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CITY OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA
REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM
Report: Extending Contract and Increasing Meal Rates for Catering Services for the City’s Elderly Nutrition Program
1. Resolution dispensing with competitive bidding and authorizing the City Manager or a designee to enter into a two-year extension of the City’s Elderly Nutrition Program Lower Tier Subaward Agreement with TRIO Community Meals, LLC, through November 30, 2028, increasing meal rates by 6% effective December 1, 2026, and by an additional 3% effective December 1, 2027.
COUNCIL ACTION
Item Type: Action Item
Approved for October 6, 2026 calendar
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City’s initial contract term with TRIO is from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2026, in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000, with a one-time option to renew for two additional years in an amount not to exceed $1,100,000, for a total of $3,100,000. The underlying contract does not authorize increases in the meal rates during the initial or renewal terms. (Exhibit 1). Staff is requesting approval to execute Amendment No. 1, which would exercise the City’s option to extend the contract from December 1, 2026, through November 30, 2028, with updated meal rates for each year of the renewal term.
In Year One, the meal rate would increase by 6%; in Year Two, the meal rate would increase by 3%. The meal per rate is as follows:
Current Contract
Rate
Year One
Renewal Rate
Year Two
Renewal Rate
Congregate Meal
(price per meal)
$4.56 $4.83 $4.98
Home Delivered Meal
(price per meal)
$4.75 $5.04 $5.19
Staff believes TRIO’s track record with the City over the past four years in furnishing congregate and home-delivered meals to seniors demonstrates that TRIO will be able to successfully carry out ENP meal catering services on behalf of the City during the renewal term.
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Staff anticipates that 48,000 congregate meals will be served and 21,600 homedelivered meals will be delivered annually.
Funding for the services is available annually from Los Angeles County Aging and Disabilities Department (Los Angeles County AD) grant funds, general funds, participant donations, and other private/local grant funding sources. The contract amount per fiscal year will be based on available funding for the ENP in that fiscal year.
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council adopt a resolution dispensing with competitive bidding and authorizing the City Manager to enter into a two-year extension of the City’s Elderly Nutrition Program Lower Tier Subaward Agreement with TRIO, through November 30, 2028, increasing meal rates by 6% effective December 1, 2026, and by an additional 3% effective December 1, 2027.
ANALYSIS
CSP has been providing meal service to adults 60 years of age and older in the greater Glendale area since 1979 with grant funding administered from Los Angeles County Aging and Disabilities (AD) through the federal Older Americans Act (OAA). The ENP provides an important opportunity for social contact and is the only meal many seniors receive in a day.
More than 48,000 meals are prepared annually for the two City operated meal sites: the Adult Recreation Center (ARC) and Sparr Heights Community Center.
More than 21,600 home-delivered meals are delivered annually to frail, homebound seniors. Congregate meals are prepared at the Adult Recreation Center kitchen and delivered to Sparr Heights Community Center. The City is the only agency in LA County that offers meals to seniors 7 days per week (at the ARC).
Additionally, the caterer must also provide emergency meals upon request in the event of unforeseen circumstances (e.g., pandemic, natural disasters, etc.).
Los Angeles County AD’s contract requires that LA County pre-approved catering kitchens provide meal service to the ENP program.
Background
On August 29, 2022, CSP issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit proposals from eighteen Los Angeles County pre-approved caterers for ENP Program Catering Services based on the annual number of meals served and grant funding the City of Glendale receives from Los Angeles County AD.
CSP issued an RFP for ENP meal catering services instead of procuring the meal services through a bidding process and awarding to the lowest responsible bidder because of the distinctive nature of the ENP—which requires consideration of factors other than lowest cost in the evaluation of catering proposals. For instance, quality of the 10a 3
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food (i.e., presentation/taste) is a factor that cannot be considered if the traditional competitive bidding/lowest responsible bidder procurement process were used in selecting an ENP caterer.
In addition to rate, therefore, the RFP focused on the following evaluation criteria in seeking an ENP caterer:
• Quality of the meal (i.e., presentation/taste);
• Qualifications of catering personnel and management;
• Prior experience; and
• References
Only one proposal was received by the due date of September 30, 2022—the proposal from TRIO Community Meals, LLC. Upon thorough review of the TRIO proposal, it was deemed qualified as a responsible proposer with a proven history of excellent performance with the City of Glendale.
Staff researched and evaluated the proposal to determine whether the proposal met the criteria in the RFP, including: service requirements, quality of meals, cost per meal, qualifications of personnel and management, prior experience, and references.
In addition, the City is obligated to use strict nutrition specifications developed and provided by the Los Angeles County AD for the ENP program. TRIO met this requirement and provided a responsible and competitive proposal. The City currently has a contract with TRIO to provide congregate and home-delivered meals services through November 30, 2026.
Staff and TRIO agree to continue with the renewal option to provide ENP meal services from December 1, 2026, though November 30, 2028. However, TRIO is requesting an increase to the meal rate during the renewal term for which the operative contract does not provide:
Meal Type Current
Contract Rate
Per Meal
2026-2027
Proposed Rate
per Meal
Change
+/1%
2027-2028
Proposed Rate
Per Meal
Change
+/1%
Congregate $4.56 $4.83 +6% $4.98 +3%
Home Delivered $4.75 $5.04 +6% $5.19 +3%
Staff estimates the annual need for service to be approximately 48,000 congregate meals and 21,600 home-delivered meals annually, but may vary based on need and available program funds.
Facts to Support Increase to Meal Rate
Staff recommends proceeding with the renewal term at the requested meal rates for the next two years. The recommended rate adjustment is necessary to recognize significant increases in the cost of food, fuel, transportation, labor, and other operational expenses that have occurred since the original agreement in 2022. 10a 4
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Despite the challenges of its own increased costs, TRIO has continued to provide the City with high-quality meals while maintaining reliable service and, historically, has worked to contain costs and hold rates down for the City.
TRIO is also a long-standing and experienced provider of senior nutrition services and is the nation's largest senior meal provider. Its extensive experience serving older adults provides the City with confidence to meet the unique nutritional, dietary, food safety, and service requirements of the City's ENP.
Additionally, TRIO is an approved Los Angeles County AD catering kitchen/provider.
The City's ability to continue utilizing a provider that is already familiar with applicable senior nutrition requirements, meal standards, delivery expectations, and program operations minimizes transition risks and helps ensure uninterrupted service to vulnerable older adults.
Maintaining the City's relationship with TRIO also provides significant operational value.
A change in meal provider would require a new procurement process, transition planning, menu and meal coordination, staff training, logistical adjustments, and potentially significant disruption to congregate and home-delivered meal services which may jeopardize the LA County grant subaward.
Staff believes the requested rate adjustment is reasonable and justified based on current operating conditions, TRIO's demonstrated history of quality and reliable service, its specialized expertise in senior nutrition, its status as an approved County provider, and the importance of maintaining uninterrupted meal services for the City's older adult population.
STAKEHOLDERS/OUTREACH
The Elderly Nutrition Program is administered by the Senior Services Section at the Adult Recreation Center, with an additional meal site located at the Sparr Heights Community Center. Program services are promoted quarterly through the CSP Leisure Guide, the CSP newsletter, CSP social media channels, and the City’s website. Outreach is also conducted in collaboration with local community agencies to increase public awareness of available services.
FISCAL IMPACT
The contract with TRIO prescribes an initial term of four years through November 30, 2026, in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000, and a one-time option to renew the contract for two additional years through November 30, 2028, in an amount not to exceed $1,100,000, for a total amount not to exceed $3,100,000.
The portion of the contract for each fiscal year will be based on available program budget and service need from the community. Funding for the current fiscal year was appropriated as a part of the FY2026-2027 budget. No new appropriation is being requested at this time. Funding for FY2027-2028 will be appropriated as part of next 10a 5
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year’s budget process.
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The City Council approved funding is outlined below:
Existing Appropriation
Amount Account String Funding Source
$226,440 43110-2700-CSP-0020-P0000
CSP01170AG
Nutritional Meals Grant Fund
$117,657 43110-2700-CSP-0020-P0000
CSP01172AG
Nutritional Meals Grant Fund
$98,778.15 43110-2010-CSP-0020-P0000
CSP00298AG
CDBG Fund
Department Cost Center Program
Community
Services &
Parks
Projects
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (CEQA/NEPA)
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(4) as it creates a government funding mechanism or constitutes other government fiscal activities which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment; thus, it is not subject to CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15060(c)(3). Even if it is a “project,” it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment; thus, it is exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3).
CAMPAIGN DISCLOSURE
The names and business addresses of the members of the board of directors, the chairperson, CEO, COO, CFO, Subcontractors and any person or entity with more than 10% interest in the company proposed for contract in this Agenda Item Report are attached in Exhibit 2, in accordance with the City Campaign Finance Ordinance No. 5744.
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Alternative 1: Do not adopt the Resolution dispending with competitive bidding and authorizing the City Manager to renew the contract with TRIO and direct staff to issue a new RFP, which will potentially impact the ENP program and further increase meal rates.
Alternative 2: The City Council may consider any alternative not proposed by staff.
ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION
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Submitted by:
Onnig Bulanikian, Director of Community Services & Parks Prepared by:
Maggie Kavarian, Community Services Manager
Tereza Aleksanian, Assistant Director of Community Services & Parks Aylin Isayan, Community Services Supervisor
Approved by:
Roubik R. Golanian, P.E., City Manager
EXHIBITS/ATTACHMENTS
Exhibit 1: TRIO Contract
Exhibit 2: Campaign Finance Disclosure Form