City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: December 8, 2025
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Resolution No. 2025-86 Declaring Emergency Pursuant to Section 22050 of the Public Contract Code and Sections 3.16.050 and 3.16.085 of the Gonzales City Code Authorizing Emergency Work at the City Wastewater Treatment Facility
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council consider and Approve Resolution No. 2025-86, 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 316.050 of the Gonzales Municipal Code Authorizing Emergency Work at the City Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) in the amount not to exceed $1.5 million to manage the high effluent coming into the facility, to improve water quality and to prevent a catastrophic spill that could result in large fines from the Regional Water Quality Control Board and agricultural field owners if the wastewater was to reach their fields or the Salinas River.
BACKGROUND
City staff and its consultant team have been working tirelessly to construct the brand-new Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility (IWWTF) and ensure it meets the projected timeline, however, in the process of that project moving forward staff continues to encounter significant challenges at the current Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF). Efforts to manage the volume and content of effluent that is being deposited into the existing ponds from the Industrial Agriculture Park are an issue. Ongoing and new percolation issues, the high-water table, low water quality and the constant flow being discharged and now the oversaturated ground have posed new challenges for the facility that are preventing it from operating effectively and limiting staff’s efforts.
Due to the constant flow of effluent coming in staff is working hard to keep the facility afloat by deploying every cost-effective measure available to them to prevent the facility from spilling. However, it AGENDA
ITEM
13 has become an impossible task as the wastewater has nowhere to go, therefore staff has had to turn to a measure of last resort and had to start haul wastewater out of the facility and into the Soledad Plant.
Further, to prevent a wastewater spill that can end up costing the City a lot more money, the City needs to take immediate action and work on methods to improve the water quality and add filtration so that the same situation does not continue to occur, simultaneously increase aeration in the ponds to is needed to achieve better water quality, and remove sludge to facilitate enhanced water percolation. Staff is asking that the City Council authorize an amount not to exceed $1.5 million to conduct some aspects of this work.
REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
The City has adopted and codified the procedures set forth in the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act for public construction contracts pursuant to Public Contract Code Sections 22030-22045 in Chapter 3.16 of the Gonzales City Code (GCC). Additionally, the City has adopted bidding procedures for the purchase of equipment and supplies in Chapter 3.16. However, Staff is of the opinion that adherence to purchase bidding requirements set forth in Chapter 3.16,, as well as other relevant contract bidding procedures established in the Public Contract Code, will result in unacceptable delays before the City can commence urgent remedial action at the WWTP.
Fortunately, Section 3.16.050 of the GCC 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. Staff believe that the operational problems associated with treatment and disposal of waste water from the City’s WWTF have created a City emergency.
Moreover, 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.
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. Staff believes that the numerous circumstances surrounding operational problems at the WWTF , which have only concurrently come into play in recent weeks, have created the need to take immediate action to address the cause of said problems, meeting this definition of emergency.
Based on the matters set forth above, staff is recommending that the Council adopt a resolution declaring an emergency pursuant to the referenced City and state code provisions, set an initial budget of $1.5 Million dollars for the anticipated remedial work, and ratify all work that has been done to address the emergency prior to the adoption of the attached resolution. . Based on the matters set forth above, City Manager Gil is recommending that the City Council Approve the Resolution Declaring an Emergency and indicate that in light of the fact that the WWTF has the potential to be overwhelmed by the factors stated above a declaration of a Local Emergency is necessary in order to allow the City to move swiftly to address the ongoing needs of the facility and get it to an improved state.
BUDGET IMPACT
Staff is requesting that the Council allow the City Manager to approve work necessary to improve the WWTF’s operations at an amount not to exceed $1.5, which will primarily come from the Wastewater Enterprise Fund.
CEQA
The proposed work is exempt from analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act under 14 CCR Section 15269- emergency repairs to public services facilities necessary to maintain essential public health, safety or welfare. Potions of the remedial work will also take place on property within the new IWWTF and comport with uses that were the subject of an adopted Environmental Impact Report.
ALTERNATIVES
If the City Council decides not to Approve this Declaration of Emergency further delays will be presented in getting the necessary work done resulting in more issues at the facility and more hauling of water out until we can find another solution.
CONCLUSION
It is recommended that the City Council consider and Approve Resolution No. 2025-86, 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 316.050 of the Gonzales Municipal Code Authorizing Emergency Work at the City Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) in the amount not to exceed $1.5 million to manage the high effluent coming into the facility, to improve water quality and to prevent a catastrophic spill that could result in large fines from the Regional Water Quality Control Board and agricultural field owners if the wastewater was to reach their fields or the Salinas River.
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. 2025-86