HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.d. Purchase of Street Holiday Decorations
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
City Council Work Session Meeting: April 13, 2015
AGENDA ITEM: Purchase of Street Holiday Decorations AGENDA SECTION:
Discussion
PREPARED BY: Kim Lindquist, Community Development
Director AGENDA NO. 2.d.
ATTACHMENTS: Brochure APPROVED BY: ddj
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Provide Staff Direction
SUMMARY
Over the last several years staff has mentioned that the Hwy 3 and 145th Street holiday decorations have
been showing their age. The white snowflakes are either 10 or 14 years old as they were purchased in two
batches. They have been treated with rustoleum on several occasions but the white is flaking in places and
rusting is occurring. They have also been painted. Additionally, the light sockets are rusting; the sockets
cannot be replaced as the entire apparatus would need to be rewired. And wires on some of the snowflakes
are breaking.
The best time to purchase decorations is after the holiday season. We have received a quote from our
vendor that would save us approximately 1/3 of the total cost. Staff is recommending to the Council
purchase 90 new decorations comprised of the DazzLED collection candy cane with bow, wreath with
bow and zig zag tree, at total price of $22,185, $7,500 off the listed price. Currently we install 84 and are
recommending purchasing additional of each of the three designs.
The decision about which decorations to purchase is predicated on three criteria; the color, design and size
of the decoration. The idea behind “color” is that the current decorations look best at night due to the
lighting. The three choices staff is recommending have colored metallic garland which makes the design
visible during the day, when the lights are not on. The color, versus the white of the snow flakes, adds to
the visibility. The three designs chosen are those which are highly visible and recognizable. A couple of
years ago, several designs where brought into City Hall and it was noted that a few designs did not
translate as well when being viewed as compared to what is being shown in the Brochure. It is harder for a
person to quickly see the design (since they are driving down the street) and recognize what the shape is of
the gift box or ornament ball design. Further, the ones chosen are fairly standard shapes and are not as
directly tied into a specific religion. The final criteria relates to overall size and weight of the item. The
brochure provides a variety of options which are approximately 4’ in length. This is a reasonable size as the
current snowflakes are 3.5-4.0’ in length. Obviously there are numerous decorations available but staff
narrowed down the search based in part, on the size of the decorations. All the bulbs proposed would be
LED.
As mentioned the total cost would be $22,185 if ordered this spring in the quantity indicated. The sales
representative indicated that they have enough of all three designs in inventory at this time. However, they
have a limited supply for 2015. Approximately $13,000 would come from previously assigned funds with
the remainder coming from Council Contingency.
CONCLUSION
Staff would like to order these decorations. The existing decorations are old, requiring more maintenance
and repair. The new designs would enhance the experience along Hwy 3 as the colors would be more
visible during the day, when the decorations are not lit. It would be expected that these decorations would
have a useful life of approximately 10-12 years, similar to the existing snowflakes.
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