Council OKs plan for online parks reservations, signups
July 29, 2009
The city Parks and Recreation Department will soon be able to take reservations and registrations online.
Written by David Burge , El Paso Times
EL PASO -- The city Parks and Recreation Department will soon be able to take reservations and registrations online.
City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to award a five-year contract to The Active Network of San Diego to host and manage the system. The contract could be worth as much as $370,448.
The reservation system will be paid for mostly with fees charged to those who use it.
El Pasoans will be able to sign up for classes, sports leagues and swim lessons online. They will also be able to reserve a meeting room or park shelter from their home computer.
"We needed to take the parks department into the modern era," South-West city Rep. Beto O'Rourke said.
The system could be running by early 2010.
People who book park services online with a credit card will pay a 6.5 percent convenience fee, plus an additional 50 cents.
This system will also allow the parks department to accept credit-card payments at its buildings, where a 3.75 percent fee will apply. These fees will go to the vendor to pay for the service.
For now, the parks department accepts only cash and checks.
The contract originally called for a 1.5 percent fee to be charged to people paying with cash or by check, but the council killed that idea. Instead, the city will cover about $40,000 of vendor fees.
City Manager Joyce Wilson said she would come up with a corresponding cut in the parks department budget.
Also Tuesday, council members voted to spend $330,700 on a solar lighting system for the overflow parking lot at the airport. The system will be nearly 60 percent cheaper than installing conventional lighting and will save the city $26,000 to $35,000 in electrical costs each year, Aviation Director Monica Lombraña said.
If the system is a success, it could be used in the rest of the airport's parking lots.
The overflow lot has temporary lighting powered by diesel generators.
Council members awarded the contract to Sol Inc., based in Florida. City crews will install the lights.
The council also voted to buy up to 100 mobile fingerprinting units to be used in police cars.
The five-year contract with Morphotrak Inc. of Tacoma, Wash., is worth up to $617,830. But the Police Department plans to spend about $400,000 from a state grant.
David Burge may be reached at dburge@elpasotimes.com; 546-6126.
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