City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Police
Meeting Date: May 18, 2026
Report #:2604-6227
TITLE
Approve Amendment Number 2 to Contract C3780 with Stanford University, to Extend the Contract Term to September 30, 2027 for Public Safety Dispatch Services Provided to the Main Campus of Stanford University; CEQA status—not a project.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager or designee to execute Amendment No. 2 (Attachment A) to Contract C3780 (Attachment B), with Stanford University to extend the contract term to September 30, 2027 for dispatch services provided by the City of Palo Alto Police Department.
BACKGROUND
For several decades, the City of Palo Alto has provided the Stanford community with 911 call- taking, call processing, and public safety radio dispatch services. Within this engagement, the City also provides special services, including alarm monitoring, dispatching alarm technicians to address false alarms, and handling general information calls from Stanford community members and visitors. While the original executed Contract No. C-3780 has not been located by either party, historical records confirm its existence, including Budget Ordinance No. 2948, executed October 4, 1976, and Amendment No. 1, executed August 7, 1987. Those documents are provided in Attachment B and also online1.
ANALYSIS
Amendment No. 1 established a termination date of September 30, 2026. Although Stanford and the City have been in discussions to update the service agreement, those negotiations will not be concluded by that date. Accordingly, both parties have agreed to extend the current 1 https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=87932&dbid=0&repo=PaloAlto
arrangement for one additional year and work toward a finalized agreement by September 30, 2027.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
Stanford currently pays the City of Palo Alto approximately $1.2 million annually for this service and both the revenue and costs are recognized in the budget development process annually, subject to Council approval.
The City invoices a fixed quarterly amount calculated using the formula established in Amendment No. 1, applied against the adopted budget. Any variance between the estimated and actual costs is reconciled through a true-up adjustment included with the second-quarter invoice of the following fiscal year.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Public safety staff from both parties have been meeting to discuss the engagement.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The approval of this contract is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Contract No. C3780 Amendment No. 2
Attachment B: Contract No. C3780 Dispatch services (including Amendment No. 1) APPROVED BY:
James Reifschneider, Police Chief