[Press Release] : City Council seeks new traffic safety enforcement contract

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Tony St. Romaine, Assistant City Manager - (573) 874-7721 or
Toni Messina, Director, Public Communications - (573) 874-7660

City Council seeks new traffic safety enforcement contract

COLUMBIA, MO (December 16, 2008) - The Columbia City Council voted
tonight to seek new proposals for installing “red light” traffic
safety enforcement cameras at selected intersections. With enactment of
Resolution 293-08, the Council rescinded the city’s existing contract
with LaserCraft Inc., initiated a new request for proposals from other
vendors and authorized execution of a new contract to install, operate
and administer a red light camera system.

Assistant City Manager Tony St. Romaine, who has been coordinating the
project since its inception, said that both LaserCraft and city staff
agreed that ending the contractual relationship was in the best interest
of both parties. 

“Although we believed that LaserCraft understood our expectations, it
recently became very clear that the company had some misconceptions. The
company determined it could not deliver the desired product within the
budget or timeline that the city desired.”

St. Romaine said there are no hard feelings, just a pragmatic
resolution and an opportunity to move on with the traffic safety
initiative. 

“We learned a lot from this process, and I expect that our next round
of bid reviews will go more quickly. The important thing is to make our
streets safer for motorists and pedestrians.”

Red light traffic safety enforcement programs exist in cities in
Missouri and across the nation. The intent is to deter drivers from
running red lights and endangering other vehicles and people in traffic
intersections. 

Cameras located at an intersection would photograph a driver who runs a
red light, and this record would be used as evidence in a municipal
court proceeding, as required by Missouri law and Missouri Supreme Court
Rules. A person found to have violated Columbia traffic ordinances would
be guilty of a criminal offence.

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