Agenda #: 4.5
Meeting Date: August 30, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Daniel Fox, City Manager
TITLE: CONSULTING SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH ABOUND FOOD CARE FOR CONSULTING SERVICES THROUGH JUNE 30, 2025.
STRATEGIC
GOAL: Safe, Sustainable & Healthy Community
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve, and authorize the Mayor to sign, a Consultant Services Agreement with Abound Food Care to provide food recovery consulting services through June 30, 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT
The annual cost to provide these services is $18,500 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $55,000 over the three-year term of the Agreement. Sufficient funds are included in the FY 2022-2023 Adopted Budget, AB 939 Special Fund.
In May 2022, the City applied and was awarded a CalRecycle Organics Program Grant in the amount of $85,300. A portion of these grant funds are proposed to be utilized to fund the consulting costs associated with capacity planning food recovery activities.
There is no impact to the General Fund associated with this agreement.
BACKGROUND:
To reduce food waste and help address food insecurity, SB 1383 requires that by 2025 California recover 20 percent of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills.
The law requires all municipalities to document and report to CalRecycle a list of commercial edible food generators located in Diamond Bar on an annual basis.
Once identified, the City is mandated to take the following key actions:
• Provide education and outreach to commercial edible food generators. • Inspect commercial edible food generators to verify they have established a contract or written agreement for food recovery and the generator is maintaining records of their food donation activities.
• Conduct the annual inspection of Tier 1 food generators to identify SB1383 compliance.
• Track and provide quarterly update reports as needed. • Post contact information for food recovery organizations on the jurisdiction’s website so that commercial edible food generators can identify which organizations could potentially accept their food.
There are twelve (12) categories of commercial edible food generators that will be required to send surplus food to food recovery organizations as illustrated below in Table 1: State Mandated Food Donors Categories:
Table 1: State Mandated Food Donors Categories
1. Supermarkets
2. Grocery Store Facilities ≥ 10,000 sq. ft.
3. Food Service Providers
4. Food Distributors
5. Wholesale Food Vendors
6. Restaurant Facilities ≥ 5,000 sq. ft. or 250+ seats
7. Hotels with an On-Site Food Facility and 200+ Rooms
8. Health Facilities with an On-Site Food Facility and 100+ Beds
9. Large Venues
10. Large Events
11. State Agency Cafeteria Facilities ≥ 5,000 sq. ft. or 250+ seats
12. A Local Education Agency with an On-Site Food Facility Based on the categories listed above, staff identified a total of twenty-two (22) commercial edible food generators located in Diamond Bar. Due to the complexity of the scope of work, staff recommends hiring a consultant with experience in capacity planning for food recovery services.
DISCUSSION:
Staff researched experienced food recovery organizations to assist the City with the ongoing efforts in preparing for the Edible Food Recovery components of SB1383 and identified two organizations: Abound Food Care and Food Finders. Food Finders is a food rescue nonprofit organization with a primary focus of coordinating the daily pick-up of donated excess food and then distributing directly and immediately to nonprofit recipients. Abound Food Care has longstanding stakeholder relationships within the public, private and nonprofit sectors to assist with implementing successful edible food recovery programs. Abound Food Care was found to offer the most comprehensive services and be the most cost effective choice.
Founded in 2021, Abound Food Care (Abound) is a registered 501(C)3 corporation, bringing together nonprofit, public, and private partners to minimize food waste and food insecurity. Abound has longstanding stakeholder relationships within the public, private and nonprofit sectors to assist with implementing successful edible food recovery programs. Abound integrates with various tech platforms to track food donations in order to meet regulatory reporting requirements. Abound will assist the City to meet state law and will have a scope of work that includes the following tasks:
• Manage edible food recovery contracts between Tier 1 and Tier 2 food waste generators as identified by the city and in accordance with SB1383. • Manage and assist in the execution of food recovery agreements. • Provide the use of a technology platform to aggregate pounds recovered and report to the city on a monthly basis.
• Monitor food donations and provide food donors and food recovery organizations assistance as needed.
• Conduct the annual inspection of Tier 1 food generators to identify SB1383 compliance.
• Provide educational materials to food waste generators and food recovery organizations, including but not limited to benefits of participation in food recovery and SB1383 compliance regulations.
• Provide the City with a list of Food Recovery organizations to put on the website. • Conduct targeted and recorded outreach to health permitted food waste generators in cooperation and conjunction with city staff.
Staff researched possible funding sources for the edible food recovery program including State funding, use of solid waste rate revenues and implementation of new fees. In May 2022, the City applied and was awarded a CalRecycle Organics Program Grant in the amount of $85,300. A portion of these grant funds are proposed to be utilized to fund the consulting costs associated with capacity planning food recovery activities.
The annual cost to provide this service is $18,500 for a total cost of $55,000 over three years. It is recommended that the agreement be established through June 30, 2025 to provide adequate time to perform the scope of work and provide progress reports to CalRecycle.
Abound Food Care has outlined a team approach for this project, which combined with their experience equips them to conduct this process in an effective manner on behalf of the City. Therefore, it is recommended that Abound Food Care be awarded a Consultant Services Agreement (Attachment 1) to food recovery consulting services on behalf of the City of Diamond Bar.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed and approved the Agreement as to form.
PREPARED BY:
REVIEWED BY:
Attachments:
1. 4.5.a Consulting Services Agreement - Abound Food Care
2. 4.5.b Exhibit A - Scope of Work