Avenal council approves 60-month Image 2000 copier lease to bring utility-billing printing in house

The Avenal City Council voted Jan. 9 to authorize a 60-month lease with Image 2000 for three high-capacity copier machines, a move staff said will allow the city to bring utility-billing printing, folding and mailing in house.

IT manager Humberto Bermudez and administrative staff presented a comparative procurement analysis of four vendors — CA Redding (current vendor), Image 2000, American Business Machines and California Business Machines — examining monthly lease cost, per-print charges and throughput capacity. Staff recommended Image 2000 as the best balance of price and performance, citing reliability for heavy-volume runs such as council packets and utility-billing cycles.

Bermudez told the council the city’s current month-to-month arrangement has produced extended outages and parts scarcity on aging equipment, and that leasing includes support that would save staff time. The proposals showed monthly estimates roughly clustered between about $600 and $1,000 depending on vendor and usage assumptions; staff said moving printing and mailing in house would produce an estimated monthly savings to the administrative services lease budget of about $220 and allow the city to eliminate third-party printing and stuffing fees.

Councilmembers discussed equipment speed, support response times, and the potential additional cost of later upgrades. After questions and discussion, the council approved the staff recommendation by roll call vote; the resolution authorizes the city manager to execute the 60-month lease and to proceed with related equipment (folding/stuffing) procurement.

The city will bring the folding and mailing functionality online after machine delivery and will transition utility-billing print runs from contracted vendors to in-house production once staff completes testing and integration. Council recorded the vote by roll call as unanimous in favor of the resolution.