City Commission Regular Meeting Brief for January 23, 2024
City Commission Rejects Conceptual Proposal for Interim Utilities Services
The City Commission rejected a proposed three-month agreement with Jacobs Solutions Inc. for interim utilities services.
City Commission Approves Appointment of Interim Utilities Director
The City Commission approved a motion to appoint Hamid Nikvan to the position of Interim Utilities Director. Mr. Nikvan has served as the City’s Assistant Utilities Director.
City Commission Approves Multiple Job Descriptions
The City Commission approved several job descriptions to aid staff in the pursuit of qualified candidates in the midst of multiple vacancies within the Utilities Department. The City Commission approved job descriptions for Chief Plant Operator, Plant Operations Superintendent, Utility Supervisor, Treatment Plant Operator Trainee, Treatment Plant Operator I, Treatment Plant Operator II, Utility Mechanic I, Electrician Assistant. Additionally, the City Commission approved the job description for the position of Solid Waste & Recycling Administrative Coordinator as part of the contract with Coastal Waste & Recycling (Coastal) for solid waste removal services. During the City Commission Regular Meeting on January 9, 2024, the City Commission entered into a contract with Coastal for solid waste and recycling removal services for the City. The agreement calls for an administrator to manage all contract related matters and serve as liaison with the contractor. The person in that position shall, among other things, coordinate and approve all work under the contract, resolve disputes, assure consistency and quality of the contractor’s performance, schedule and conduct contractor performance evaluations and document findings, and review and approve all invoices for work performed.
City Commission Authorizes Negotiations with Vendor for IT Managed Services
The City Commission authorized City staff to enter contract negotiations with VC3, Inc. following Request for Qualifications (RFQ) 2023-1-IT, IT Managed Services. The RFQ was issued October 31, 2023 to competitively bid services where a contractor will work cooperatively in a hybrid capacity with Cooper City IT staff in managing, implementing, troubleshooting, monitoring, and developing all IT related projects and infrastructure. The contractor will assume responsibility for all aspects of the City’s IT Infrastructure alongside the City’s on-site staff and be an additional point of contact for all staff and external vendors regarding IT related issues. The contractor would provide remote support to all users and devices while being able to send on-site support in the event of an emergency or IT coverage. The respondent would also be an additional layer of support for Cooper City’s IT staff for all IT related concerns. The respondent shall be responsible for maintaining, upgrading, and monitoring of the City’s network infrastructure i.e. bandwidth, switches, servers, firewalls, and all endpoint devices. Ten (10) proposals were received from qualified vendors. An Evaluation Committee was established and comprised of internal and external subject matter experts. The committee convened for two meetings to thoroughly assess the proposals and shortlisted three proposals from the following vendors: Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, Inc., United Data Technologies, Inc. and VC3, Inc. These three vendors were invited to provide formal presentations and question-and-answer sessions on January 17, 2024. After a final evaluation and ranking, the committee recommended VC3, Inc. as the top-ranked vendor. If the City Manager is unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the top-ranked vendor, then the City Manager may commence sequential negotiations with the successive ranked vendors until an agreement is attained.
City Commission Tables Ordinance 24-02
The City Commission tabled Ordinance 24-02, which would provide for a budget amendment to appropriate funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 to implement the projects being considered in the City’s plan and ultimately authorizing the City Manager to re-appropriate funds within each eligible expenditure category for project implementation. The City Commission tabled the Ordinance to allow further information to be supplied and following a presentation from City staff and consulting firm Witt O’Brien. At the October 26th, 2021, November 30th, 2021, and January 25th, 2022, City Commission Regular Meetings, the Commission approved a final list of projects and initiatives using ARPA funds. These projects were memorialized in the budget adopted by the City in September 2022. In summer 2023, a new budget for ARPA was not adopted; instead, that budget was delayed for an opportunity to completely review and rework the budget with the assistance of the consulting firm Witt O’Brien’s. The result is a prepared multi-year ARPA budget for the Commission’s consideration. To expend the funds for these projects and initiatives, it is recommended that a budget amendment be approved. This amendment considers the funding amounts needed to complete the expenditures of the awarded funds and also recognizes funding that is yet to be allocated, for which staff is seeking input from the City Commission to advance additional ARPA eligible projects. See a list summarizing the requested appropriations for ARPA projects and initiatives. Based on the ARPA guidelines, these funds are required to be obligated by December 2024 and spent by December 2026.
City Commission Approves Ordinance 24-01 on Second Reading
The City Commission approved an ordinance amending Chapter 23 of the City’s Code of Ordinances entitled “Zoning Districts.” This amendment specifically deletes Article V, Section 23-104.1, entitled “Pharmacies, Medical Offices or Clinics, and Medical or Dental Laboratories – Local Restrictions.” This amendment effectively lifts the restriction on pharmacies being located within the same parcel of land or tract of any medical office or clinic, or any medical or dental laboratory.
More Information
For more information related to items on the January 23, 2024 agenda, please visit:https://meetings.municode.com/adaHtmlDocument/index?cc=COOPERCITY&me=0895a1217e04460180dc0a9d68df3e4e&ip=true.