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Home My WebLink About0206.093- March 18, 1993 THE HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL Palo Alto, California ~~ Implementation Pl..~.n...-for e.B 408 an£l ___ !".3.rlcing Citation processing Repo.xt in Brief This informational report provides C! summary of the plan for implementing the parking adjudication program as required by Assembly Bill 408 tAB 408), as well as the proposed long-range solution to parking citation processing activities. Associated staffing recommendations and costs are provided. No Council action is required at this time. Backaroung Recent legislative changes, as well as the City's continued problems with act.minis:tration of parking citaticn collections, are necessitating cha~ges in the way the City administers its parking citation program. JI..ssembly Bill 403 was signed into law by the Governor in 1992. This bill decrimin~lizes parking citations. removes parking citation processing from the courLs, and establishes a system of admirlistrative adjudication for parking offenses. Decriminal ization of parking cita'tions ,*,i11 ccmpletely remove them from the criminal justice system and replace criminal prosecut.ion ",i th a civil judgement process. In lieu of the complex criminal court procedure, an administrative adjudication process .ill be imple~ented that includes d no-charge review of citations by the. issuing agency, offers a mail-in -or personal conference ~ith an adjudicator, and permits a final review by a civil court. Appendix A reflects the sequence of events that ~ill occur under the proviSions of AB 408. The City has also been faced in the past year with recurrence of chronic problems 'With its parking citation contractor. A brief history of the problems experienced "dth parking citation vendors during the past seven years provides information i~portant to C)ffi:206:93 I ! ~. , fe, , i ...... ...:' o Fage Tlo;o underste.nding starf's recornmeI'l1~tior. on a long-term solutior, to citation processing. In September 1986 (C."1R:4S6:6j, a one-year contract for parkir-,g citation processing was a·.'arded to vertical Managerr.ent (VMS). Dur inq the t.erm of the contract, it was determir.ed that VMS was delinquent in making paYl':Ients for fines received en behalf of the City. In August 1987, VMS was notified that its contract 't..:as tgrminated for m<=;.terial breach. In Cctuber 1987, a settlerr.enc agreement \lias signed ty VMS o'"mers and all revenues o ... ·ed to the City ~ere recovered. After termination of the VMS contract I Finance Department staff temporarily assumed parking citation processing responsibilities for an eight-~onth period, at a cost of $S3,ODC. Due to the lack of commercial computer software to support in-house processing and the difficulties in manually processing high volumes of paperworK, staff could ha!1dle only the initial colle.ctio!'1 of f ir,e paymr.:nts. Delinquent citation processing was put on hold until a new vendor was found. A mul ti-}'ear agreement ... as a""elrded to Datacom systems corporation in March 1988 (eM:R: 195: 8). Datacom Systems was later renamed to Lockheed Information Management Services Company. During the second year of the agreement, staff was infcrmed of I,ockneed's intention to increi!.se the cost of citation processing by 27 percent for the third year of the agreemeI";;t. Due to this siqnificant increase, a request for proposal (RFP) process was initiated to ensure that services .... ould be provided at a competitive price. In August 1990, as a result of the RFP, sta.ff recommended a ne ..... two year agreement. ... ith West Computil. About e.ightepn months later. staff uncovered cash handling irregularities, including evidence of theft by West Computil personnel. An increase in the number of complaints about West computil's cust0mer services was also Observed. As a result, ir. May 199:2, Finance staff once again assumed cash handling t paymE-nt processing, and customer service fUnctions. West comput i 1 was responsible only for managing the databasG and for the ~ailing of delinquert notices. !n September 1992, staff determined that the curnu1ative c?:::;h handling irregularities, service problems and evidence of lost and stolen funds warra~ted a change in vendOi'S. After yet another RFP process, Council approved a multi-year agreement with the city of Inglewood. The contract calls for the Palo Alto staff to continue the cash handling, collection and processing and cust.omer service fl.<nctions for citacion processing. The City of Ingle'dood is responsi ble for maintenance of the CMR:206:93 - Page Three intormatio~al database, tor :r::ailing delinqueY'lt ;:1.otices and for placing registration holds with the Department of Motor Vehicles. !rnplel'!'ienta~ion of Assembly Bill 408 While the effective cate of A.B 408 is July 1, 199] .. the legislation requires that by Januar::" 1, 1 9 94, park i ng agencies m"..:.st assume responsibility for the adjudication process and full}, i~plement a citation adjudication examiner progr~m. Recently~ staff was informed by the Adlllinistrative Office of the Santa Clara county Municipal Court that the County 'Will cease handling park.ing citations as of J" .. me 30, 1993. Thl.s means the city must have a plan in place, operational guidelines developed and approved, the associated staff positions hired and trained and citation forms amended prior to that date. work on many of the above tasks has already begun. Staff anticipate:!;. returning to Council 'ioIith the Interim Budget WiUl specific requests for staffin.g positions and funding to cover the program costs. Because of the July 1, 1993 i!llplementation date~ staff plan3 on hiring a temporary adjudic~tor with existing funds during mid-June in order to be ope:rational In time. preliminary estimates call for th~ addition of a half-time adjudicator Clnd half-time office assistant, together with equip-rne;;t and furniture. Estimated costs total $64,000. Once the adjudication progral1'l .is operational; staff plans on pursuing the possibility of work.ing ~ith other adjacent agencies to determine the feasibility of a joint powers authority that ~ould help to decrease the costs of the program • .farJdng Citation Pro.<:::: __ essing staff hired two and one-half t.empcr?ry employees to assume the handling and processing of iD-person customer inquiries, telephone and mail inquiries; payment processing and the scheduling of court dates. Due to the efficiency of in-hOUse processing~ cash controls have significantly improved, customer service levels and collection rates have increased, and the complaints regarding irregularity of service have virtually disappeared+ The level of service and support fram Ingle"wood staff has been satisfactory. Staff believes that in-house citation processing and related customer services should continue, especially in light of the changes associated ~ith AB 403+ To maintain in-house processing, staff will propose in the Interim Budget that the two and one-half temporary positions currently staffing the program be converted to CMR:206:93 i •• , o perm3nent positions. The p-::osi tlans include one full-time lead control account specialist, one full-time lead control account specialist, and one half-time control/accou.nt assistant. Costs related to these positions total $119,737. Conclust2n While the details of the AS 408 implerne~tation plan are still being dQveloped, it is evident that the parking citation program ~ill be significantly different from the way it is currently and "Will require add! tiona_l General Fund expend i tures. Staff believes that "With the history of problems "With parking citation vendors and the changes created by AB 408 r it "Would be beneficial and more cost effective to maintain an in-house citatior processing. i R. e~pec,1 f. ully sub~_itt'Cd~ -//~1. ,/ (. .~ EM_·-r;; !SO A. Finance Director ~ ~b ~~:~:~ rr Attachment CMR:206:93 • , "'. l· --~,.., .... -,>-> ... -.. ~-..-,- Appendix A AB408 Administrative Review PrO(;ess Penall), paid by mail or in person ar &,,'enue OJlk<1iofl..I;, Citation {Hula. [)elillqueflJ . n.)fi('t' serif after 21 dG)~~', P('r"..:1lty paid, Violator requeSis heuring. {)crull ... ..-i.Thin 2-4 weeks. &aJir.g by mail or personal cor.forer~·e. Decision made b)' Ad 'udicator. Cittr d'smfssed, Penalty refondM TO ... iolator, Cite UP.he. Id~ Penalty retained b.y city, Inilial r!'vi('~ (im'ej'ri~ari()~:i 1 retjurJred. I Inl'l'Sr'gation j l1~(lmpie!r;>J. L~ror "~Itified. Cite upheld. Violator has 15 days from mailing to requt'st hearing. Penatr)'jXiid by \c,'(Jla!07, \..r::;-------;----:::-o COnJeJTWlI ,lws 20 daysjrom m.ailing a/decision ro initi(.Ue G;.'lpeaJ in ci~'if coun, FtfecriY< July 1. 1993. Cile dismissed for ca/.lSe. -"'/0 respon.se to notict', Dell."'Iqi.t.l'nt noriIT sent r(l 17oimor,