Fremont City Council Meeting: 10/01/24 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Environmental Services
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Agreements and Contracts
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5243) DOC ID: 5243
Updated: 9/13/2024 7:55 AM by Dina Lewis Page 1
HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT AND ILLEGAL DUMPING ABATEMENT CONTRACT - Approve a 3-year, not-to-exceed $2,500,000 contract for Homeless Encampment and Illegal Dumping Abatement Services with Art Cuevas Landscaping and find that the project is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines 15304 (Minor Alterations to Land) and 15307 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of Natural Resources) Contact Persons:
Name: Kathleen Cote-Guarnieri Dan Schoenholz
Title: Environmental Services Manager Community Development Director Div/Dept: Environmental Services Community Development
Phone: 510-494-4583 510-494-4438
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: Homeless encampment abatement services are necessary to preserve public health and safety, and to comply with obligations the City has under its stormwater permit. Staff conducted an RFP to continue abatements after the City’s existing contract with Art Cuevas Landscaping Services expires on September 30, 2024. Six service providers responded, with Art Cuevas Landscaping Services being the highest rated proposer based on the RFP criteria. Staff is recommending executing a contract with Art Cuevas Landscaping Services for encampment abatement services from October 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027.
The recommended contract is $2,500,000. The contract includes an option to extend for two additional years, but the proposed contract amount is for the base term only. If extended, staff would return to the City Council for authorization to exercise the option and recommend a contract payment reflecting the City’s service needs at that time.
The proposed contract amount reflects City staff’s determination on the applicable prevailing wage rate. The Department of Labor Relations does not publish a prevailing wage rate for encampment abatement workers, so staff has selected the most applicable rate category from the published wage schedules. The City received a protest letter to its notification of intent to award the contract to Art Cuevas Landscaping Services, on the grounds that the existing contract, and presumably the new contract, did not use the correct prevailing wage rate. The City investigated and based upon recent law, revised the prevailing wage reflected in the contract to include loaded benefits. Staff is recommending denial of this bid protest.
Staff is recommending an additional appropriation of $160,000 in the Integrated Waste Management (IWM) Fund (Fund 115) to cover the additional costs. There will be no General Fund Impact.
BACKGROUND: Fremont’s storm drain system, like most Bay Area cities and counties, is regulated by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit, issued by the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board. This permit, commonly referred to as the Municipal Regional Permit (MRP), imposes requirements intended to reduce impacts to water quality from urban runoff. The MRP includes obligations to implement actions to Council Staff Report (ID # 5243) Meeting of October 1, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 7:55 AM by Dina Lewis Page 2
prevent trash and debris from entering the City’s waterways and meet trash reduction targets specified in the permit. The permit also includes requirements to prevent adverse water quality impacts from illegal dumping and homeless encampments.
To preserve the public health and safety and comply with obligations the City has under the MRP, City staff monitor approximately 200 previously or currently active homeless encampment sites throughout Fremont. Approximately 25-30% of sites are active at any given time. Staff also monitors sites prone to illegal dumping. These sites are assessed and included in the weekly abatement schedule as needed.
Homeless encampment and illegal dumping abatements were initially conducted one to two days every two weeks but have increased as the City’s homeless population and need for additional abatement services has expanded. Currently, the City conducts abatements three days per week with enhanced cleanups often including burned vehicle or illegal structure dismantling, occurring approximately every six weeks.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The recommended contract will continue the City’s homeless encampment abatement activities at existing levels. This includes approximately 153 abatement days, 7,900 abatement manhours, $80,000 estimated disposal costs and anticipated use of specialized equipment, such as a dump truck and skip loader.
The proposal evaluation consisted of a pass/fail assessment on seven components of proposal content requirements plus a numerical score for five components including qualifications, proposal feasibility, hourly billing rate, proposer’s understanding of the work and exceptions taken to the City’s standard services agreement.
Art Cuevas Landscaping Services was the respondent with the highest score based on the evaluation criteria and staff released an Intent to Award Notification for RFP #24-030 Homeless Encampment and Illegal Dumping Abatement to Art Cuevas Landscaping.
Sharjo LLC, dba ServiceMaster Restoration Services, submitted a formal protest letter under FMC section 3.20.330, claiming that Art Cuevas Landscaping was non-compliant with prevailing wage law.
Staff investigated the protest and determined that the prevailing wage rate for Group 3A (Determination NC-23-102-1-2024-1A) with a rate of $70.41 per hour (including benefits) effective July 1, 2024, is applicable to the work solicited. Staff clarified that the financial proposal submitted by Art Cuevas Landscaping Services complies with that prevailing wage determination. Therefore, staff is recommending denial of the protest and awarding the contract to Art Cuevas Landscaping Services.
Under the proposed contract, the contractor duties and responsibilities would continue to include the following services on a weekly schedule:
• Clean-up duties of trash removal, dismantling of makeshift structures, and removal of inhibiting vegetation.
• Providing labor, materials, tools, equipment, personnel, transportation, and supervision of workers.
• Coordination with City on a site-by-site basis to determine work order for each encampment clean-up.
• Removal of debris and self-hauled materials for disposal to the Fremont Recycling and Transfer facility.
Council Staff Report (ID # 5243) Meeting of October 1, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 7:55 AM by Dina Lewis Page 3
• Work to be performed under the Agreement is subject to State prevailing wage and labor law and contractor must be registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations to perform public work under Labor Code section 1725.5.
The City’s responsibilities would continue to include:
• Surveying homeless encampment sites and illegal dumping sites to determine site conditions and schedule sites for clean-up.
• Tagging and posting at homeless encampment sites with the “Notice of Cleanup” notice placards that provides a minimum of a 72-hour notice. • Police MET team assistance at some locations during both postings and abatements. • Notifying contractor with clean-up project notifications that include detail and relevant information.
• Photographing posted notices, and before and after the clean-ups. • Providing and coordinating any safety requirements for road closures in accordance with OSHA safety regulations on an as-needed basis to safely remove debris at sites. • Inspecting the homeless encampment sites on public property to determine personal property observed and removed, and follow the “Policy on Unattended Property located on Public Property or R-O-W.”
In summary, the proposed contract will ensure the continuation of homeless encampment and illegal dumping debris abatement at current levels through June 30, 2027.
FISCAL IMPACT: Homeless encampment abatement work is funded from the IWM Disposal Differential in the IWM Fund (Fund 115). $612,000 was included in the approved FY 2024/25 operating budget. Staff is recommending an additional appropriation of $160,000 from the IWM Disposal Differential fund balance to cover the additional costs.
There will be no General Fund Impact.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The proposed abatement of homeless encampment and illegal dumping waste is exempt from further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15304 as the project consists of trash removal with possible minor alterations to land or vegetation that will result in improvement of habitat for fish and wildlife resources and Guideline 15307 as the cleanups will protect the City’s waterways from trash and other discharges in to the waterways and other water resources.
ATTACHMENTS: None.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Find that the project is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15304 (Minor Alterations to Land) and Guidelines Section 15307 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of Natural Resources).
2. Deny the bid protest submitted by Sharjo, LLC dba ServiceMaster Restoration Services regarding the non-compliance of Art Cuevas Landscaping with prevailing wage law.
3. Authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to execute a contract with Art Cuevas Landscaping for homeless encampment and illegal dumping abatement services from October 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025 in an amount not-to-exceed $2,500,000.
Council Staff Report (ID # 5243) Meeting of October 1, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 7:55 AM by Dina Lewis Page 4
4. Appropriate $160,000 in the Integrated Waste Management Fund to the 2024/25 Disposal Differential Operating Budget.