Consent Item 5a
STAFF REPORT
City Council Consent Item
DATE: October 21, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Brian Issa, Public Works Director
THROUGH: Amy Nilsen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Award of Secondary Clarifier Coating Project
STAFF RECOMMENDATION(S):
1. Authorize a supplemental budget request of $136,000 from Wastewater Reserves (Fund 560) for the secondary clarifier project (CIP 9125)
2. Authorize the City Manager to award the Wastewater Treatment Plant Secondary Clarifier Recoating Project (CIP 9125) to FD Thomas as an emergency procurement pursuant to FMC 2.50.070(A) in the amount of $279,943
3. Establish a maximum project amount of $335,931 inclusive of contingency.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City of Fortuna’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is a crucial part of the City’s infrastructure.
Components of the plant are continuously subjected to harsh and corrosive conditions created by wastewater. Periodically components require significant maintenance, and such is the case for the older of the plant’s two secondary clarifiers. The City of Fortuna advertised for bids for sandblasting and recoating of the metal parts of the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s secondary clarifier on April 17th, 2025. The City Council awarded the bid to the lowest bidder, Clean Infusion LLC on May 19 for $118,242. This bid was less than half of the next lowest bidder, F.D. Thomas Inc. at $228,995.
The total time allocated for completion was 30 days starting on August 11.
Despite exhaustive efforts by the City to gain compliance with contractual requirements, on Friday October 10, the contractor was declared to be in default. Anticipating that this might be the case given the contractors ongoing lack of ability to perform throughout the process, staff had been communicating with the second highest bidder to ensure we had another contractor ready to take over the work should the City need to terminate the initial contact.
While much of the metal has been sandblasted, failure to protect it from the elements has resulted in extensive rust which requires sandblasting the entire structure again so the overall amount of work is comparable to starting the project from scratch. This coupled with the emergency nature of the job accounts for the cost increase between F.D. Thomas’ original bid ($229K) and the current proposed fee ($280K). The overall increase in project cost is $161,758. Adding a contingency of 20% results in a total potential cost of $335,931
To avoid the repercussions of not having the clarifier back online when flows require additional treatment, staff asks that this contract be awarded as an emergency procurement pursuant to FMC Consent Item 5a
2.50.070(A).
2.50.070 Exceptions to bidding.
Purchases of supplies, equipment and contractual services shall be by formal or informal bid procedures pursuant to this chapter except:
A. In case of an emergency as determined by the city manager or, in his absence, the acting city manager. The city manager shall be advised of such emergency purchase as soon as practicable;
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The initial award amount of $118,242 was funded through the City Sewer Capital Reserve Funds (Fund 560) with current fiscal year funding of $200,000. The total anticipated costs to complete the project are shown in the table below:
Item Cost
F.D. Thomas sandblasting and coating $279,943
Construction Contingency (20%) $55,989
Total $335,932
Note that the City has not paid Clean Infusion anything to date and just received their first invoice on 10/15. Any payment for work performed is subject to negotiation between the City and the Surety that provided the bond for Clean Infusion.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Staff recommends authorizing a supplemental budget appropriation of $136,000 from Wastewater Reserves (Fund 560) for the secondary clarifier project (CIP 9125), authorize the City Manager to award the Wastewater Treatment Plant Secondary Clarifier Recoating Project (CIP 9125) to FD Thomas as an emergency procurement pursuant to FMC 2.50.070(A) in the amount of $279,943, and establish a maximum project amount of $335,931 inclusive of contingency. Consent Agenda Vote.