Citywide upgrade, ongoing for many years, may require new temp staffer

Benicia City Council may vote Tuesday to hire Steven Carmichael to oversee the comprehensive upgrade to the municipal enterprise resource planning (ERP) finance software system.

It would be the latest step in a long effort that started as a way to improve and streamline the city Finance Department’s computer operations, reduce reliance on paperwork and hand entry of data, and allow the Finance and Human Resources departments’ computers to communicate with each other.

The city’s long-time computer vendor, SunGard, recommended ONESolution as an upgrade about five years ago, about the time Benicia started feeling the full effect of the recession and at a time when Finance Department employees were dealing with a series of unexpected revenue drops that kept upsetting the city budget.

Meanwhile, progress on converting to ONESolution kept bogging down because the current software was proving incompatible with the new software.

When SunGard told the city the price tag for the upgrade would balloon from about $60,000 to several hundred thousand dollars, interim Finance Director Brenda Olwin and City Manager Brad Kilger announced the city would take a new approach.

The city sought bids for a more significant overhaul that not only would end the communication problem between Finance and Human Resources, but also would allow increased fiscal involvement from other departments. Tyler Munis earned the contract July 7.

“The contract with Tyler will replace three existing contracts currently supporting multiple, incompatible financial modules,” Finance Director Karin Schnaider wrote in an Aug. 25 report.

One repeated recommendation from the city’s Finance Committee was to have a project supervisor for the $800,000 project that may go on for at least two years.

“Steven Carmichael was selected as the best qualified to assist the city with the ERP implementation after staff conducted a thorough consultant selection process,” Schnaider wrote.

In addition, she wrote, Carmichael has been involved in several other Tyler Munis conversion projects.

He will supervise governance and functional and operational elements of the conversion process rather than technical aspects, Schnaider wrote.

“The project manager is expected to ensure proper procedures and processes are efficiently used to maintain control of scope, schedule and budget,” she wrote.

In other business Tuesday, the Council will consider a staff recommendation to examine the effect of four-way-stop intersections on greenhouse gas emissions.

Public Works Director Graham Wadsworth wrote in a report to the Council that other impacts of four-way stops are examined before one is installed, but greenhouse gas emissions haven’t been part of those studies.

Recommended by city Climate Action Plan Coordinator Alex Porteshawver, the assessment isn’t expected to cost the city any money, Wadsworth wrote.

“A typical vehicle always burns some amount of fuel when the engine is on, even when the vehicle is not moving,” Wadsworth wrote.

He acknowledged that newer vehicles emit less air pollution.

Porteshawver’s studies indicate an average vehicle will emit 17.9 pounds of greenhouse gas for each gallon of gasoline it consumes.

A 26 miles-per-gallon vehicle uses .0000737 of a gallon for each second it idles. In Solano County, Porteshawver discovered, a car emits .000158 pounds of carbon dioxide or its equivalent when a motorist stops at a stop sign.

At places where 100 cars stop at a sign each day, then, it has been calculated they contribute 173.01 pounds of greenhouse gas every year.

Porteshawver has recommended the city determine how many cars would stop at a four-way stop, as well as their idle time, to estimate greenhouse gas emissions.

Also Tuesday, the Council is poised to streamline the permitting process for those applying to put small residential rooftop solar systems on their homes.

Community Development Director Christina Ratcliffe wrote Aug. 21 that the Solar Rights Act was adopted in 1978 to provide a legal framework for access to solar energy.

The law was modified by Assembly Bill 2188 so municipalities could authorize smaller solar arrays.

The change would bring Benicia into compliance with the amended law, Ratcliffe wrote.

The Council will meet in a closed session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to consider legal matters.

The regular meeting will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.