Public Works & Transportation Committee
December 10, 2024
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Jestin D. Johnson FROM: Michael Kashiwagi
City Administrator Interim Director, Oakland
Public Works
SUBJECT: Amend Beautification Council
Contract Amount
DATE: November 11, 2024
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To (1) Increase Beautification Council’s Contract Amount By Six Hundred Thousand Dollars ($600,000) For A Total Not To Exceed Contract Amount Of Four Million Five Hundred Thirty Thousand Dollars ($4,530,000); And (2) Waive Further Advertising, Bidding, Competitive Request For Proposal/ Qualification Selection And Local Business/Small Local Business Participation Requirements.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Beautification Council is an Oakland-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to combatting the pernicious issues plaguing underserved communities through innovative on-the- job work readiness and life skills training designed to uplift unhoused and justice system- involved individuals. In October 2020, the City awarded the Beautification Council a $175,000 grant to aid in homeless encampment clean-ups to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. On May 1, 2021, the City Council authorized an initial two-year contract with the Beautification Council in the amount of $1,600,00 for additional homeless encampment cleaning services. The initial contract has been amended three times to date, including once to appropriate $600,000 in additional funds to continue homeless encampment cleaning and twice to accept funding from Caltrans (totaling $1,730,000) to implement a Clean California Maintenance Agreement, wherein Beautification Council cleans designated Caltrans right of way areas.
In the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Midcycle Budget, the City Council allocated $600,000 to Oakland Public Works’ (OPW) to fund Beautification Council to continue their encampment clean-up work through June 30, 2025. The proposed resolution will allow staff to execute a fourth amendment to appropriate these funds to their contract, waiving further advertising, and competitive process and local/small local business requirements.
Jestin Johnson (Nov 19, 2024 11:29 PST)
Nov 19, 2024
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Amend Beautification Council Contract Amount
Date: November 11, 2024 Page 2
Public Works & Transportation Committee
December 10, 2024
Between now and the contract end date, staff are working to establish a new citywide trash and litter abatement support services contract via a formal request for proposals/qualifications (RFP/Q) that is open to all qualified applicants.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
In October 2020, at the height of COVID-19, the City awarded the Beautification Council a $175,000 CARES Act grant to aid in homeless encampment clean-ups to prevent the spread of the disease. Through this grant-funded project, the local non-profit demonstrated its ability to safely and sustainably engage unhoused participants to clean up the encampments in which they lived. To continue the successful partnership, the City established a two-year, $1.6 million contract with the Beautification Council on May 5, 2021, through Council Resolution No. 88079 C.M.S.
Amendment No. 1: On June 21, 2022, the City Council authorized accepting and appropriating $1.28 million in Clean California grant funds and executing a two-year, Clean California Maintenance Agreement (CCMA) with Caltrans to provide litter, bulky waste, and homeless encampment debris removal services in designated Caltrans locations throughout Oakland (Council Resolution No. 89279 C.M.S.).
Beautification Council was a partner on the proposal to Caltrans for the aforementioned CCMA grant. As a result, staff recommended them as the subcontractor for the project. City Council authorized this recommendation through Amendment No. 1 to the Beautification Council contract, which increased the contract value by $1.28 million, to accommodate the award, and extended the contract for 14 months, through June 30, 2024 (Council Resolution No. 89366 C.M.S.).
Amendment No. 2: The City’s original scope of services with the Beautification Council, to clean up homeless encampments, concluded as planned on the initial contract end date in May 2023. At that time, Beautification Council crews were directed to cease those services until additional funds were identified. On December 19, 2023, the City Council adopted Amendment No. 2 (Council Resolution No. 90053 C.M.S.) to increase the contract amount by $600,000 to continue with homeless encampment cleaning.
Amendment No. 3: As the CCMA neared its June 2024 expiration date, Caltrans expressed interest in extending the contract by one year. The City and Caltrans entered into Amendment No. 1 to CCMA with the City of Oakland on June 21, 2024, to extend the contract through June 30, 2025, and to increase the contract capacity by $450,000. City Council adopted Resolution No. 90307 C.M.S. to provide the City authority to accept and appropriate the additional grant funds and extend the Beautification Council’s contract expiration date to June 30, 2025.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Amend Beautification Council Contract Amount
Date: November 11, 2024 Page 3
Public Works & Transportation Committee
December 10, 2024
Amendment No. 4: City Council allocated $600,000 to Oakland Public Works (OPW) in its Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Midcycle Budget to further increase Beautification Council’s contract capacity to continue providing encampment clean-up work through the contract’s final expiration date of June 30, 2025. The proposed resolution requests authorization to appropriate the designated funds to their contract, waiving further advertising, and competitive process and local/small local business requirements.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
In accordance with the City’s adopted Budget, City activities are structured to support the following priorities: (1) Holistic community safety; (2) Housing, economic, and cultural security; (3) Vibrant, sustainable infrastructure; (4) Responsive, trustworthy government.
The proposed resolution furthers all four of the City’s priorities.
The Beautification Council supports the work of Oakland Public Work’s homeless encampment cleaning crews by cleaning and bagging small litter and debris, broom cleaning, and sanitizing in and around active homeless encampments. The work of removing smaller debris from an encampment cleaning operation is time consuming but critical to the final appearance of a cleaned location. With the Beautification Council performing this service, City crews can focus on removing bulky items and the majority of waste material from an encampment and ultimately clean more locations.
Beautification Council is uniquely qualified to perform this work. The organization has demonstrated the ability to engage unsheltered residents in deep cleaning encampments safely and without requiring police presence over the four years that the non-profit has worked with the City’s unhoused population.
By approving this proposed resolution to provide needed funding, the City Council will authorize the Beautification Council to continue cleaning and sanitizing homeless encampments. With the additional work performed by the Beautification Council’s crews, Oakland Public Works can extend its capacity to clean more homeless encampments throughout Oakland, thus contributing to safer communities and more sustainable infrastructure. Through this proposed contract amendment, the Beautification Council will reach more unhoused and justice-system- involved individuals. Participants are paid above living wage and are given job readiness skills to transition to more stable employment and housing, which advances the housing and economic security for this underserved population, and fosters a safer, more holistic community overall.
This contract amendment request is a stop-gap measure to continue critical encampment cleaning services while staff collaborate with the Finance Department’s Contracting Unit to issue an RFP/Q to establish a new contract for these services. Increasing Beautification Council’s contract will provide staff with the lead time necessary to complete a formal RFP/Q. Staff aim to return to the City Council before June 2025 with the qualified vendor(s) for the new citywide trash and litter abatement support services contract. Council approval of the proposed Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Amend Beautification Council Contract Amount
Date: November 11, 2024 Page 4
Public Works & Transportation Committee
December 10, 2024
resolution will demonstrate the City’s continued responsiveness to Oaklanders’ appeals to do more to clean up Oakland streets.
FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impact to the City if the proposed resolution is approved by the City Council is six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000). As previously mentioned, the City Council designated these funds in its Midcycle 2024-2025 budget for the purpose of increasing the Beautification Council’s contract capacity to continue providing encampment clean-up work through the contract’s final expiration date of June 30, 2025. The proposed resolution requests authorization to appropriate the designated funds to their contract, waiving further advertising, and competitive process and local/small local business requirements.
Funds for this work are available in Fund (2244) Measure Q - Parks & Recreation Preservation, Litter Reduction, and Homelessness Support Act, Organization (30674) Illegal Dumping, Project (1006075) EE & Beautification Resource.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
This item did not require any additional public outreach other than the required posting on the City’s website.
COORDINATION
Staff worked with the City Attorney’s Office, Oakland Public Works’ Fiscal Unit, the Budget Office, and the City Administrator’s Office in preparing this report.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Approval of this resolution will enable the Beautification Council to hire more unsheltered individuals to perform work, providing participants with living wages and job readiness skills to advance to regular employment. Cleaner streets and encampment areas will promote a safer, healthier, pedestrian-friendly environment that encourages shopping and recreation in Oakland, which will benefit neighborhood businesses.
Environmental: Improperly disposed trash is a crime against the environment. The waste materials can be washed into storm drains, contaminating Oakland’s waterways and harming wildlife. Debris can clog storm drains and culverts, causing flooding. Large garbage piles increase the likelihood of fires. Dump piles serve as an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, flies, rats, and other disease-carrying vectors. Amending the Beautification Council’s contract Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Amend Beautification Council Contract Amount
Date: November 11, 2024 Page 5
Public Works & Transportation Committee
December 10, 2024
capacity to perform the micro-cleaning work will allow Oakland Public Works to maintain an overall cleaner, safer Oakland.
Race & Equity: Clean streets – ones free of discarded household goods and clothing, broken furniture, appliances, and/or commercial waste – will have a measurably positive effect on the health and safety of Oaklanders, especially for those living and working in historically underserved frontline communities where improperly disposed waste material is concentrated in and around Oakland homeless encampments. With the passage of the proposed resolution, the City Council will continue its commitment to invest resources into these chronically blighted areas and amplify the results of the work performed by City crews.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To (1) Increase Beautification Council’s Contract Amount By Six Hundred Thousand Dollars ($600,000) For A Total Not To Exceed Contract Amount Of Four Million Five Hundred Thirty Thousand Dollars ($4,530,000); And (2) Waive Further Advertising, Bidding, Competitive Request For Proposal/ Qualification Selection And Local Business/Small Local Business Participation Requirements.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Victoria Chak, Administrative Services Manager, at (510) 615-5446.
Respectfully submitted,
MICHAEL KASHIWAGI
Interim Director, Oakland Public Works
Reviewed by:
Kristin Hathaway, Assistant Director
Oakland Public Works – Bureau of Environment
Prepared by:
Victoria Chak, Administrative Services Manager
Oakland Public Works – Bureau of Environment