By Brian CHERNICK

After a two-week hiatus, Glendale City Council members reconvened on Tuesday with newly elected council member Vrej Agajanian filling Laura Friedman’s seat. Vartan Gharpetian was chosen as mayor, replacing Paula Devine after she served a single term. Devine continues to serve as a council member.

The council moved swiftly to approve a number of construction and project bids, some of which had initially been rejected last month due to non-responsiveness from bidders.

One such project is the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) curb ramp installation and repairs bid that has now been awarded to Salix Development Inc. in the amount of $454,000. The project was initially approved back in January and will serve to update and maintain curbs and sidewalks to comply with federal ADA guidelines. The project includes bus stop improvements on Verdugo Road, Chevy Chase Drive and Wilson Avenue including Lowell Avenue sidewalk construction, Central Park Paseo deck replacement and the construction of a “Welcome to Glendale” monument sign on Foothill Boulevard.

Despite the delay, the project is set to be completed by September.

Another project held up by non-responsive bids that was finally approved is the Safe Routes to Schools Improvement Project Phase 3 that has been award to Vido Samarzich Inc., with a contract for $908,120.

The project’s stated goals are to address and prevent injuries and fatalities to school children by constructing and improving pathways, trails, sidewalks and crosswalks to increase safety and to also encourage students to walk and ride bikes to and from school. The infrastructure improvements are scheduled to start in June and finish by August in time for the fall 2017 school season.

The Ocean View Boulevard Rehabilitation Project, which aims to rehabilitate the road and initiate traffic signal modification and improvements on the boulevard stretching between Verdugo Road and across Honolulu Avenue, was award to Palp Inc. DBA Excel Paving Company. The project will allocate $1,3754,873 to Excel Paving. One million dollars of the project will be funded by local grants and Measure R Regional Return Fund with the remaining $718,592 allocated from gas tax and capital improvement funds.

Council moved to allow the city manager to enter into a professional service agreement with Sequoia Telecom Associates to work together with Glendale Water and Power (GWP) to establish a Utility Fiber Optic Business Plan and a master services agreement with Wilcon Operations LLC for the leasing of fiber for a five-year period. These efforts are said to help Glendale become more competitive by attracting businesses that need or want high-speed Internet connectivity.

Glendale’s municipal electrical utility infrastructure places the city in a unique position over other cities allowing a relatively low cost and effort roll-out of fiber optic internet. The services provided would be exclusively for businesses and not be available for residents of Glendale, although Chief Information Officer Brian Ganley stated that the infrastructure might lead to the possibility of free public Wi-Fi in the city for all to use.

Steve Zurn, general manager of GWP, stated that providing fiber optics for residents was unfeasible as to cost and competition with other Internet service providers such as AT&T and Time Warner.

  Brian CHERNICK