Item 9A~•
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March 2, 2004
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MEMORANDUM
TO: The Honorable Mayor
and Members of the City Commission
FROM: -Jim Hanso
City
~* SUBJECT: City Ma er's Report
AGENDA ITEM #9A
MARCH 8, 2004
~"' New Phone System for Public Works; One of the projects budgeted in the current year is the
replacement of an outdated and problematic telephone system in the Public Works building. The
present phone systems in each of the city's major buildings are different having been purchased
'"'" at different times and having different features. The staff recognized that there are many
advantages to integrating the telephone system between the city's buildings as the systems are
replaced in the future. Additionally, many new systems often a software driven platform that
"` allows for implementation of many new applications that can better serve the citizens and make
work more efficient.
""' With these goals in mind, the city's IT staff communicated with four different companies in the
Jacksonville area that provide telephone networks and quotes were received from Area
Communications, Converged Communications, and Florida Telecom Specialists. Area
""` Communications and Converged Communications both recommended an AVAYA system,
which is currently on the Florida state contract. The third company quoted a different system
that was not on state contract and did not meet the city's criteria for future expansion. The lower
'~" of the two quotes was from Area Communications on the AVAYA system and it included
additional training, which was not part if the city's specifications.
The replacement of the phone system for Public Works will cost $10,091.49. This purchase is
exempt from the formal bidding procedure because it has already been included on the state
contract. This report is being made to advise the Commission of a purchase exceeding $10,000.
Cable Television Franchise and Ordinance; The Cities of Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville
~. Beach have been working together with a local attorney for the renegotiation of the Cable TV
Franchise Agreements for each city, which expire in 2005. When the City of Jacksonville
renegotiated their franchise agreement, passed a new ordinance and negotiated a settlement
,~„ related to poor performance by AT&T prior to the merger of AT&T and Comcast, Jacksonville
utilized attorney Matthew Liebowitz, who specializes in cable TV negotiations. Atlantic Beach
also paid Mr. Liebowitz for some limited services at that time. Since then, the two beach cities
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AGENDA ITEM #9A
MARCH 8, 2004
have worked together with Michael Freed of Brennan, Manna and Diamond, a local attorney
~., whose costs are estimated to be significantly less for the franchise renegotiation process.
After several months of work between the two beach cities, proposed franchise agreements and
cable TV ordinances have been prepared for each. They are largely based upon the current
franchise agreement and ordinance for the City of Jacksonville, with several modifications made
to reflect differences in size and character of the beach cities. An initial meeting was held with
representatives from Comcast Cable Communications Inc recently. Comcast indicated that they
~• would prefer for the cities to consider their standard franchise ordinance rather than that which
was approved for the City of Jacksonville. It is possible that this negotiation may be long and
difficult. The City Commission will be posted as to the progress in the future.
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