Modesto City Council Watch

The Modesto City Council on Tuesday will consider:

▪ Approving a 10-year agreement with the Virginia-based CGI Group for the purchase of a new budget software system. A city report states the first year will cost $610,780, then $102,000 annually for nine years for subscription costs, for a total cost of about $1.5 million. The report states the city’s current system, more than 15 years old, is outdated. The report says the new system will allow for multiyear budgeting and better tracking of performance measures. The city did not put this project out to a bid. Instead, city staff researched this for more than a year and narrowed the city’s options to Silicon Valley-based Oracle and CGI. With the help of a consultant, the city picked CGI.

▪ Approving a $190,714 budget adjustment for the 10th Street beautification project between J and I streets. A city report says money from the surface transportation fund was wrongly used for the beautification work. The report recommends the general fund reimburse the surface transportation fund the $190,714.

▪ Approve a request from the city Attorney’s Office to increase its budget by $384,555, with the money coming from the general fund. A report states the office was “called upon to prepare a number of unbudgeted new ordinances related to public safety, to assist in drafting and defending the lawsuit challenging the sales tax measure (Measure G, which voters rejected in November), and other unexpected General Fund services.” The report states the effect of this request will have essentially no effect on the office’s budget. That’s in part because the office is on track in the current fiscal year to spend less on legal work paid by non-general-fund sources.

▪ Hold public hearings to establish two community facilities districts, authorizing the levy of special taxes to pay for improvements in the districts and hold the elections. One district consists of 45 acres on Dale Road north of Vintage Faire Mall, which the owner wants to develop with single-family and multifamily homes and stores and offices. The second district is roughly 160 acres bounded by Kiernan Avenue on the north, Pelandale Avenue on the south, Dale Road on the west and American Avenue on the east. City reports state property owners in both proposed districts signed waivers to hold the election Tuesday. There are fewer than a dozen registered voters in each district. The hearing is an opportunity for those opposing the districts to speak.

▪ Acknowledge Chris Guptill and Darin Jesberg and former Councilman John Gunderson. The California Parks and Recreation Society honored Guptill and Jesberg last month for leading a nearly two-year volunteer effort to clean up Tuolumne River Regional Park, removing nearly 1,000 abandoned tires and shopping carts as well as 206 tons of trash from in and along the river. Gunderson has been part of an effort to cut and remove excess brush and vegetation in the park and develop trails for public use.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Modesto City Council Watch."