CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting: March 21, 2023
Subject
Consider authorizing execution of an On-Call Maintenance Services Contract with West Coast Arborists, Inc.
Recommended Action
Authorize the City Manager to execute an On-Call Maintenance Service Contract with West Coast Arborists, Inc. for three years, at an annual amount not-to-exceed $200,000 per year, for a total of $600,000 and if performance is satisfactory, allow up to two additional years of service.
Reasons for Recommendation
The City of Cupertino’s Public Works Maintenance Services Divisions are responsible for the maintenance of street trees, park trees, and parking lot trees on City owned properties and within the public right-of-way. The City’s tree population is over 20,000, of which 4,200 are located within parks, and is diverse in both species and age.
Although the City uses in-house staff to perform tree maintenance, there are instances where an outside tree company assists the City in completing tree maintenance work. Those instances include tree trimming where special equipment is needed to remove or maintain the trees, lack of City staff availability, and emergency tree service needs to protect the safety of the public.
The scope of work for the on-call tree maintenance services includes removing small or large trees, trimming, and chipping branches, pruning trees, trimming, or removing diseased or damaged trees, grinding stumps, hauling off debris, and emergency response.
On October 24, 2022, the City issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) to competitively select a firm for the on-call tree maintenance services. The RFP required the firms to submit a written proposal that included a cover letter, work plan and approach, description of the firm’s qualifications and experience, key personnel and their responsibilities, cost proposal and references.
This is an on-call contract to provide services on unanticipated needs. As a means of comparing potential costs of the proposal, each vendor provided sample unit or line item pricing in the RFP for services that the City would likely request the successful firm to perform. When tree maintenance services are needed, the unit prices will be used to determine the overall cost of the work request. Based on these unit costs and an assessment of the qualifications of each firm, West Coast Arborists was identified as the most advantageous vendor for the City.
The following six firms provided proposals on December 9, 2022.
On Call Tree Maintenance Contractor
Anderson Tree Care Specialists, Inc.
The Professional Tree Care Co.
Bay Area Tree Specialists
Community Tree Service, Inc.
Arborist Now, Inc.
West Coast Arborists, Inc.
West Coast Arborists, Inc. has been in business since 1972 and has worked for more than 330 California and Arizona municipalities. The firm has over 1,100 full-time employees providing tree maintenance services and has the experience and qualifications to perform the on-call service needs of the City. The company has been providing similar tree maintenance services for municipalities in the South Bay, which include the City of Palo Alto, Town of Los Gatos, City of Gilroy, City of Mountain View, City of Sunnyvale, City of Monterey, and City of Hollister.
The initial term of this contract is three years starting in Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and can be extended for two additional one-year terms, for a total of five years.
Sustainability Impact
This contract is supportive of Cupertino’s Climate Action Plan 2.0, advancing strategies which maintain and expand the urban tree canopy to provide carbon sequestration and other environmental benefits. Proper and timely tree maintenance promotes healthy trees and reduces the likelihood of dead or dying branches and falling limbs.
Fiscal Impact
No appropriation is required for this action. The necessary funds for tree maintenance work are included in the base budget request. There is no fiscal impact caused by approving this On-Call Tree Maintenance Service Contract.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
Tree maintenance activities are exempt from CEQA under CEQA Guidelines section 15301 (maintenance of existing facilities) and section 15304 (minor alterations to land). _____________________________________
Prepared by: Jimmy Tan, Assistant Director of Public Works Reviewed by: Chad Mosley, Interim Director of Public Works Reviewed by: Matt Morley, Assistant City Manager
Approved for Submission by: Pamela Wu, City Manager
Attachments:
A – Draft Contract