Item No.
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
BY: MATTHEW BAUMGARDNER, P.E., DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS/
CITY ENGINEER
DATE: NOVEMBER 14, 2023
SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO STREET SWEEPING SERVICES
AGREEMENT WITH NATIONWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (NES)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City Council will consider approving an amendment to the street sweeping services agreement with Joe’s Sweeping, Inc., dba Nationwide Environmental Services . The amendment would extend the term of the agreement for five additional years and amend the scope and budget to accommodate the additional five years in accordance with the terms of the original agreement.
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council:
1. Approve Amendment No. 1 to the Street Sweeping Services Agreement with Joe’s Sweeping, Inc., dba Nationwide Environmental Services; and
2. Authorize the City Manager, or designee, to execute any and all amendments to the agreement as deemed necessary.
BACKGROUND
The City entered into an agreement with Nationwide Environmental Services (NES) commencing July 1, 2003, for Citywide street sweeping services. Amendments to this agreement were approved over the years, extending the contract term through October 31, 2018. In June 2018, the City Council approved the formation of an ad -hoc subcommittee to evaluate the City’s street sweeping program. Following multiple subcommittee meetings, staff was directed to negotiate the terms of a new service agreement with NES. On October 9, 2018, the City Council approved a new 5-year agreement with NES, which included an option to extend the Agreement for an additional five (5) years at the end of the initial contract term.
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO THE STREET SWEEPING SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH NATIONWIDE
ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES (NES)
NOVEMBER 14, 2023
PAGE 2
ANALYSIS
The existing street sweeping services agreement has an option for the City to execute an extension to the contract term for up to an additional five years. In order to consider this option, staff evaluated the level of service provided by NES over the term of the contract and compared their rates for providing these services with those of other nearby municipalities in the region.
When evaluating the level of service provided by NES, staff considered a number of factors, such as the number of service complaints, responsiveness in addressing any complaints, ability to assist with emergency call-outs, and general approach to customer service. With respect to all of these areas of service, NES has provided a consistently strong level of satisfaction with residents, business owners, and staff.
When evaluating NES’ proposed rates, staff examined the annual street sweeping contracts of nearby municipalities by taking the amount each municipality paid on an annual basis and dividing that by the number of miles of streets. Each municipality may ask its street sweeping contractor to provide different levels of service (e.g., the number of times it requests additional services following special events in town ) as part of the annual contract. For this reason, it can be difficult to have a true apples-to-apples comparison between each contract, but taking the total amount and dividing by the mileage provides a close approximation. When using this metric, NES’ proposed rates were10.2 percent less expensive than the next most affordable municipality. The following table provides the rate comparison between Downey’s new contract and 13 other municipalities.
City
Annual
Fees
Sq.
Miles
# of
miles
Population
$/mile
% diff
(Downey
vs. City)
Contractor
Downey $616,569 12.57 214 112,322 $2,881 NES
Lakewood $600,000 9.41 189 80,048 $3,175 10.2% SCA
Paramount $208,618 4.8 64 54,098 $3,260 13.1% SCA
El Monte $513,528 9.56 140 109,450 $3,668 27.3% NES
Commerce $256,035 6.5 68 12,823 $3,785 31.4% NES
Lomita $162,000 1.9 37 20,921 $4,378 52.0% Athens
La Habra $460,139 7.4 105 60,239 $4,382 52.1% NES
San
Fernando
$209,320
2.4 47
25,000
$4,454
54.6%
Athens
El Segundo
$216,000
5.5 48
16,898
$4,500
56.2%
NES
Pico Rivera
$729,882
8.88 133
63,001
$5,4878
90.5%
NES
South Gate
$701,426
7.35 119
94,642
$5,894
104.6%
NES
Norwalk $1,116,208 9.71 183 103,949 $6,356 120.6% NES
Montebello $993,425 8.37 127 63,833 $7,822 171.5% NES
Huntington
Park
$720,550
3.02 62
58,353
$11,622
303.4%
NES
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO THE STREET SWEEPING SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH NATIONWIDE
ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES (NES)
NOVEMBER 14, 2023
PAGE 3
It should be noted that the previous table focuses on the annual cost for the street sweeping services. It does not include fuel or disposal costs, which are not known for all municipalities and vary depending on the size of the municipality. The intention of the analysis is to focus on the cost of the service on an annual basis and compare based on the total number of street miles. It should also be noted that NES’ proposed rates under the extension have been adjusted for CPI and fuel cost increases for next year, while the other municipality rates shown in the previous table do not reflect this adjustment.
Therefore, the percentage difference between the new rate for Downey and the rates for the other municipalities will be greater than what is shown in the table once they have made their annual inflationary and fuel cost adjustments.
NES has consistently maintained high levels of service satisfaction over the term of the original contract. Their proposed rates for the contract amendment remain significantly below the cost of providing street sweeping services in nearby municipalities. For these reasons, staff recommends that the City Council exercise the option to extend NES’ street sweeping services amendment for an additional five years. The annual cost for the first year of the amended contract is $725,325. This is adjusted each year for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The fuel cost charged to the City is also changed each year based on the average monthly price of Compressed Natural Gas over the previous 12-month period. These adjustments vary year-to-year, but assuming a 3 percent CPI increase each year and a 50-cent increase in the cost of CNG fuel, the average increase in the cost of street sweeping services would be approximately $29,000 each year.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
Quality of Life, Safety & Infrastructure
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of the recommended action(s) will result in an expenditure of $642,531from the General Fund – Public Works Street Maintenance – Contract Services Account No. 10- 4-3145-0700 as previously approved in the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 operating budget. This amount is calculated using the existing annual cost of $526,620 for the first five months of the fiscal year (July through November) plus the new annual cost of $725,325 for remaining seven months of the fiscal year (December through June). There is sufficient fund balance for the recommended actions. Future budgets will be adjusted via the City’s annual budget approval process to correspond with subsequent years’ expenses associated with this agreement.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A – Amendment No. 1 to Street Sweeping Services Agreement