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Home My WebLink About15-0630ssSPECIAL SESSION JUNE 30, 2015 AT 1:50 P.M. 1. Call for Special Session 2. Budget Personnel Amendment - Buffalo Traffic Violations_ 3. Appt. Acting Executive Director- Traffic Violations Agency 4. Contract Award NCOURT 5. Adjourn R &F APP APP APP R &F COMMON COUNCIL CITY HALL - BUFFALO SPECIAL SESSION June 30, 2015 at 1:50 P.M. PRESENT: Darius G. Pridgen President of the Council, and Council Members Fontana, Golombek, LoCurto, Rivera, Scanlon, Wyatt - 7 ABSENT Council Member Franczyk - 1 NO. 1 CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSION June 29, 2015 Mr. Gerald A. Chwalinski City Clerk 1308 City Hall Buffalo, New York Dear Mr. Chwalinski: Pursuant to Section 3.9 of the Charter of the City of Buffalo, upon the written request of Six Councilmembers, dated June 29, 2015 presented to you herewith, I hereby call a Special Meeting of the Common Council, to be held in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Buffalo, New York, on June 30, 2015 at 1:50 P.M., and waive the 24 hour notice for the following purpose: To receive and take appropriate action on all items regarding: Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency Yours very truly, Darius G. Pridgen President of the Council June 29, 2015 Hon. Darius G. Pridgen President Common Council 1315 City Hail Buffalo, New York Dear Sir: WE, the undersigned, members of the Common Council, hereby request that you call a Special Meeting of the Common Council, pursuant to Section 3.9 of the Charter of the City of Buffalo, and waive the 24 hour notice for the following purpose: To receive and take appropriate action on Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency We request that this Special Meeting be held on June 30, 2015 at 1:50 P.M. Michael LoCurto David A. Rivera Rasheed NC Wyatt Richard A. Fontana Joseph Golombek Christopher Scanlon Pursuant to Rule 2 of the Rules of Order of the Common Council of the City of Buffalo, each of the following named members of the Common Council, to wit: RICHARD A. FONTANA DAVID FRANCZYK JOSEPH GOLOMBEK MICHAEL LOCURTO DAVID RIVERA CHRISTOPHER SCANLON RASHEED N.C. WYATT hereby agrees that twenty -four (24) hours' notice be waived of the time and purpose of the Special Meeting of the Common Council duly called to be held on June 30, 2015 at 1:50 P.M. STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF ERIE) ss: CITY OF BUFFALO) On this 29th day of June 2015, before me, the subscribers, personally appeared To me known to be the same persons described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, and they duly and severally acknowledged to me that they executed the same. Gerald A. Chwalinski Commissioner of Deeds, in and for the City of Buffalo, N.Y. My Commission expires 12/31/16 June 29, 2015 TO EACH MEMBER OF THE COMMON COUNCIL: YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that, pursuant to Section 3.9 of the Charter of the City of Buffalo, upon the written request of Six Councilmembers, dated June 29, 2015, DARIUS G.PRIDGEN, President of the Common Council, has called a Special Meeting of the Common Council, and waived the 24 hours' notice to be held in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Buffalo, New York, on June 30, 2015 at 1:50 P.M. for the following purpose: To receive and take appropriate action on all items relating to Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency Yours very truly, Gerald A. Chwalinski City Clerk NO. 2 BUDGET AND PERSONNEL AMENDMENT 05- 1046- DEPARTMENT OF LAW & 03 -1033 - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT BUFFALO TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS AGENCY The Common Council of the City of Buffalo does ordain as follows: That part of Section 1 of Chapter 35 of the Code of the City of Buffalo, relating to the 05 -1046 - Department of Law, which currently reads: 1 Senior Motor Vehicle Ref $93 1 Motor Vehicle Red $83 1 Supervising Motor Vehicle Rep 1 $52 1 Motor Vehicle Rep $42 1 Motor Vehicle Rep $41 1 Motor Vehicle Rep $41 1 Motor Vehicle Rep $37 1 Clerk 1 $36 Is hereby amended such that said positions are deleted from the Department of Law and placed within the 03 -1033 Executive Department under a new division for the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency to read: 1 Executive Director ---- - - - - -- 1 Traffic Prosecutor $76 1 Supervising Traffic Agency Representative 1 $47 1 Traffic Agency Representative $45 1 Traffic Agency Representative $36 1 Traffic Agency Clerk $39 1 Confidential Assistant to the Executive Director $36 Hourly Salary (Judicial Heating Officers who will serve on a per diem basis at the established court rate of $300 /day) As noted above, the positions of Senior Motor Vehicle Referee and Motor Vehicle Referee are hereby removed from the budget, as those functions will be performed by Judicial Hearing Officers serving on a per diem basis. IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED, pursuant to Section 3 -19 of the Charter, that the immediate passage of the foregoing ordinance is necessary. That a personnel requisition incident to the creation of the above - mentioned positions, containing a statement of the duties for such positions, has been filed with the Commissioner of Human Resources, and said Commissioner has approved and certified the position tides set forth in the foregoing ordinance as being the appropriate Civil Service tides for the proposed positions. BYRON W. BROWN, MAYOR and DONNA J. ESTRICH, COMMISSIONER OF ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, POLICY AND URBAN AFFAIRS, HEREBY CERTIFY that the above change is necessary for the proper conduct, administration and performance of essential service of the Traffic Violations Agency within the Executive Department. PASSED AYES 7, NOES 0 NO. 3 APPOINTMENT OF ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE BUFFALO TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS AGENCY (BTVA) KEVIN J. HELFER I respectfully request that your Honorable Body confirm my appointment of Kevin J. Heifer to the position of Acting Executive Director of the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency, effective July 1, 2015. As your Honorable Body is aware, Commissioner Heifer currently serves as the City's Commissioner of Parking and manages the City's Parking Violations Bureau. Given Commissioner Heifer's familiarity with overseeing a heating system similar to that which will be employed by the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency and managing a City Bureau that interacts with the public in a similar arena, it makes sense for him to oversee the establishment of the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency, while the City conducts a search for a permanent Executive Director. I urge your Honorable Body to confirm Commissioner Heifer's appointment to the position of Acting Executive Director of the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency at your earliest opportunity, and thank you for your consideration of this interim appointment. PASSED AYES 7, NOES 0 NO. 4 CONTRACT AWARD TO NCOURT, LLC. PRIOR COUNCIL REFERENCE: (SERVICE EDUCATIONAL, INC. (SEi) Item No. 1043 C.C.P. 05/26/15 On May 26, 2015 this Honorable Body passed Item No. 1043 approving the award of a professional services contract to Service Educational, Inc. (SEi) as the City's sole provider for the courtroom automated software "The CourtRoom Program" to support the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency. In conjunction with the services provided under the SEi agreement, The Courtroom Program also enables citation holders to remit fees via online payment or through the use of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI) compliant, Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) ready credit card readers. SEi's sole provider of these services through its "The Courtroom Program" software is nCourt, LLC. ( "nCourt "). nCourt is a government services technology company that, among other things, provides software that permits government agencies to collect fines and fees online with a credit or debit card. For payments processed within the Traffic Violations Agency offices, nCourt will provide six (6) Ingenico iPP230 (PCI) compliant, EMV ready credit card readers. This service enables the City, via "The CourtRoom Program" software, to update nCourt's database, on a near real -time basis via web services, with data on all open and payable citations from the City's server. Upon the data exchange, the information may be accessed and payment processed by the agency's administrative staff. All payment transactions will be reflected in "The CourtRoom Program" on a near real -time basis. All costs for nCourt's application development, integration, processing, customer service and merchant fees related to the providing of these services in "The CourtRoom Program" are underwritten by a service fee of 3.5% that is charged to the citation holder and included in the payment transaction for processing payments online or for those taken in Traffic Violations Agency office. Notwithstanding the fees paid to SEi under "The CourtRoom Program" agreement, there are no additional costs to the City for the implementation and operation of the services provided by nCourt or for the credit card readers. The Department of Law respectfully requests that this Honorable Body award the professional services contract to nCourt as the City's sole provider for the processing of payments related to the Traffic Violations Agency "The CourtRoom Program" automated software and authorize the Corporation Counsel to execute the a contract with nCourt for provision of the same, consistent with the terms and conditions described herein. The parties propose that the contract run concurrent with the SEi agreement and that the same may be renewed for additional one (1) year periods upon mutual consent of the parties. The contract shall be subject to one -year renewals until such time as the City determines, in its' sole discretion, to terminate or not renew the contract with SEi. Such terms ensure that there will be no interruptions in the services required to provide necessary while maintaining a high level of service. PASSED AYES 7, NOES 0 NO. 5 ADJOURNMENT On a motion by Mr. Rivera, seconded by Mr. Franczyk, the Council adjourned at 2:00 P.M. GERALD A. CHWALINSKI CITY CLERK