Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: APPROVAL OF AN AGREEMENT FOR GRANT WRITING
ASSISTANCE ON THE HIGHWAY 116 INTERSECTION
SAFETY PROJECT
Date: August 11, 2026
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with Mark Thomas for assistance with grant writing on the Highway 116 Intersection Safety Project and authorizing the necessary budget reclassification and funding appropriation.
Background
The City has previously authorized a design agreement with Mark Thomas to bring the Highway 116 Intersection Safety Project (Project) to construction ready. At this time, the design is approaching 95% complete with concurrent environmental and right of way activities.
Analysis/Discussion
The Project design is scheduled to be approved by Caltrans and construction ready by March 2027. As the project approaches construction ready, the City has been actively working on assembling the necessary construction funding.
The City regularly receives and subsequently uses non-competitive ”formula“ allocations of Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) street funding from the State. This funding source requires that the City Council annually designate, by resolution, the roadway where the funding will be used. In addition to the formula funds, SB 1 also has a competitive share of funds, which typically opens for project applications each year. The “color“ of these funds appears to align well with the Project, so the City is planning to apply for these funds when the grant application opens later this month. However, to maximize our chances of a successful application, it is recommended that the City use a professional grant writer with experience applying for this funding. City staff have limited time or experience to apply for a grant application as involved and competitive as the SB 1 funds.
Financial Considerations
At this time, the City has secured $2M in construction funding. Based on the current recommendations to the SCTCA Board of Directors, the City will be awarded another $2M in the near future. The City is also holding approximately $800k in traffic mitigation fees for the Project, for a total of $4.8M in secured or expected construction funding. However, to construct the Project, the City will require another $2M to build the core elements of the Project, so this will be the minimum expected grant request. However, if feasible within the grant rubric, the City would ask for additional funding above the minimum needed to be able to add additional project elements.
It is recommended that the currently budgeted City Hall Digital Lock System project ($50,000), coded for buildings (101-21-80187) be reduced to $25,000 and $25,000 be reallocated to the engineering department professional contract services (101-18-80185) for this grant writing assistance project. This action is expected to either postpone the digital lock project or result in it being completed in phases.
Environmental Issues
Where it can be determined with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA review.
This general rule can be applied to activities which could be subject to the CEQA process, but which logic dictates should not be subject to CEQA review. Therefore, based on the information provided above, the proposed resolution is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 14.03.021 of the CEQA Guidelines in that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant impact on the environment. This action is strictly to approve an agreement for grant writing services. The project itself has already undergone CEQA review consistent with Section 15183.