Second in a series
Re “Redflex Accepts, Even Suggests, 25 Percent Cut”
In the continuing absence of statistical support for the loudly trumpeted contention of City Hall and the Police Dept. that red light cameras have made Culver City intersections safer, police Capt. Allen Azran wanted to accent a little-known point about the concept in the proposed new contract:
“The $3,211 (that the city pays the vendor, the legally besmirched Redflex Traffic Systems) per approach, per month, never will change, whether we issue one ticket or a million tickets.”
Perhaps.
But what contract, the new three-year agreement that the City Council casually, enthusiastically endorsed 2½ weeks ago?
Capt. Azran goes on to say that “we have not even negotiated a contract yet.”
Does that mean the City Council green-lighted the red light camera contract without knowing terms?
“Nobody has approved any contract,” Capt. Azran said.
Speaking deliberately, so that even a dense interviewer could comprehend the meaning, the veteran cop said:
“The City Council approved the proposal, the recommendation to remain with Redflex contingent on a negotiation of the terms of a contract. The basic elements of that proposal include the pricing, which is $3,211 per approach.
“We have just begun the process of going through a contract with the city attorney’s office. Then there will be another time to go to Council for approval.
“All that the Council has approved thus far is a recommendation to go with Redflex. The next phase is the contract,” Capt. Azran said.
“If we don’t have an agreed-upon contract, this deal does not happen.”
Since the latest agreement with Redflex – City Hall’s favored vendor for the past 12 years – expired 90 days ago, it is being renewed month-to-month until a deal is finalized.
“We just extended it another month, to the end of June,” he said, “so we can iron out the actual contract with the city attorney’s office and the Redflex attorneys. We want to make sure that everything that was in the proposal makes its way into the contract.”
Is Capt. Azran one of the negotiators?
“There is not really a negotiation because we are done. I am part of the process of reviewing the contract. Whatever negotiation, if certain things in the contract that are represented differently, there has got to be an agreement. I am one of the people reviewing the contract, working with the city attorney’s office and with Redflex.”
(To be continued)
