,000.
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