The city’s new fiscal year began on Oct. 1 and the first commission meeting of the month set a variety of new projects in motion.
Last week’s city commission meeting kickstarted a lot of upcoming projects as the city officially began the new fiscal year.
Fire Station Two will soon be sporting a new roof thanks to the approval of a bid by Quality Roofing, Inc. The city approved the allocation of $104,000 to the company to construct a new roof on the building due to the deteriorating conditions of the current infrastructure.
The station, which is located on Alexander Street toward I-4, is still using the original roof from when the building was constructed in 1990. Now that the contract has been approved, the city will be tackling work orders and other necessary paperwork in the next few weeks.
During the same commission meeting, the contract for media management for the city was awarded to Fryed Egg Productions. The company will handle a variety of media positions with the city including managing several of its social media sites, shooting video for the city and handling overall media relations between the city and the public.
The contract gives Fryed Egg Productions $70,000 for one year of services. There are one-year renewal options built into the contract should the city wish to continue the partnership with Fryed Egg in the upcoming fiscal years. Fryed Egg was one of eight bids the city received and was the only Plant City firm to apply in the three week bid period.
Downtown’s two major parking lots — the Mahoney Street lot and the North Municipal lot — are officially looking at a major upgrade thanks to the city approving a work order for their repair. Kimley-Horn Associates, Inc., which is one of the city’s engineering firms that is under a continuing contract, has offered its services for design improvements for a price that will not exceed $60,080.
The North Depot lot, located by the Train Depot, will need repaving, designed stormwater improvements to help with the flooding issues in the area, the curbing and wheel stops replaced along with other improvements. The Mahoney Street lot, between Collins Street and Evers Street, will need its drainage to be reviewed, lighting to be upgraded, curb replacements and more.
The city also approved the purchase of two refuse trucks from Rush Truck Centers of Florida, Inc. by piggybacking off the Florida Sheriff’s Association Contract. The city agreed to spend 96,941 to purchase a front-end loader and a rear-end loader to replace the vehicles, which were damaged in accidents. Insurance said the trucks were a total loss.
Future commission meetings will soon feature new media systems. The city agreed to spend no more than $160,000 to purchase a new media system for the auditorium from Unicom Government Inc. The current system hasn’t been updated since April 2000.
The city said the system has been having difficulties working with newer technologies and it is time for new equipment. The proposed upgrade is for a new overhead projector that will be raised and lowered as needed, two media stations that will allow news media to connect to the audio system and record what is being said, new microphones and recording equipment, two new 65-inch 4k monitors that will replace the small monitors hanging from the ceiling, a new electronic device friendly podium, monitors on the dais, a control center for the City Clerk and more.
The city said this will make the experience of each meeting easier to digest for the public and make presentations a breeze for all parties involved.
