Camarillo City Council
AGENDA REPORT
Date: April 24, 2024
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Greg Ramirez, City Manager
Submitted by: John Thomas, Assistant Administrative Services Director Subject: Camarillo Public Library High Speed Broadband Network Change in Service Provider
BACKGROUND
On February 27, 2019, the City Council approved an agreement with the Califa Group to connect the City of Camarillo Public Library to the Corporation of Education Network Initiatives (CENIC) high-speed broadband network, Agreement No. 2019-20.
The California Public Library Broadband Project is a California State Library program that aims to connect public libraries in California to the California Research and Education Network (CalREN), a high-capacity fiber network operated by CENIC. In 2019, the Califa Group (Califa), a nonprofit library consortium, contracted with the California State Library to help connect libraries to CENIC’s network and manage grants and discounts. Education Rate, more commonly known as E-rate, is a federal program that provides schools, libraries, and consortia funding for two types of categories of services:
Category I (Internet Access and Category II Internal Connections, basic Maintenance of Internal Connections). The California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) program provides a 50% discount on advanced communication services (including internet access and broadband services if they met additional criteria.
Through the agreement with Califa, CENIC provided the City of Camarillo Public Library with a 1 gigabit per second (gbps) connection. The gigabit connection provided through CENIC costs $1,850 per month for 12-months, plus a non-recurring first year connection cost of $750, a total cost of $22,950 for the first year of service. After FY 2020/21, the City received a reimbursement from Califa of approximately $19,980. These reimbursement occurs annually to offset the yearly internet service costs, which decreased the total cost to $2,220 annually ($185 per month) through FY 2023/24.
City staff received formal notice from the California State Library indicating they had appointed Columbia Telecommunications Corporation d/b/a CTC Technology and
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Energy (CTC) to assume the rights and responsibilities and perform the functions of the Statewide Broadband Aggregator on behalf of the California State Library as defined by the terms of the California Broadband Services Project program and that, upon said appointment Califa will cease to perform these functions.
On May 25, 2022, the City Council approved an agreement with CTC, Agreement No. 2022-141. On October 31, 2023, City staff received notice from the California State Library and CTC regarding the end of CTC’s responsibilities as Aggregator for the California Library Connect program effective December 31, 2023.
DISCUSSION
On January 26, 2024, City staff received notification that the California State Library had designated Imperial County Office of Education (ICOE) as the new Statewide Broadband Access Aggregator for the California State Broadband Services Project, assuming the duties and responsibilities previously assigned to CTC Technology & Energy beginning January 1, 2024, through execution of a Novation agreement (Agreement No. 2024-33).
ICOE is coordinating with CTC Technology & Energy on all activities related to the transition of the Broadband Access Aggregator role. The contractual responsibilities of the current agreement between the libraries and CTC will be transferred to ICOE through the agreement expiration date of June 30, 2025, which includes FY 2024/25 cost in the amount of $25,764 (Gross) with estimated Erate and CTF subsidy discounts remaining the same, for an estimated net cost of $5,784.
ICOE provided a new five-year agreement beginning FY 2025/26 through 2029/30 locking in pricing. Staff recommends executing a new 5-year agreement with ICOE at the Total cost of $87,392. The City will receive estimated E-rate and CTF subsidy discounts of $11,115 annually, which decreases the cost to $6,364 annually for FY’s 2025/30. For E-rate purposes the total cost (Gross) of $17,479 will be budgeted annually.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funds for the remaining term of FY 2023/24 the City would pay to ICOE in the amount of $3,438 are included in the Library Information Systems Communication – Telephone Account No. 530-5334-453.60-61.
Funds for FY2024/25 in the amount of $25,764 will be budgeted accordingly.
Fund for FY’s 2025/26 through 2029/30 in the total gross amount of $87,392 for will be budgeted accordingly at $17,479 annually.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Authorize City Manager to execute Novation Agreement No. 2024-33 with Imperial County Office of Educations to novate the assumption of the duties under the Original Agreement 2022-141, to ICOE and extend the term to June 30, 2025.
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2. Authorize City Manager to execute a new 5-year Agreement No. 2024-36 with the Imperial County Office of Education (ICOE) for the provision, installation, and maintenance of advanced network (data) services for FY 2025/26 through 2029/30; and
3. Authorize City Manager to execute future change orders or documents as necessary.
ATTACHMENTS
1. California Library Connect letter dated October 31, 2023
2. CTC Technology & Energy letter dated October 31, 2023, and Agreement No. 2022-141
3. Novation Agreement No. 2024-33 with Imperial County Office of Education
4. Agreement No. 2024-36 with Imperial County Office of Education REFERENCE MATERIALS – AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW AT CITY HALL None