TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Liza Tamura, City Clerk
Alexandria Latragna, Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Consider Adopting Resolution No. 19-0045 Approving Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Services Agreement with Quick Caption, Inc. to Adjust the Annual Compensation by $25,000 (City Clerk Tamura).
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 19-0045
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 19-0045 approving Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Services Agreement with Quick Caption Inc., for broadcasting real-time closed captioning services to adjust the annual compensation in the amount of $25,000. Additionally, staff will return to City Council at a future meeting with recommendations for amendments to the Sunshine Policy regarding accessibility procedures.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are sufficient funds in the City Clerk’s Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Budget to cover the increase to the annual compensation. Upon City Council approval, a budget adjustment of $25,000 will also be included in the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Budget when presented to the City Council for adoption on June 4, 2019, to cover the increase next year.
BACKGROUND:
The City has utilized the services of Quick Caption Inc. since August 2017 to provide broadcasting real-time closed captioning services. The City provides government television to the residents of Manhattan Beach through two cable television franchisees to broadcast and re-broadcast City Council and Planning Commission meetings. The City provided Closed Captioning services to the residents on the City’s government television.
As part of the City’s efforts to increase transparency, an Ad Hoc Open Government Subcommittee was formed in June 2011 to discuss and consider making recommendations to the City Council regarding open government initiatives. The Ad Hoc Subcommittee held multiple publicly noticed meetings from June 2011 to March 2013, to receive public input, establish goals, and develop initiatives to improve openness and transparency in City government. One of the initiatives directed by the Subcommittee was closed caption services as a means to supplement meeting minutes and offer assistance to the hearing impaired.
On November 17, 2015, the City adopted a Sunshine Policy memorializing these initiatives to enhance the City’s open government initiatives. Section 4(A)(3)(a) of the Sunshine Policy states, “The City shall also provide closed captioning of all City Council meetings and Planning Commission meetings (excluding Closed Sessions) for the hearing impaired.”
In addition to complying with the City’s own Sunshine Policy, the captioning provides services to the hearing impaired and increases our government accountability and transparency.
DISCUSSION:
The contract with Quick Caption Inc. limits the total annual compensation to $29,485, giving authority to the City Manager to increase the maximum compensation by up to 20%. So far this fiscal year, the City Clerk’s office has paid $22,275 to Quick Caption for their services and is projected to expend beyond the maximum compensation of the contract due to the number of anticipated meetings, the length of regularly scheduled meetings, and unanticipated costs.
Additional services, found in Exhibit B of the original contract, must be purchased for each meeting in order to provide video captioning that include transcript time coding and imbedding. This has increased the per meeting costs beyond the originally projected annual compensation. With these additional services, the hourly transcription rate is $220 per hour. This additional service provides captioning services for video recordings of the Planning Commission and the City Council meetings that are timed with the video, and were not originally included in the annual maximum compensation projections.
Staff recommends increasing the maximum annual contribution by $25,000 in order to meet the City’s financial obligations, maintain government accountability and transparency, and comply with the City’s own Sunshine Policy.
POLICY ALTERNATIVES:
ALTERNATIVE # 1:
Discontinue offering closed caption services.
PROS:
Budget savings.
CONS:
Out of compliance with the City’s Sunshine Policy and decreasing services to the public.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City has reviewed the proposed activity for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that the activity is not a “Project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines; therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has approved the agreement as to form.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 19-0045
2. Amendment No. 1 - Quick Caption, Inc.
3. Agreement -Quick Caption, Inc. (2017)
4. Staff Report - August 1, 2017