RESOLUTION NO. 2024-73
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GONZALES DECLARING AN EMERGENCY PURSUANT TO SECTION 22050 OF THE PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE AND SECTION 3.16.050 OF THE GONZALES MUNICIPAL CODE
RATIFYING AND AUTHORIZING EMERGENCY WORK AT THE CITY
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $950,000 WHEREAS, the City operates a municipal wastewater system that serves residents, businesses, and industrial facilities; and
WHEREAS, The Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is permitted to operate at 1.3 million gallons/day by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board under Waste Discharge Requirements R3-2006-005; and
WHEREAS, over the last six weeks, city public works staff observed that the percolation in the WWTP’s three disposal fields has slowed; and
WHEREAS, the City believes that the cause of the current percolation problems is due to a higher water table from heavy rainfall over the last two winters and an increase in influent received from agricultural food processors in advance of the holiday season; and WHEREAS, disposal of treated wastewater is critical to operating the WWTP; and WHEREAS, under the circumstances described above, the City risks spilling treated wastewater onto adjacent private property and ultimately into the Salinas River which would result in significant fines imposed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board; and WHEREAS, on December 6, 2024, Staff concluded that there was an immediate need to take remedial work to address this situation, including transporting treated wastewater to the City of Soledad’s Wastewater Treatment Plant and work to increase the disposal capacity of treated wastewater from the WWTP on an expedited basis; and
WHEREAS, the City has adopted the procedures set forth in the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act pursuant to Public Contract Code Sections 22030-22045; and WHEREAS, Staff is of the opinion that adherence to purchase bidding requirements set forth in Chapter 3.16 of the Gonzales Municipal Code, and contract bidding procedures established in the Public Contract Code, will result in unacceptable delays before the City can commence action to address problems at the WWTP; and
WHEREAS, Section 3.16.050 of the Gonzales City Code provides an exception to the bidding requirements for the purchase of equipment when an “emergency” (defined in part as a breakdown in machinery or an essential service which requires the immediate purchase of supplies or services to protect the public health, welfare and safety) arises, and operational problems associated with disposal of treated water from the City’s WWTP have created a City emergency; and
WHEREAS, Sections 22050 and 20168 of the Public Contract Code provide that in the case of an emergency, the City Council, by four-fifths vote, may pass a resolution declaring the public interest and necessity demand the immediate expenditure of public funds to safeguard life, health and property, and that such monies may be expended without compliance with mandatory contract bidding procedures; and
WHEREAS, Section 1102 of the Public Contract Code defines emergency as a sudden, unexpected occurrence that poses a clear and imminent danger, requiring action to prevent or mitigate the loss or impairment of life, health or property, and the circumstances surrounding operational problems at the WWTP have created the need to take immediate action to address the cause of said problems, meeting this definition of emergency; and WHEREAS, California Code of Regulations Section 15269 provides an exemption from compliance with the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act for emergency repairs to public and private facilities necessary to maintain services essential to public health, safety or welfare, as well as specific actions necessary to prevent or mitigate such emergency circumstances.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Gonzales hereby resolves as follows:
1. Based on the recitals set forth above, and the facts and circumstances set forth in the oral staff report on December 11, 2024, which are incorporated herein by reference, the City Council hereby declares that an emergency situation, as defined in both Gonzales City Code 3.24 and Public Contract Code Section 1102, exists with respect to the need to take immediate action to perform work at the WWTP related to disposing of treated wastewater.
2. By this Resolution, and the authority granted by Gonzales City Code Chapter 3.16 and Public Contract Code Sections 22050 and 20168, the City Council finds that the public interest and necessity demand the immediate obligation of funds to prevent failure of the WWTP disposal fields, including removal and transportation of effluent from City facilities to alternative locations and the creation of an additional disposal field, and to take action to without need to comply with formal bidding procedures, and ratifies the action of Staff to enter into a contract(s) to provide the necessary analytical and remedial services, in an amount not-to-exceed $950,000. The Council further ratifies and hereby approves any and all action taken by City staff to address this emergency situation prior to the adoption of this resolution.
3. To provide funding for the work set forth herein, the Council approves using the monies from the Water Enterprise Fund or the Sewer Impact Fund of an amount not-to-exceed $950,000. Loan documents will be provided at the next regular Council meeting on January 13, 2025.
4. Staff is directed to report on the emergency work at the next regularly scheduled meeting and at every meeting thereafter until the identified emergency has terminated.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by at least a four-fifths vote at a special meeting of the City Council of the City of Gonzales duly held on the 11th day of December 2024 by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
Jose L. Rios, The Honorable Mayor
ATTEST:
Mary Villegas, Deputy City Clerk