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 SECTIONS 3.16.050 AND 3.16.085 OF THE GONZALES
CITY CODE AUTHORIZING EMERGENCY WORK AT THE CITY WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1.5 MILLION
DOLLARS
WHEREAS, the City operates a Municipal Wastewater System that serves all residents, businesses, and industrial facilities within the City limits; and WHEREAS, the Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) is permitted to operate at 1.30 million gallons/day by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board under Waste Discharge Requirements R3-2006-005; and
WHEREAS, disposal of treated wastewater is critical to operating the Wastewater Treatment Facility; and
WHEREAS, in recent weeks the WWTF has been receiving an excess of its daily gallon effluent treatment limit, and the wastewater has in some cases contained constituents that have had an adverse impact on the WWTF’s treatment capabilities; and WHEREAS, on November 17th, City staff informed the Council that due to conditions at the WWTF, including oversaturated ground, unstable levees and a large volume of effluent coming into the facility, the City had to take immediate action, primarily in the form of diverting wastewater to alternative ponds and hauling wastewater to the Soledad Sewer Collection System to prevent the ponds at the WWTF from overflowing ; and WHEREAS, staff has continued to take such actions to ensure the WWTF remains stable as the ponds at the facility continue to struggle to percolate due to the high daily volume of effluent , the high-water table, the quality of the water coming into the facility and the oversaturated ground; and
WHEREAS, the conditions referenced above pose a risk to the City of spilling wastewater onto adjacent public and private property and ultimately into the Salinas River, which could result in exposure to litigation for damages and the imposition of significant fines from the Regional Water Quality Control Board; and
WHEREAS, in order to avoid the consequences of an effluent spillage and facility failure, there is an urgent need for the City to perform immediate work on the WWTP , including implementation of methods to improve water quality and add filtration, increase aeration in the ponds to achieve better water quality, and the removal of sludge from ponds to facilitate enhanced water percolation; and
WHEREAS, 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); and WHEERAS, the City has also adopted bidding procedures for the purchase of equipment and supplies in Chapter 3.16; and
WHEREAS, 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 ; and
WHEREAS, 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, and the operational problems associated with treatment and disposal of waste water from the City’s WWTF have created a City emergency; and
WHEREAS, additionally, 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 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; and
WHEREAS, the proposed remedial 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.
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 November 17, 2025, 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 remedial work at the City’s Wastewater Treatment Facility related to treatment and disposal of wastewater. Said emergency warrants action without compliance with established contracting procedures.
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 obligation of funds to immediately implement actions to improve wastewater disposal, retention and treatment in an amount not to exceed $1.5 million dollars.
3. The Council also hereby ratifies and approves all remedial action that has been taken by staff to address treatment and disposal issues at the WWTF prior to the adoption of this resolution.
4. Staff is directed to report on the emergency remedial work at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council and at every meeting thereafter until the identified emergency has terminated.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by at least a four-fifths vote at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Gonzales duly held on the 8
th day of December 2025 by the following
vote:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS:
Jose L. Rios, The Honorable Mayor
ATTEST:
Mary Villegas, Deputy City Clerk