EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: May 2, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Melvin E. Gaines, City Manager
BY: Romeo Herrera, Chief Building Official
SUBJECT: Proposed Amendment to the Agreement with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc.
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution:
1. Waiving the formal bid procedures under section 2.84.070(D) of the Municipal Code; and
2. Authorizing the City Manager to execute a second amendment to the contract, in a form approved by the City Attorney, with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. (WC3), to:
a. Increase the contract in the amount of $1,000,000 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $2,000,000.
b. Authorize WC3 to provide consultant services for any building-related professional services project in East Palo Alto, as determined by City staff and consistent with the City’s Developer Reimbursement protocols.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
· Ensure Our Financial and Organizational Health
· Promote Health & Public Safety
Background
In July 2019, the City of East Palo Alto released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to procure Master Consulting Agreements with consulting firms highly qualified to provide building plan review services during the entitlement phase of incoming development projects. On September 17, 2019, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 5166 authorizing the City Manager to formally qualify and enter into contract with two (2) consulting firms: 4Leaf, Inc. (4Leaf) and West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. (WC3) for building professional services.
The Master Consulting Agreements authorize the City to utilize each selected firms’ consulting services for development projects through established Reimbursement Agreements which provide pass-through revenue directly from the development applicant. As such, the scope of services for Master Consulting Agreements end when a given project receives Conditions of Approval (COA) and thus entitlement.
However, once a given project reaches entitlement, the demand for services via the Building Services Division continues. To obtain a Building Permit, the development applicant submits the building permit and building plans (with revisions pertaining to the COAs incorporated on the submitted documents) to the Building Services Division. At this stage, the Division begins the building plan review and, once the building permit is issued, the subsequent building inspections. While the City has the staffing capacity to process many incoming small and medium-scale projects, the City requires staff augmentation services on an on-call, as-needed, basis to provide supplemental staffing capacity for large-scale projects. This cost is fully recovered by building permit fees incurred to the development applicant.
As a result, on December 17, 2019, the City entered into a consultant agreement with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. for post-entitlement services with a total contract limit for building-related professional services not to exceed $1,000,000 and a contract term expiration of June 30, 2022, with up to two (2) six-month extensions at the discretion of the City Manager (See Attachment 2).
Due to the continued increase in development review activity, on May 17, 2022, the Interim City Manager received Council approval to extend the contract term of the WC3 agreement by two years with an amended contract term expiration of June 30, 2024, with an option to extend for up to two (2) additional six-month extensions at the discretion of the City Manager (See Attachment 3). Current examples of large projects that have impacted or will impact the budget are Light Tree, 965 Weeks, Sobrato, Woodland Apartments Expansion, University Circle II, 717 Donohoe, 1788 East Bayshore Rd, 1201 Runnymede, 2331 University and 2435 Pulgas. These larger projects have impacted our budget which currently has a remaining balance of $85,000.
Staff requests approval to amend the consultant agreement with West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. (WC3) for post-entitlement building plans review, building inspection, and other building division support services by increasing the compensation amount by $1,000,000.
Analysis
WC3 currently provides post-entitlement staff review, building inspection and other buildingrelated professional services for the City’s Building Division. The first WC3 amendment for a contract term extension was approved to address the continued increase in development review activity, to address current development project application demand, and to comply with critical State mandates.
In addition to the continued increase in development review activity, the Building Division is not adequately staffed nor does the existing staff have the necessary experience or capacity to accommodate the continued work and demand of medium- to large-scale projects. Also, the Building Inspector role continues to be vacant, and it may take several months before the position is filled and the new staff are sufficiently trained.
Due to the continued increase in development review activity and the current staffing capacity issues described above, staff recommends waiving the formal bid procedures so that the WC3 budget can be increased to provide supplemental staffing capacity and expertise for projects of all sizes, as determined by staff and consistent with the City’s Developer Reimbursement protocols. If the City were to go out for bids, the City would lose WC3’s advantage of familiarity with currently existing projects under plan review and construction/development.
The City will incur a temporary fiscal impact for contracted building-related professional services. The cost will be covered by existing building permit fees. WC3 bills the City for work performed. Work is only performed when there is a project and projects are paid for by applicants through their permit fees. Furthermore, during the building permit phase of each project, any resulting Consultants costs will be paid up front by the applicant or developer through the Building Plan Review and Building Permit Fee process.
The consultant agreement with the WC3 provides building inspection services, plan review services, permit technician services and other building-related professional services.
Fiscal Impact
If approved, the proposed increase of $1,000,000 for building-related professional services, will be supported by approximately $250,000 in FY2022-23 vacancy savings. For FY2023-24, the remaining cost of $750,000 will be included in the Building Division budget.
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by making the agenda and report available on the City’s website and on a bulletin board located at City Hall: 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The action being considered does not constitute a “Project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to CEQA Guideline sections 15378(b)(4) and (5) in that it is a governmental fiscal, organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Resolution
2. WC3 Agreement 12.17.19
3. 1st Amendment 06.27.22