Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
1 www.consultingstonecreek.com
Date: June 3, 2024
Mr. Craig Scott
City Engineer
City of Cotati
201 West Sierra Avenue
Cotati, CA 94931
Subject: Proposal for Storm Water Support Services, Fiscal Year 2024/2025 Dear Mr. Scott:
Stone Creek Environmental Consulting (Stone Creek) is pleased to present this proposal and fee estimate to provide stormwater support services to the City of Cotati (City). Colleen Hunt, owner, is a Certified Professional in Municipal Stormwater Management and brings direct regulatory compliance experience with municipal stormwater permit requirements. She has worked with dozens of municipal stormwater Permittees during her time with the Regional Water Board and for the past six years as a consultant. Colleen has been providing storm water assistance to the City since 2018.
The City is subject to requirements of the Regional Water Board’s Waste Discharge Requirements Order No. R1-2015-0030, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. CA0025054 for discharges from the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) (Permit). The Permit became effective January 6, 2016, and expired on January 5, 2021. The Permit is administratively extended until the Regional Water Board renews the Permit. The Regional Water Board anticipates that the Permit will be renewed in the 2024/2025 fiscal year, although the exact timing of the renewal has not been formally proposed. Until a new Permit is adopted, the City must continue to implement the requirements of the expired Permit.
The tasksin this proposal are to assist the City with the ongoing requirements of the expired Permit.
This includes:
• Construction Site Inspections
• Municipal Staff Training
• Annual Reporting
• Low Impact Development Maintenance
Additionally, the City will be subject to asset management requirements in the new permit.
Under this Scope of Work, Stone Creek will develop a strategy for preparing for asset management planning.
This proposal includes a scope of work to assist the City on these Permit requirements as outlined below.
Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
2 www.consultingstonecreek.com
Scope of Work
Task 1. Asset Management Planning
Based on our understanding, all future municipal stormwater permits in the state of California will include some level of developing an asset management program. Draft permit language for asset management requirements includes the development of a program in four phases:
• Inventory and mapping
• Characteristics
• Level of service
• Maintenance and improvement planning
Implementing a storm drain infrastructure asset management program is a significant undertaking that requires substantial time and resources. While the exact requirements included in the permits are not yet known, it is clear that a full program will be included in the permits and will need to be incorporated into the City’s stormwater management plan. This task will assist the City with planning an approach and methodology for meeting future permit asset management requirements.
1. Review of existing data for each asset and determine the data gaps that will need to be filled to meet inventory mapping requirements and characterization of assets.
2. Review existing asset management software to determine if the software will adequately fulfill the level of service requirements.
Findings for the first two subsets of tasks will be summarized and presented in a Technical Memorandum (TM).
Task 1 Deliverables: Asset Management Data Gap Analysis TM; Asset Management Software Review TM
Task 2. Construction Site Inspections
Section VI.F4.e of the Permit requires the City to conduct routine inspections of active construction site projects which disturb one acre or more of land. Inspections are required to take place in September, after the first significant rain event, and monthly during the rainy season.
Under this task, we will assist the City with construction site inspections. This includes tracking the project inventory, conducting inspections, documenting inspection findings, providing recommendations to improve BMP management, and coordinating follow up with City staff.
Stone Creek will continue to use the 2NForm software platform to track construction site projects. Project budget includes direct costs such as mileage and 2NForm licensing fee. Direct hours for each project will be itemized individually enabling the City to recover those costs Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
3 www.consultingstonecreek.com
directly from the project. We assume up to five active construction projects will be included for inspection under this scope of work.
Task 2. Deliverable: Electronic record of inspections.
Task 3. Municipal Staff Training
Section G.12. of the Permit requires the City to annually train staff whose interactions, jobs, and activities may affect stormwater quality. We will provide training on stormwater topics selected by the City. This may include illicit discharge, non-stormwater discharges, municipal activities BMP requirements, and/or integrated pest management. Training will be provided in-person at a location provided by the City.
Task 3. Deliverable: Stormwater training, including preparation of a PowerPoint presentation, training materials, and training documentation records.
Task 4. Annual Report
Section J of the Permit requires the City to submit an Annual Report for each fiscal year. The Annual Report for the 2023/2024 reporting period is due October 15, 2024. At the beginning of the new Permit term, the Regional Water Board developed an annual report template for Permittee use. The template provides a streamlined method for annual reporting. Completing the template satisfies the annual reporting requirements specified in Section J.
Under this task, we will assist the City with populating the template and gathering information needed for reporting. The City will need to complete sections of the report with data that is not readily available to us to adequately complete the report. The City will be responsible for submitting the final report to the Regional Water Board.
Schedule:
August 16, 2024 Staff to provide data to complete Annual Report September 15, 2024 Draft Annual Report submitted to the City for review October 1, 2024 City comments on the draft Annual Report due back to Stone Creek October 11, 2024 Stone Creek to provide the final Annual Report for submittal to the Regional Water Board
Assumptions:
• Schedule assumes the Agreement for this Scope of Work will be executed no later than August 1, 2024.
• City staff provides data to complete the Annual Report according to the schedule.
Task 4 Deliverable: Draft Annual Report; Final Annual Report Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
4 www.consultingstonecreek.com
Task 5. Low Impact Development Maintenance Inspections
Permit Section VI.D.12. requires the City to track and inspect all new development and redevelopment projects with LID BMPs. Inspections are required to be conducted on a two-year cycle. Post-construction BMPs were last inspected in 2023 and are due again in 2025. Under this task, Stone Creek will assist the City with conducting the required LID inspections. This task will include inspecting LID BMPs to assess functionality, with particular attention to BMP maintenance including failure, invasive vegetation, health of desired vegetation and excessive mowing, vector risk, trash and debris, sediment clogging, improper modifications, solids removal, pump-out, and blockage. As specified in the Permit, inspections address LID BMPs that are in the public right of way or at locations that would not require entering private property.
Each inspection will be documented on an inspection checklist, which will include recommendations for follow-up, as applicable. A photo record of the BMPs will be provided as part of the inspection summary report.
Budget includes direct costs for mileage and 2NForm licensing fee and assumes inspections for up to six projects.
Task 5. Deliverable: Inspection summary reports.
Task 6. City Council and Planning Commission Presentations Under this task, Stone Creek will provide presentations to both the City Council and Planning Commission on the City’s stormwater management program. Presentations and topics will be determined following consultations with City staff.
Task 6. Deliverable: Two stormwater management presentations.
Task 7. Consulting Services
Throughout the duration of this contract, the City may identify additional tasks or areas where assistance is needed. This may include the need for consultation type services to discuss project requirements, advise on compliance options, review grading plans, review Low Impact Development plans, or provide other technical information. This task will be managed as an “oncall” task. The task will be used as needed, based on the City’s initiation of assistance with a task not already covered under this scope of work. Suggested on-call assistance may include:
• Education and outreach strategies
• Review of LID plans
• Russian River Pathogen TMDL planning
• Draft permit review assistance
• New permit implementation planning
• Trash Implementation Plan
Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
5 www.consultingstonecreek.com
Task 7. Deliverable: TBD by client.
Task 8. Program Management
This task will include general project management tasks such as project schedule, managing budget, monthly invoicing, routine communications with City staff, meetings to report progress and discuss key recommendations and decisions.
Task 8. Deliverable: Invoices
Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
6 www.consultingstonecreek.com
Fee Estimate and Level of Effort
The Scope of Work will be conducted as described above for an estimated not-to-exceed budget of $49,000. The estimated fee and associated level of effort are summarized below.
Task Level of Effort,
hours Estimated Fee, $
Task 1. Asset Management Planning 26 5,000
Task 2. Construction Site Inspections 10 3,000
Task 2a. Project #1 18 4,000
Task 2b. Project #2 18 4,000
Task 2c. Project #3 18 4,000
Task 2d. Project #4 18 4,000
Task 2e. Project #5 18 4,000
Task 3. Municipal Staff Training 12 2,500
Task 4. Annual Report 12 2,500
Task 5. LID Maintenance 24 7,500
Task 6. City Council and Planning
Commission Presentations
12 2,500
Task 7. On-call Consulting Services 16 3,500
Task 8. Project Management 12 2,500
Total 214 49,000
Billing rates for the estimate are provided below. Rates will be valid for the duration of the contract:
Classification 2024
Quality Assurance $305
Principal Compliance Specialist $275
Compliance Specialist II $193
Compliance Specialist I $174
Field Inspector $185
Intern $110
Administrative Assistance $110
Direct Costs Cost + 10%
Mileage Standard Federal Rate
Stone Creek Environmental Consulting
8733 Lakewood Drive, Suite B
Windsor, CA 95492
[email protected]
707-318-9415
7 www.consultingstonecreek.com
Any services not included in this Scope of Work will be performed only after receiving written authorization and a corresponding budget augmentation from the City.
I am looking forward to working with you on this important work. Please feel free to contact me at 707-318-9415 or [email protected] if you have any questions or would like to discuss this proposal further.
Sincerely,
Colleen Hunt, CPMSM #343
Professional Consultant