Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Information Systems Department

 

TO:

David Corliss, Interim City Manager

Debbie Van Saun, Ass’t City Manager

 

FROM:

Ron Hall, Information Systems Director

CC:

Bobbie Walthall

Date:

July 3, 2006

RE:

July 11, 2006 Consent agenda item for copier

 

 

Please include the following item on the City Commission consent agenda for consideration at the July 11, 2006 meeting:

 

City Hall copier lease/purchase

This would be a 60-month lease/purchase agreement arranged through Lighthouse Technology in Kansas City, Missouri to acquire a Konica-Minolta C500 copier/printer for general employee use.  This machine would replace a refurbished city-owned black & white Oce copier located in the 2nd floor mail room that was acquired in 2000.   Leasing this machine provides the flexibility of easily upgrading to a newer model during the lease period or allowing for a $1.00 buyout at the end of the lease period.

 

Project History.  A request for proposals (RFP R06006) was recently placed on the Demandstar website as well as mailed to several area companies requesting information for a 50 page per minute copier/printer/scanner.  The RFP requested detailed information the proposed machine, customer references, training offered, and pricing for lease, purchase and maintenance.    

                                               

Project Status.   Proposals were received from seven companies in the Lawrence and Kansas City area.  In addition to reviewing proposals, site visits were made to all seven vendor locations by employees from Information Systems and Planning departments.  Print samples of a detailed GIS topographic map along with various other print samples were printed from all vendors’ proposed equipment and reviewed by staff.  After reviewing all proposals, completing site visits, checking customer references, and analyzing print quality it was recommended to the interim city manager that a Konica-Minolta C500 copier/printer be acquired for City Hall from Lighthouse Technology.

 

Project Details.   In May, 2006 a Konica-Minolta C500 was installed in the City Hall mail room for a 30-day trial period.  After installing the equipment, Konica-Minolta provided several sessions of operational training for employees on features of the machine.  Since the C500 is connected to the City’s computer network, any print jobs created with Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, GIS maps, etc. can be sent to the copier directly from the employee’s desktop computer.  According to the Planning Department, packet preparation from planning commission meetings now takes about 1/4th the time as before.  In addition to printing and copy functionality this machine can also scan and email documents directly from the copier.  Print quality is exceptional and customer references indicate maintenance on this machine is minimal.  The C500 has also obtained the prestigious bertl_award for best mid-volume color multi-function printer in 2005.  Because of the excellent print quality, this machine can substitute for some of the more costly reproduction work performed by local copy centers.

 

Project Funding   Actual purchase price of this copier is $32,163 while the monthly cost on the 60-month municipal rate lease/purchase agreement would be $624.47 ($37,468 total with rate factor 0.019416).  Operational expenses for maintenance and supplies are separate from this lease/purchase agreement and are variable depending upon the number of color and black & white pages printed per month, i.e. $0.01 per black & white page and $.068 per color page.   Funding for the copier lease/purchase and maintenance would come from the general overhead fund (001-1065-555.26-01).  These costs would replace the approximate $1,000 monthly maintenance charge on the current Oce black & white copier. 

 

Action Request Information Systems staff requests that approval be granted for the interim city manager to enter into a 60-month lease/purchase agreement arranged through Lighthouse Technology for a total amount of $37,468 for the Konica-Minolta C500 multi-function printer/copier as well as a separate service and supplies agreement for operational expenses.