Staff summarize capital project highlights: IT, communications, parks and public works needs

Commission staff presented a series of capital project summaries and answered commissioners’ questions on May 6, highlighting near‑term needs across information technology, communications, parks and public works.

IT: Joe Eisenbark, director of IT, briefed the commission on two IT projects: a regular PC refresh and a network replacement program. Eisenbark said the PC and MDT refresh follows a roughly four‑year cycle and noted the annual baseline is typically $125,000; the request includes an additional roughly $100,000 to cover ruggedized MDTs used in patrol cars. "Those are ruggedized, PCs for the patrol cars," Eisenbark said. He described the network development request as largely catch‑up work on aging infrastructure and cabling, and characterized the bulk of the 2025 request as urgent because some equipment is at end of life and cannot be supported.

Communications and public art: Communications staff described ongoing programs for wayfinding, placemaking and public art. The wayfinding and placemaking request is presented as an ongoing program to add signs and public artwork over time; staff said a separate bridge gateway/underpass art project is advancing via an RFP for gateway art on Santa Fe and other corridors. Staff said the new website platform option was informed by a January request for information and that a top vendor returned a roughly $100,000 estimate; the platform vendor has an included redesign option in 3–5 years.

Parks: Christina Underhill, director of Parks and Recreation, described requests including parking lot maintenance across multiple park properties (costs up from past years due to higher asphalt prices), replacement of medians on south Broadway (two medians this year at about $100,000 each), the Little Dry Creek plaza design with a match from Englewood Downtown Development Authority (EDDA), and emerald ash borer mitigation and a resident grant program. Underhill said the city’s tree inventory program will better identify private ash tree counts, which will inform future grant outreach.

Library and arts: The library requested $50,000 for phased furniture replacement; the Cultural Arts Commission fund (identified as the 1% art allocation from capital projects) was described as a long‑standing fund used to purchase public art and is assembled from 1% of eligible capital projects.

Public works: Victor (last name not provided), a public works manager, reviewed an extensive slate of maintenance and capital items. Key items discussed: alley maintenance (2025 request increased to $350,000 to address grading, V‑channels and millings redistribution), pavement maintenance and mill/overlay programs linked to water utility replacement zones, full‑depth street reconstruction for roads beyond repair, and a Walk & Wheel master plan project with 30% design for a trail section and expected grant seeking. Commissioners pressed on coordination with water utility work, seasonal timing of paving, and how to balance ongoing maintenance against one‑time reconstructions. "If you think about vehicles 15, 20 years ago, they were not as heavy, and did not do as much damage to our road. Our roads were designed for that," Victor said when explaining why some streets need full reconstruction now.

Other items: staff also reviewed freight elevator repairs at the Civic Center (frequent breakdowns prompting a systems repair request), security camera expansion and replacement (monitoring by contracted security with police access), and ADA and concrete program work (ramps and curb ramps; the city has an inventory and is working on an ADA transition plan). Several commissioners suggested staff consider targeted outreach for emerald ash borer treatment grants once private‑property ash inventories are available.

No formal votes on capital projects were taken at the meeting; staff asked commissioners to return completed scoring workbooks by Tuesday so the compiled results can be circulated and discussed at the next meeting.