7-0, Richardson Absent, 1st dist. vacant)"> With No Discussion, Council Approves Spending $750,000 For Future "Furniture Enhancements" In New Civic Center (<nobr>7-0</nobr>, Richardson Absent, 1st dist. vacant)
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With No Discussion, Council Approves Spending $750,000 For Future "Furniture Enhancements" In New Civic Center (7-0, Richardson Absent, 1st dist. vacant)

No Council member removes item from "consent calendar" for separate discussion, may be early example of Council's recently approved "streamlining" policies


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(June 19, 2019, 5:20 a.m.) -- At its June 18 meeting, the City Council voted 7-0 (Richardson absent for entire meeting, 1st dist. vacant) to approve spending $750,000 for future "furniture enhancements" in the new Civic Center.

The action came with no Council discussion -- or audible announcement of the action -- when the Council approved the meeting's "consent calendar," multiple items grouped together traditionally reserved for non-controversial items or those not meriting sepatarate discussion; The Council can approve "consent calendar" items in a single vote with no discussion unless a Councilmember(s) asks to remove an item for individual discussion and a separate vote. With the $750,000 "furniture enhancements" spending item, none did.

The Councilmembers who voted "yes" to approve the $750,000 "furniture enhancements" item without separate discussion were Councilmembers Jeannine Pearce, Suzie Price, Daryl Supernaw, Stacy Mungo, Dee Andrews, Roberto Uranga and Al Austin.

Use of the consent calendar to bypass separate discussion of the item may be one of the first examples of "streamlining" policies approved by the Council 9-0 on May 14, 2019. One of the several "streamlining" policies was: "Additional use of the Consent Calendar for items that generally require less discussion;"

It's not immediately clear exactly who (the Mayor's office or city management or both) considered it appropriate to put the $750,000 "furniture enhancements" on the "consent calendar" but as a result, the public heard no City Clerk announcement of the action and didn't see or hear a city staff presentation of the proposed action. Instead the public simply heard Mayor Garcia call for a motion to approve the "consent calendar"; no Councilmember asked to remove the $750,000 spending item for discussion, and the Council approved it among multiple other consent calendar items.

The only evidence of what the Council approved was in an agendizing memo (previously reported by LBREPORT.com) by Public Works Director Craig Beck that acknowledged the new Civic Center comes equipped with furniture but told the Council that the requested contracts "are for furniture enhancements requested by City departments in the future, to ensure the same look, feel, and match" and enable City Departments "to quickly and efficiently address any furniture modifications requested by departments."

The agendizing memo stated:

City Council approval is requested to execute contracts with Haworth, Inc., of Los Angeles, CA (Haworth), and PeopleSpace, of Irvine, CA. Haworth will 'manufacture and provide office furniture, and PeopleSpace will provide the design and installation of the office furniture for the new Civic Center as part of the Plenary team. The new Civic Center comes equipped with furniture from Haworth and PeopleSpace. These contracts are for furniture enhancements requested by City departments in the future, to ensure the same look, feel, and match.

Haworth is the only supplier in the United States carrying the furniture selected for the Civic Center, and PeopleSpace is the recommended authorized Haworth dealer in Southern California. As the manufacturers and installers of the furniture for the new Civic Center and Main Library, these companies are uniquely positioned to support the City's needs. PeopleSpace will provide City departments with the capability to quickly and efficiently address any furniture modifications requested by departments.

City Charter Section 1801 requires that contracts for City purchases be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after a competitive bid process, but allows for awards without a competitive bid process if accompanied by a Resolution adopted by the City Council...

TIMING CONSIDERATIONS

City Council action is requested on June 18, 2019, to have contracts in place to address any requested changes by time of occupancy of the new Civic Center and Main Library.

FISCAL IMPACT

The total contract amount for the manufacturing, design, and installation of furniture will not exceed $450,000 with Haworth and $300,000 with PeopleSpace, over the period of three years. There is no appropriation increase requested at this time. Any work not currently budgeted will only proceed at such time that appropriations have been approved by the City Council. Furniture modification orders will be funded by the requesting department, prior to the modifications being ordered. This recommendation has no staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and is consistent with existing City Council priorities. There is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.

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The action is the latest additional spending item for the new Civic Center approved by the Council.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, on December 18, 2018, the City Council voted 7-0 (motion by Mungo, Richardson and Pearce absent/exited earlier in the meeting) to approve spending $1 million from the City's "Advertising and Promotion Fund" to include a "media wall" in the lobby LB's new City Hall. (The media wall was among $4.3 million in additional spending (not publicly itemized) for what the public was told was "critical technology needs infrastructure" related to the new Civic Center. It came on top of $7.05 million in Council-approved spending for the same general stated purpose in March 2018.

LBREPORT.com used the Public Records Act to obtain an artist rendering of the "media wall" and some of its contemplated content.


[Source: Internal city staff communications obtained under LBREPORT.com Public Records request

Below are some types of content LB taxpayers might see on City Hall's million dollar media wall.


[Source: Internal city staff communications obtained under LBREPORT.com Public Records request

Detailed LBREPORT.com coverage of the media wall can be viewed here.

The Civic Center's "Grand Opening" is scheduled for July 29 from 6-8 p.m.

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