Modesto eyes spending $267,707 to spy on graffiti scofflaws

The City Council on Tuesday will consider approving a $267,707 agreement with Virginia-based CelPlan Technologies for providing and installing 28 graffiti surveillance cameras at water and wastewater facilities, such as water tanks, and at the new Highway 99 interchange at Pelandale Avenue.

Three of the cameras would be at the interchange.

A city report states $196,957 of the project’s cost would come from the city’s utility fund and the rest from the fund for the Pelandale interchange. The cameras would provide a live feed to the Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center.

City officials also are asking the council to exempt this proposal from competitive bidding because Modesto has used CelPlan for other cameras and using the company for this proposal provides “a unified camera surveillance system that can be maintained and where camera monitoring can be viewed from a single system,” according to the report.

The council also will consider appointing six members to Modesto’s comprehensive fees task force, which will undertake the city’s first in-depth review of development fees in several years.

The council is being asked to approve the four at-large members as well as the affordable housing and commercial broker representatives of the 11-member task force. The proposed at-large members are Opportunity Stanislaus CEO Dave White, Self-Help Federal Credit Union Executive Vice President Joe Duran, Planning Commissioner Sandy Lucas and former council candidate and insurance broker David Wright.

The council also will consider appointing Stanislaus County Affordable Housing Corp. Executive Director Steve Madison and commercial broker Brian Veltheon. A city report states only four people applied for the at-large positions and Madison was the only applicant for the affordable housing position. The report says two people applied for the commercial broker position.

The task force’s other members will be one representative each from the Building Industry Association, the Manufacturers’ Council of the Central Valley and the Chamber of Commerce. Council members Bill Zoslocki and Kristi Ah You also are expected to serve on the task force. City officials have said the task force’s work should take about a year. Any changes the task force recommends would have to be approved by the council.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Modesto eyes spending $267,707 to spy on graffiti scofflaws."