La Verne authorizes fiber MOU with Crown Castle and awards $1.37M slurry/crack-seal street contract

La Verne’s city council on April 7 authorized a memorandum of understanding with Crown Castle to install a rapid‑connect fiber line into northern La Verne to enable microcell and improved cellular coverage, then approved a publicly bid slurry/crack‑seal contract for street preservation and ADA curb‑ramp work.

Crown Castle MOU: City staff described a low‑impact "rapid connect" installation — a narrow, shallow cut to place fiber under pavement — that would allow Crown Castle to run fiber toward Golden Hills and feed streetlight-mounted microcells in the north La Verne neighborhoods. Staff said the agreement carries no direct cost to the city and that Crown Castle would coordinate with public-works street projects (for example, removing and replacing the fiber where slurry work is done). Council discussion focused on technical details (strand counts and route options) and on ensuring the city obtains sufficient spare strands for redundancy and future uses.

Street contract: Public Works presented the FY24–25 crack seal and slurry‑seal project, which includes two geographic groups (Alders Gate area base bid; Golden Hills additive alternate) and ADA curb‑ramp replacements. Public Works recommended awarding the construction contract to Pavement Rehab Company (doing business as Carter Enterprises Group) as the lowest responsive bidder for $1,369,000, with authorization to issue change orders up to 10% (bringing the authorized total to $1,595,900 to cover contingencies, engineering and inspection). Staff noted that sufficient funds are budgeted in the FY24–25 pavement management program. The contract award passed after a motion and second.

Operational notes and outreach: Staff said slurry‑seal operations typically proceed in windows and that the contractor will use rubber‑tire rollers on cul‑de‑sacs to reduce surface marks. The project schedule is weather‑ and coordination‑dependent but was described as likely to be completed within a 60–90 day construction window once mobilized; staff committed to advance public notice, door‑hangers and maps to affected neighborhoods and to coordinate timing with the Crown Castle work so pavement work is not reworked.

Votes and next steps: Council authorized the city manager to execute the Crown Castle agreement and voted to award and contractually authorize Pavement Rehab Company; staff will schedule neighborhood notifications before work begins.