Agenda packet — Palm Desert City Council, September 26, 2024 (part 3 of 4)

CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: September 26, 2024
PREPARED BY: Anthony J. Mejia, City Clerk
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION TO ADOPT THE CITY OF PALM DESERT CONFLICT OF

INTEREST CODE PURSUANT TO THE POLITICAL REFORM ACT
RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a Resolution entitled, “A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING THE CITY’S CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE AND REPEALING RESOLUTION 2022-97.”
BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

Under the Political Reform Act (PRA), Government Code Section 81000 et seq., all public agencies must adopt a Conflict of Interest Code (Code). This Code mandates that certain employees and public officials, who are most likely to be involved in government decisionmaking, file an annual Statement of Economic Interest, Form 700. The purpose of Form 700 is to notify the employee, public official, and the public of potential conflicts of interest and identify situations where disqualification from decision-making is necessary.

The PRA also requires local agencies to review their Code biennially, in even-numbered years, and adopt any amendments by December 30. On June 13, 2024, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-026, directing staff to review the Code. Following this directive, staff reviewed the existing Code and identified areas requiring amendments due to organizational changes. As a result, staff filed that 2024 Local Agency Biennial Notice and began drafting the necessary amendments.

Terms of the Code
The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) advises that agencies must incorporate Section 18730 of the California Code of Regulations by reference, along with appendices that provide disclosure categories and list designated positions, to form and implement a Code. The incorporation of Regulation §18730 establishes the legal basis for the Code, giving it the force and effect of law.

Disclosure Categories
The FPPC has provided guidance regarding the development of disclosure categories, emphasizing the need to strike an appropriate balance between preventing potential conflicts of interest and respecting an individual’s right to privacy. The FPPC notes that one of the most common issues in local codes is requiring employees to disclose financial interests that are unrelated to their job responsibilities and area of authority. 351
City of Palm Desert
2024 Update to the Conflict of Interest Code

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Designated Positions
The Mayor; Members of the City Council and Planning Commission; the City Manager; the City Attorney; and the Finance Director/Treasurer are not designated positions under this Code because they are statutorily required to file a Form 700 under Government Code Section 87200.

Furthermore, public officials managing investments must disclose their financial interests per Government Code Section 87200. After consulting with the Finance Director, it was determined that the Finance Committee does not manage the City’s investments. Therefore, it is recommended that the Finance Committee be designated under the Code with Disclosure Categories 1 and 2. Additionally, it is recommended that the Deputy Treasurer role be deleted as the Finance Director/City Treasurer performs these duties and files under Government Code Section 87200.

The FPPC states that a Code should enumerate positions that “make a government decision,” such as voting on a matter, obligating or committing the agency to any course of action, or enters into contractual agreements which may foreseeably have a material effect on any financial interest. It further defines those employees who “participate in governmental decisions” as those who, acting within the authority of their position and without significant substantive or intervening review, negotiate, advise, or makes recommendations to the decision-maker regarding the governmental decision.

The FPPC advises that local Codes are appropriate when agencies narrowly tailor the list of their designated positions. City staff has examined the organizational chart and job descriptions and recommends removing certain positions because they are subject to substantive or intervening review related to permits, contracts, and purchasing, or are clerical or ministerial positions. Any actions taken by ministerial positions are in obedience to the law, and any discretionary decisions are reviewed by or made entirely by a higher authority position or the City Council. Regardless of whether a position is designated, all employees are mandated to disqualify themselves from participation in a decision when acting within the position’s authority would result in a financial interest.

Positions Recommended for Deletion
In consultation with the Department Directors, the following positions are recommended for removal from the Code. These positions are either considered ministerial in nature, ensuring compliance with established laws and regulations, or are being removed due to organizational changes, such as the position being vacant with no intent to fill them currently, being reclassified, or consolidated under an umbrella position.

Title Notes
Assistant City Clerk Ministerial Position
Assistant to the City Manager Position Deleted
Associate Planner Ministerial Position
Building Inspector Ministerial Position
Buyer Position Deleted
Code Compliance Officer Ministerial Position
Human Resources Manager Reclassified to Director
Facilities Manager Position Deleted
352
City of Palm Desert
2024 Update to the Conflict of Interest Code

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Landscape Inspector Ministerial Position
Permit Center Supervisor Position Deleted
Planning Manager Position Deleted
Public Works Inspector Ministerial Position
Senior Financial Analyst Consolidated into “Analyst (All)” Senior Management Analyst Consolidated into “Analyst (All)” Senior Project Manager Consolidated into “Project Manager (All)” Transportation Manager Position Deleted
Finance Manager Position Deleted
Positions Recommended for Addition
The chart below summarizes the positions recommended for addition to the Code:

Title Disclosure
Categories
Finance Committee 1, 2
Library Advisory Committee 5
Accounting Manager 4
Analyst (All) 5
Assistant Building Official 2, 3, 5, 6
Business Operations Manager 5
Capital Projects Manager 2, 4
City Engineer 1, 2
Community Relations Supervisor 5
Communications and Marketing Coordinator 5
Economic Development Coordinator 5
Executive Coordinator 2, 5
Homeless & Supportive Services Manager 2, 5
Landscape Supervisor 2, 3, 5
Library Manager 5
Project Manager (All) 2, 5
Senior Engineer 2, 4
Legal Review:

This report was reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

There is no direct fiscal impact associated with the adoption of the Code. However, a significant amount of staff time is required for the collection, review, logging, retention of statements, and responding to public requests for inspection or duplication of these statements.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Draft Resolution/Conflict of Interest Code

2. Resolution No. 2022-97 (Current Code)
353
354
RESOLUTION NO. _____

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING THE CITY’S

CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE AND REPEALING
RESOLUTION NO. 2022-97
WHEREAS, the Political Reform Act (Government Code Section 81000 et seq.) requires local government agencies to promulgate and adopt a Conflict of Interest Code; and WHEREAS, on December 15, 2022, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2022-97, adopting a Conflict of Interest Code for the City of Palm Desert; and WHEREAS, the Political Reform Act requires that the City Council review its Conflict of Interest Code biennially to determine whether amendments are required; and WHEREAS, on June 13, 2024, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-026 directing staff to review the City’s Conflict of Interest Code; and WHEREAS, a staff-level review of the City’s Disclosure Categories and the List of Designated Positions reveals that amendments are necessary; and WHEREAS, on September 12, 2024, the City Council received and filed the 2024 Local Agency Biennial Notice and directed staff to promulgate the necessary amendments to the City’s Conflict of Interest Code.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Resolution No. 2022-97 is hereby rescinded and replaced.

SECTION 2. The City Council adopts the Conflict of Interest Code promulgated by the Fair Political Practices Commission as set forth in Section 18730 of the California Code of Regulations by reference, and which, together with the City’s Disclosure Categories and List of Designated Positions collectively constitutes the City of Palm Desert’s Conflict of Interest Code, a copy of which is attached hereto and shall be on file with the City Clerk, and available to the public for inspection and copying, during regular business hours.

SECTION 3. The Conflict of Interest Code shall become effective immediately upon the date of its adoption and approval.
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Resolution No. _____

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PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED BY THE PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL THIS ____ DAY OF ________, 2024.

Mayor
ATTEST:

Anthony J. Mejia
City Clerk
I, ANTHONY J. MEJIA, City Clerk of the City of Palm Desert, hereby certify that Resolution No. _______is a full, true and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Desert on __________, 2024, by the following vote:

AYES:

NOES:

ABSENT:

ABSTAIN:

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Palm Desert, California, this _____ day of __________, _________.

Anthony J. Mejia, MMC
City Clerk
356
Resolution No. _____

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CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE OF THE

CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA
The Political Reform Act (Government Code § 81000, et seq.) requires state and local government agencies to adopt and promulgate Conflict of Interest Codes. The Fair Political Practices Commission has adopted a regulation (2 California Code of Regulations Section 18730) that contains the terms of a standard Conflict of Interest Code, which can be incorporated by reference in an agency’s Code. After public notice and hearing, the standard code may be amended by the Fair Political Practices Commission to conform to amendments in the Political Reform Act. Therefore, the terms of 2 California Code of Regulations Section 18730 and any amendments duly adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission are hereby incorporated by reference. This incorporation page, regulation 18730, and the attached Appendix designating positions and establishing disclosure categories, shall constitute the Conflict of Interest Code of the City of Palm Desert (City).

The Mayor, Members of the City Council and Planning Commission, the City Manager, the City Attorney and the City Treasurer, may electronically file their annual statements of economic interests directly with the Fair Political Practices Commission. All other officials and designated positions required to submit a statement of economic interests shall file their statements with the City Clerk as the City’s Filing Officer. The City Clerk shall retain the original statements filed by all other officials and designated positions and will make all retained statements available for public inspection and reproduction during regular business hours. (Gov. Code § 81008.)
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Resolution No. _____

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APPENDIX
[The Appendix is the attachment to the incorporation page and is separated into two parts – Part A and Part B]
PART A

DISCLOSURE CATEGORIES
The disclosure categories listed below identify the types of economic interests that the designated position must disclose for each disclosure category to which he or she is assigned.

CATEGORY 1: Investments/Sources of Income
All investments1 and business positions in business entities, and sources of income, including gifts2, loans and travel payments, that are located in, doing business in, or own real property within the jurisdiction of the CITY.

CATEGORY 2: Real Property Interests
All interests in real property which is located in whole or in part within, or not more than two (2) miles outside, the jurisdiction of the CITY, including any leasehold, beneficial or ownership interest or option to acquire property.

CATEGORY 3: Land Development/Construction/Acquisition
All investments1 and business positions in business entities, and sources of income, including gifts2, loans and travel payments, that are engaged in land development, construction or the acquisition or sale of real property within the jurisdiction of the CITY.

CATEGORY 4: Contracting/Procurement (Citywide)
All investments1 and business positions in business entities, and sources of income, including gifts2, loans and travel payments, that provide services, products, materials, machinery, vehicles or equipment of a type purchased or leased by the City.

CATEGORY 5: Contracting/Procurement (Department/Division) All investments2 and business positions in business entities, and sources of income, including gifts2, loans and travel payments, that provide services, products, materials, machinery, vehicles or equipment of a type purchased or leased by the designated position’s department, unit or division.

1 “Investment” means financial interest in any business entity (including a consulting business or other independent contracting business) and are reportable if they are either located in or doing business, are planning to do business, or have done business during the previous two years in the jurisdiction of the CITY.

2. This Conflict of Interest Code does not require the reporting of gifts from outside this City’s jurisdiction if the source does not have some connection with or bearing upon the functions or duties of the position. (Reg. 18730.1)
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Resolution No. _____

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PART B

DESIGNATED POSITIONS
The Mayor, Members of the City Council and Planning Commission, the City Manager, the City Attorney, the City Treasurer, and all other City Officials who manage public investments as defined by 2 California Code of Regulations § 18700.3(b), are NOT subject to the City’s Code but must file disclosure statements under Government Code section 87200 et seq. [Regs. § 18730(b)(3)]
It has been determined that the positions listed below are the Other City Officials who manage public investments. These positions listed below are for informational purposes only.  Financial Consultants

DESIGNATED POSITIONS DISCLOSURE

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Executive Coordinator 2, 5
Finance Supervisor 4
Homeless & Supportive Services Manager 2, 5
Housing Manager 2, 3, 5, 6
Information Systems Manager 5
Landscape Supervisor 2, 3, 5
Library Manager 5
Principal Planner 2, 3, 5, 6
Project Manager (All) 2, 5
Public Affairs Manager 5
Senior Building Inspector 2, 3, 5, 6
Senior Engineer 2, 4
Senior GIS Administrator 5
Senior Network Engineer 5
Senior Planner 2, 3, 5, 6
Special Events Coordinator 2, 3, 5, 6
Streets Maintenance Supervisor 2, 5
Consultants and New Positions
Individuals serving as consultants as defined in FPPC Reg 18700.3(a) or in a new position created since this Code was last approved that makes or participates in the making of decisions must file under the broadest category set forth in this Code subject to the following limitation: The City Manager may determine that, due to the range of duties or contractual obligations, it is more appropriate to assign a limited disclosure requirement. A clear explanation of the duties and a statement of the extent of the disclosure requirement must be in a written document (see Form 804). The City Manager’s determination is a public record and shall be retained for public inspection in the same manner and location as this Conflict of Interest Code. 360
RESOLUTION NO. 2022-97

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING THE CITY’S

CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE AND REPEALING
RESOLUTION NO. 2020-78
WHEREAS, the Political Reform Act (Government Code Section 81000 et seq.) requires local government agencies to promulgate and adopt a Conflict of Interest Code; and
WHEREAS, on November 19, 2020, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2020-78, adopting a Conflict of Interest Code for the City of Palm Desert; and WHEREAS, the Political Reform Act requires that the City Council review its Conflict of Interest Code biennially to determine whether amendments are required; and WHEREAS, on June 23, 2022, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2022-49 directing staff to review the City’s Conflict of Interest Code; and WHEREAS, a staff-level review of the City’s Disclosure Categories and the List of Designated Positions reveals that amendments are necessary; and WHEREAS, on October 13, 2022, the City Council received and filed the 2022 Local Agency Biennial Notice and directed staff to promulgate the necessary amendments to the City’s Conflict of Interest Code.

NOW , THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, as follows:

SECTION 1. Resolution No. 2020-78 is hereby rescinded and replaced.

ADOPTED ON DECEMBER 15, 2022.

KATHLEEN KELLY
MAYOR
ATTEST:

ANTHONY J. MEJIA

CITY CLERK
I, Anthony J. Mejia, City Clerk of the City of Palm Desert, hereby certify that Resolution No. 2022-97 is a full, true and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Desert on December 15, 2022, by the following vote:

AYES: HARNIK, NESTANDE, QUINTANILLA, TRUBEE, AND KELLY
NOES: NONE
ABSENT: NONE
ABSTAIN: NONE
RECUSED: NONE
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Palm Desert, California, on _______________________.

ANTHONY J. MEJIA

CITY CLERK
Kathleen Kelly ( Dec 22, 2022 12: 10 PST)
Kathleen Kelly
Anthony Mejia ( Dec 22, 2022 12: 19 PST)
Anthony Mejia ( Dec 22, 2022 12: 19 PST)
Dec 22, 2022
362
Resolution No. 2022-97 Page 3

CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE OF THE

CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA
The Political Reform Act (Government Code § 81000, et seq.) requires state and local government agencies to adopt and promulgate Conflict of Interest Codes. The Fair Political Practices Commission has adopted a regulation ( 2 California Code of Regulations Section 18730) that contains the terms of a standard Conflict of Interest Code, which can be incorporated by reference in an agency’s Code. After public notice and hearing, the standard code may be amended by the Fair Political Practices Commission to conform to amendments in the Political Reform Act. Therefore, the terms of 2 California Code of Regulations Section 18730 and any amendments duly adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission are hereby incorporated by reference. This incorporation page, regulation 18730, and the attached Appendix designating positions and establishing disclosure categories, shall constitute the Conflict of Interest Code of the City of Palm Desert (City).

APPENDIX
The Appendix is the attachment to the incorporation page and is separated into two parts – Part A and Part B]
PART A

CATEGORY 6: Regulatory/Permits/Licensing Authority
All investments1 and business positions in business entities, and sources of income, including gifts2, loans and travel payments, subject to the regulatory, permit, or licensing authority of the designated position’s department, unit or division. 1 “ Investment” means financial interest in any business entity (including a consulting business or other independent contracting business) and are reportable if they are either located in or doing business, are planning to do business, or have done business during the previous two years in the jurisdiction of the CITY.

DESIGNATED POSITIONS
The Mayor, Members of the City Council and Planning Commission, the City Manager, the City Attorney, the City Treasurer, and all other City Officials who manage public investments as defined by 2 California Code of Regulations § 18700.3(b), are NOT subject to the City’s Code but must file disclosure statements under Government Code section 87200 et seq. [ Regs. § 18730(b)(3)]
It has been determined that the positions listed below are the Other City Officials who manage public investments. These positions listed below are for informational purposes only.

Finance Committee
Deputy City Treasurer
Financial Consultants

DESIGNATED POSITIONS DISCLOSURE

CATEGORIES
Members of Boards, Commissions, & Committees
Architectural Review Commission 2, 6
Building Board of Appeals 2, 6
Civic Engagement Committee 5
Cultural Arts Commission 2, 5
Cultural Resources Preservation Committee 2, 6
El Paseo Business Improvement District 5
Homelessness Taskforce 5
Housing Commission 2, 5, 6
Marketing Committee 5
Parks and Recreation Commission 2, 3, 5
Public Safety Commission 5
Rent Review Board 2, 6
Resource Preservation & Enhancement Committee 5
University Planning & Development Committee 2, 3, 5
Staff Positions/Titles
Assistant City Clerk 5
Assistant City Manager 1, 2
Assistant Planner 2, 3, 5, 6
Assistant to the City Manager 2, 4
Associate Planner 2, 3, 5, 6
Building Inspector 2, 3, 5, 6
Business Enterprise Systems Administrator 5
Buyer 4
Chief Building Official 2, 3, 5, 6
City Clerk 1, 2
Code Compliance Officer 2, 3, 5, 6
Code Compliance Supervisor 2, 3, 5, 6
Communications Analyst 5
Community Services Manager 2, 3, 5
Deputy City Attorney 1, 2
Deputy Director (All) 2, 3, 5, 6
Director (All) 1, 2
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Resolution No. 2022-97 Page 6
Environmental Programs Coordinator 5, 6
Facilities Manager 5
Finance Manager 5
Finance Supervisor 5
Housing Manager 2, 3, 5, 6
Human Resources Analyst 5
Human Resources Manager 5
Information Systems Manager 5
Landscape Inspector 2, 3, 5, 6
Management Analyst 5
Permit Center Supervisor 2, 3, 5, 6
Planning Manager 2, 3, 5, 6
Principal Planner 2, 3, 5, 6
Project Manager 2, 5
Public Affairs Manager 5
Public Works Inspector 2, 3, 5, 6
Senior Building Inspector 2, 3, 5, 6
Senior Contracts and Grants Analyst 4
Senior Financial Analyst 4
Senior GIS Administrator 5
Senior Management Analyst 5
Senior Network Administrator 5
Senior Planner 2, 3, 5, 6
Senior Project Manager 2, 5
Social Services Coordinator 5, 6
Special Events Coordinator 5, 6
Special Programs Manager 2, 3, 5, 6
Streets Maintenance Manager 2, 5
Transportation Manager 2, 5
Consultants and New Positions
Individuals serving as consultants as defined in FPPC Reg 18700.3(a) or in a new position created since this Code was last approved that makes or participates in the making of decisions must file under the broadest category set forth in this Code subject to the following limitation: The City Manager may determine that, due to the range of duties or contractual obligations, it is more appropriate to assign a limited disclosure requirement. A clear explanation of the duties and a statement of the extent of the disclosure requirement must be in a written document ( see Form 804). The City Manager’s determination is a public record and shall be retained for public inspection in the same manner and location as this Conflict of Interest Code. 366

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CITY OF PALM DESERT

STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: September 26, 2024
PREPARED BY: Joe Barron, Senior Contracts and Grants Analyst Chris Escobedo, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: AWARD CONTRACTS TO MULTIPLE CONSULTANTS FOR GRANT

WRITING AND ADVOCACY SERVICES
RECOMMENDATION:

1. Award Contracts to The Criscom Company, Ardurra Group, Inc., and Engineering Solutions Services for the grant writing and advocacy services for an aggregate amount between selected firms, not to exceed $200,000 per fiscal year.

2. Authorize the City Attorney to make any necessary nonmonetary changes to the agreements.

3. Authorize the City Manager to execute the agreements and any other documents necessary to effectuate this action, in accordance with Section 3.30.170 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code.

BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS:

The City currently has an agreement with Townsend Public Affairs (TPA) for grant writing and advocacy services that expires June 30, 2024. TPA has significantly boosted our grants portfolio from approximately $1.5 million to $13.1 million, which include Southern California Association of Governments, Regional Utilities To Support Housing for (8M), Transportation Housing and Urban Development FY25 Appropriations, Cook Street Bridge for (5M), and U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program for (118K).To further expand the City’s grant portfolio and reduce the financial impact on the General Fund, staff recommends engaging additional firms to ensure the City fully leverages available funding opportunities.

On June 27, 2024, a Request for Proposals (RFP) for grant writing and advocacy services was issued via OpenGov, resulting in nine submissions. An internal selection team, comprising representatives from the Finance Department, Public Works Department, Library Department, and City Manager’s Office, reviewed the proposals and shortlisted the top three candidates for further consideration. Based on the qualifications, experience, and key personnel of the top firms, the selection team agreed to conduct interviews.

Following the interview process, the team concluded that the City would benefit most by selecting all three consultants, as each firm brings a distinct niche or area of expertise.

If approved, the contracts will be managed through a task order format. The City will request task proposals from the consultants, review the associated costs, and assign each task to the most qualified firm with expertise in that particular grant type. All tasks and expenses will be carefully monitored to ensure that the combined contract amounts do not exceed $200,000 per fiscal year.
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City of Palm Desert
Award Grant Writing and Advocacy Services Contracts

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Legal Review:

This report has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s Office.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:
$200,000 has been budgeted in Account No. 1104159-4430900 for this purpose. There is no additional impact to the General Fund with this action.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. The Criscom Company Agreement

2. The Criscom Company Proposal

3. Ardurra Group Agreement

4. Ardurra Group Proposal

5. Engineering Solutions Agreement

6. Engineering Solutions Proposal
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CITY OF PALM DESERT

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

1. Parties and Date. This Agreement is made and entered into this 26th day of September, 2024, by and between the City of Palm Desert, a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of California with its principal place of business at 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260-2578 (“City”) and The Criscom Company, a Corporation, with its principal place of business at 9550 Topanga Canyon Blvd. Chatsworth, California 93212 ("Vendor"). The City and Vendor are sometimes individually referred to herein as "Party" and collectively as "Parties."

2. Recitals.

2.1 Project.

The City is a public agency of the State of California and is in need of professional services for the following project:

Grant Writing-Advocacy Services Project
(hereinafter referred to as “the Project”).

2.2 Consultant.

Consultant desires to perform and assume responsibility for the provision of certain professional services required by the City on the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.

Consultant is duly licensed and has the necessary qualifications to provide such services.

3. Terms.

3.1 Scope of Services and Term.

3.1.1 General Scope of Services. Consultant promises and agrees to furnish to the City all labor, materials, tools, equipment, services, and incidental and customary work necessary to fully and adequately supply the services necessary for the Project ("Services"). The Services are more particularly described in Exhibit "A" attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. All Services shall be subject to, and performed in accordance with, this Agreement, the exhibits attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, and all applicable local, state and federal laws, rules and regulations.

3.1.2 Term. The term of this Agreement shall be from September 26, 2024, to June 30, 2026, unless earlier terminated as provided herein. The City shall have the unilateral option, at its sole discretion, to renew this Agreement automatically for no more than Three additional one-year terms. Contractor shall complete the Services within the term of this Agreement and shall meet any other established schedules and deadlines.

3.2 Responsibilities of Consultant.

3.2.1 Independent Contractor; Control and Payment of Subordinates. The Services shall be performed by Consultant or under its supervision. Consultant will determine the means, methods, and details of performing the Services subject to the requirements of this Agreement. City retains Consultant on an independent contractor basis and not as an employee.

Any personnel performing the Services shall not be employees of City and shall at all times be under Consultant's exclusive direction and control. Neither City, or any of its officials, officers, directors, employees, or agents shall have control over the conduct of Consultant or any of Consultants officers, employees or agents, except as set forth in this Agreement. Consultant shall pay all wages, salaries, and other amounts due such personnel in connection with their 369
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performance of Services under this Agreement and as required by law. Consultant shall be responsible for all reports and obligations respecting such additional personnel, including, but not limited to: social security taxes, income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.

3.2.2 Schedule of Services. Consultant represents that it has the professional and technical personnel required to perform the Services expeditiously as set forth in each Task Order, “EXHIBIT C”. Upon request of City, Consultant shall provide a more detailed schedule of anticipated performance to meet the Schedule of Services.

3.2.3 Conformance to Applicable Requirements. All work prepared by Consultant shall be subject to the approval of City.

3.2.4 Substitution of Key Personnel. Consultant has represented to City that certain key personnel will perform and coordinate the Services. Should one or more of such personnel become unavailable, Consultant may substitute other personnel of at least equal competence upon written approval of City. In the event that City and Consultant cannot agree as to the substitution of key personnel, City shall be entitled to terminate this Agreement for cause.

The key personnel for performance of this Agreement are as follows: Charles H. Jelloian, President.

3.2.5 City's Representative. The City hereby designates Joe Barron, Senior Grants and Contracts Analyst, or his/her designee, to act as its representative in all matters pertaining to the administration and performance of this Agreement ("City's Representative").

City's Representative shall have the power to act on behalf of the City for review and approval of all products submitted by Consultant but not the authority to enlarge the scope of Services or change the total compensation due to Consultant under this Agreement. The City Manager shall be authorized to act on City's behalf and to execute all necessary documents which enlarge the scope of services or change the Consultant's total compensation subject to the provisions contained in Section 3.3 of this Agreement. Consultant shall not accept direction or orders from any person other than the City Manager, City's Representative or his/her designee.

3.2.6 Consultant's Representative. Consultant hereby designates Charles H.

Jelloian, President, or his/her designee, to act as its representative for the performance of this Agreement ("Consultant's Representative"). Consultant's Representative shall have full authority to represent and act on behalf of the Consultant for all purposes under this Agreement. The Consultant's Representative shall supervise and direct the Services, using his/her best skill and attention, and shall be responsible for all means, methods, techniques, sequences, and procedures and for the satisfactory coordination of all portions of the Services under this Agreement.

3.2.7 Coordination of Services. Consultant agrees to work closely with City staff in the performance of Services and shall be available to City's staff, consultants, and other staff at all reasonable times.

3.2.8 Standard of Care; Performance of Employees. Consultant shall perform all Services under this Agreement in a skillful and competent manner, consistent with the standards generally recognized as being employed by professionals in the same discipline in the State of California. Consultant represents and maintains that it is skilled in the professional calling necessary to perform the Services. Consultant warrants that all employees and subconsultants shall have sufficient skill and experience to perform the Services assigned to them. Consultant represents that it, its employees and subconsultants have all licenses, permits, qualifications and 370
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approvals of whatever nature that are legally required to perform the Services, and that such licenses and approvals shall be maintained throughout the term of this Agreement. Consultant shall perform, at its own cost and expense and without reimbursement from the City, any services necessary to correct errors or omissions which are caused by the Consultant's failure to comply with the standard of care provided herein. Any employee of the Consultant or its sub-consultants who is determined by the City to be uncooperative, incompetent, a threat to the adequate or timely completion of the Project, a threat to the safety of persons or property, or any employee who fails or refuses to perform the Services in a manner acceptable to the City, shall be promptly removed from the Project by the Consultant and shall not be re-employed to perform any of the Services or to work on the Project.

3.2.9 Period of Performance. Consultant shall perform and complete all Services under this Agreement within the term set forth in Section 3.1.2 above (“Performance Time”).

Consultant shall also perform the Services in strict accordance with any completion schedule or Project milestones described in Exhibits “A” attached hereto, or which may be separately agreed upon in writing by the City and Consultant (“Performance Milestones”). Consultant agrees that if the Services are not completed within the aforementioned Performance Time and/or pursuant to any such Performance Milestones developed pursuant to provisions of this Agreement, it is understood, acknowledged and agreed that the City will suffer damage.

Neither City nor Consultant shall be considered in default of this Agreement for delays in performance caused by circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the non-performing Party. For purposes of this Agreement, such circumstances include a Force Majeure Event. A Force Majeure Event shall mean an event that materially affects a Party’s performance and is one or more of the following: (1) Acts of God or other natural disasters; (2) terrorism or other acts of a public enemy; (3) orders of governmental authorities (including, without limitation, unreasonable and unforeseeable delay in the issuance of permits or approvals by governmental authorities that are required for the services); (4) strikes and other organized labor action occurring at the site and the effects thereof on the services, only to the extent such strikes and other organized labor action are beyond the control of Consultant and its subcontractors, and to the extent the effects thereof cannot be avoided by use of replacement workers; and (5) pandemics, epidemics or quarantine restrictions. For purposes of this section, “orders of governmental authorities,” includes ordinances, emergency proclamations and orders, rules to protect the public health, welfare and safety, and other actions of a public agency applicable to the services and Agreement.

Should a Force Majeure Event occur, the non-performing Party shall, within a reasonable time of being prevented from performing, give written notice to the other Party describing the circumstances preventing continued performance and the efforts being made to resume performance of this Agreement. Force Majeure Events and/or delays, regardless of the Party responsible for the delay, shall not entitle Consultant to any additional compensation.

Notwithstanding the foregoing in this section, the City may still terminate this Agreement in accordance with the termination provisions of this Agreement.

3.2.10 Laws and Regulations; Employee/Labor Certification. Consultant shall keep itself fully informed of and in compliance with all local, state and federal laws, rules and regulations in any manner affecting the performance of the Project or the Services and shall give all notices required by law. Consultant shall be liable for all violations of such laws and regulations in connection with the Services and this Agreement. All violations of such laws and regulations shall be grounds for the City to terminate the Agreement for cause.

3.2.10.1 Employment Eligibility; Consultant. Consultant certifies that it fully complies with all requirements and restrictions of state and federal law respecting the 371
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employment of undocumented aliens, including, but not limited to, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, as may be amended from time to time and shall require all subconsultants and sub-subconsultants to comply with the same. Consultant certifies that it has not committed a violation of any such law within the five (5) years immediately preceding the date of execution of this Agreement and shall not violate any such law at any time during the term of the Agreement.

3.2.10.2 Equal Opportunity Employment. Consultant represents that it is an equal opportunity employer, and it shall not discriminate against any subconsultant, employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, national origin, physical disability, ancestry, sex, age, marital status, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, reproductive health decision making, veteran or military status, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. Such non-discrimination shall include, but not be limited to, all activities related to initial employment, upgrading, demotion, transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, layoff or termination. Consultant shall also comply with all relevant provisions of City's Minority Business Enterprise program, Affirmative Action Plan or other related programs or guidelines currently in effect or hereinafter enacted.

3.2.10.3 Safety. Consultant shall execute and maintain its work so as to avoid injury or damage to any person or property. In carrying out its Services, the Consultant shall at all times be in compliance with all applicable local, state and federal laws, rules and regulations, and shall exercise all necessary precautions for the safety of employees appropriate to the nature of the work and the conditions under which the work is to be performed.

3.2.11 Insurance.

3.2.11.1 Minimum Requirements. Without limiting Consultant’s indemnification of City, and prior to commencement of the Services, Consultant shall obtain, provide, and maintain at its own expense during the term of this Agreement, policies of insurance of the type and amounts described below and in a form that is satisfactory to City. (A) General Liability Insurance. Consultant shall maintain commercial general liability insurance with coverage at least as broad as Insurance Services Office form CG 00 01, in an amount not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence, $2,000,000 general aggregate, for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage. The policy must include contractual liability that has not been amended. Any endorsement restricting standard ISO “insured contract” language will not be accepted.
(B) Automobile Liability Insurance. Consultant shall maintain automobile insurance at least as broad as Insurance Services Office form CA 00 01 covering bodily injury and property damage for all activities of the Consultant arising out of or in connection with Work to be performed under this Agreement, including coverage for any owned, hired, nonowned or rented vehicles, in an amount not less than $1,000,000 combined single limit for each accident. The City’s Risk Manger may modify this requirement if it is determined that Consultant will not be utilizing a vehicle in the performance of his/her duties under this Agreement. (C) Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions) Insurance.

Consultant shall maintain professional liability insurance that covers the Services to be performed in connection with this Agreement, in the minimum amount of $1,000,000 per claim and in the aggregate. Any policy inception date, continuity date, or retroactive date must be before the effective date of this Agreement and Consultant agrees to maintain continuous coverage through a period no less than three years after completion of the Services required by this Agreement. 372
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(D) Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Consultant shall
maintain Workers’ Compensation Insurance (Statutory Limits) and Employer’s Liability Insurance (with limits of at least $1,000,000). Consultant shall submit to City, along with the certificate of insurance, a Waiver of Subrogation endorsement in favor of the City, its officers, agents, employees, volunteers, and representatives.
(E) Umbrella or Excess Liability Insurance. Consultant may opt to utilize umbrella or excess liability insurance in meeting insurance requirements. In such circumstances, Consultant shall obtain and maintain an umbrella or excess liability insurance policy with limits that will provide bodily injury, personal injury and property damage liability coverage at least as broad as the primary coverages set forth above, including commercial general liability and employer’s liability. Such policy or policies shall include the following terms and conditions:
(1) A drop-down feature requiring the policy to respond if any primary insurance that would otherwise have
applied proves to be uncollectible in whole or in part for any reason;
(2) Pay on behalf of wording as opposed to reimbursement; (3) Concurrency of effective dates with primary policies; and (4) Policies shall “follow form” to the underlying primary policies.
(5) Insureds under primary policies shall also be insureds under the umbrella or excess policies.
(F) Fidelity Coverage. (Reserved)
(G) Cyber Liability Insurance. (Reserved)
If coverage is maintained on a claims-made basis, Consultant shall maintain such coverage for an additional period of three (3) years following termination of the Agreement.

3.2.11.2 Other Provisions or Requirements.
(A) Proof of Insurance. Consultant shall provide certificates of insurance to City as evidence of the insurance coverage required herein, along with a waiver of subrogation endorsement for workers’ compensation. Insurance certificates and endorsements must be approved by City’s Risk Manager prior to commencement of performance. Current certification of insurance shall be kept on file with City at all times during the term of this Agreement. City reserves the right to require complete, certified copies of all required insurance policies, at any time.
(B) Duration of Coverage. Consultant shall procure and
maintain for the duration of the Agreement insurance against claims for injuries to persons or damages to property, which may arise from or in connection with the performance of the Services hereunder by Consultant, his/her agents, representatives, employees or subconsultants. (C) Primary/Non-Contributing. Coverage provided by
Consultant shall be primary and any insurance or self-insurance procured or maintained by City 373
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shall not be required to contribute with it. The limits of insurance required herein may be satisfied by a combination of primary and umbrella or excess insurance. Any umbrella or excess insurance shall contain or be endorsed to contain a provision that such coverage shall also apply on a primary and non-contributory basis for the benefit of City before the City’s own insurance or selfinsurance shall be called upon to protect it as a named insured. (D) City’s Rights of Enforcement. In the event any policy of insurance required under this Agreement does not comply with these specifications, or is canceled and not replaced, City has the right, but not the duty, to obtain the insurance it deems necessary, and any premium paid by City will be promptly reimbursed by Consultant, or City will withhold amounts sufficient to pay premium from Consultant payments. In the alternative, City may terminate this Agreement.
(E) Acceptable Insurers. All insurance policies shall be issued by an insurance company currently authorized by the Insurance Commissioner to transact business of insurance or is on the List of Approved Surplus Line Insurers in the State of California, with an assigned policyholders’ Rating of A- (or higher) and Financial Size Category Class VII (or larger) in accordance with the latest edition of Best’s Key Rating Guide, unless otherwise approved by the City’s Risk Manager.
(F) Waiver of Subrogation. All insurance coverage maintained or procured pursuant to this agreement shall be endorsed to waive subrogation against the City, its elected or appointed officers, agents, officials, employees, volunteers, and representatives or shall specifically allow Consultant or others providing insurance evidence in compliance with these specifications to waive their right of recovery prior to a loss. Consultant hereby waives its own right of recovery against the City, its elected or appointed officers, agents, officials, employees, volunteers and representatives and shall require similar written express waivers and insurance clauses from each of its subconsultants.
(G) Enforcement of Contract Provisions (non estoppel).

Consultant acknowledges and agrees that any actual or alleged failure on the part of the City to inform Consultant of non-compliance with any requirement imposes no additional obligations on the City nor does it waive any rights hereunder.
(H) Requirements Not Limiting. Requirements of specific coverage features or limits contained in this Section are not intended as a limitation on coverage, limits or other requirements, or a waiver of any coverage normally provided by any insurance.

Specific reference to a given coverage feature is for purposes of clarification only as it pertains to a given issue and is not intended by any party or insured to be all inclusive, or to the exclusion of other coverage, or a waiver of any type. If the Consultant maintains higher limits than the minimums shown above, the City requires and shall be entitled to coverage for the higher limits maintained by the Consultant. Any available insurance proceeds in excess of the specified minimum limits of insurance and coverage shall be available to the City. (I) Notice of Cancellation. Consultant agrees to oblige its insurance agent or broker and insurers to provide City with a thirty (30) day notice of cancellation (except for nonpayment for which a ten (10) day notice is required) or nonrenewal of coverage for each required coverage.
(J) Additional Insured Status. General liability, automobile liability, and if applicable, pollution liability and cyber liability, policies shall provide or be endorsed to provide that the City and its officers, officials, employees, agents, volunteers and 374
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representatives shall be additional insureds with regard to liability and defense of suits or claims arising out of the performance of the Agreement, under such policies. This provision shall also apply to any excess/umbrella liability policies.
(K) Prohibition of Undisclosed Coverage Limitations. None of the coverages required herein will be in compliance with these requirements if they include any limiting endorsement of any kind that has not been first submitted to City and approved of in writing.
(L) Separation of Insureds. A severability of interests provision must apply for all additional insureds ensuring that Consultant’s insurance shall apply separately to each insured against whom claim is made or suit is brought, except with respect to the insurer’s limits of liability. The policy(ies) shall not contain any cross-liability exclusions. (M) Pass Through Clause. Consultant agrees to ensure that its subconsultants, subcontractors, and any other party involved with the Project who is brought onto or involved in the Project by Consultant, provide the same minimum insurance coverage and endorsements required of Consultant. Consultant agrees to monitor and review all such coverage and assumes all responsibility for ensuring that such coverage is provided in conformity with the requirements of this section. Consultant agrees that upon request, all agreements with subconsultants, subcontractors, and others engaged in the Project will be submitted to City for review.
(N) City’s Right to Revise Specifications. The City and the City’s Risk Manager reserve the right at any time during the term of the Agreement to change the amounts and types of insurance required by giving the Consultant ninety (90) days advance written notice of such change. If such change results in additional cost to the Consultant, the City and Consultant may renegotiate Consultant’s compensation. If the City reduces the insurance requirements, the change shall go into effect immediately and require no advanced written notice. (O) Self-Insured Retentions. Any self-insured retentions must be declared to and approved by City. City reserves the right to require that self-insured retentions be eliminated, lowered, or replaced by a deductible. Self-insurance will not be considered to comply with these specifications unless approved by City. (P) Timely Notice of Claims. Consultant shall give City prompt and timely notice of claims made or suits instituted that arise out of or result from Consultant’s performance under this Agreement, and that involve or may involve coverage under any of the required liability policies.
(Q) Additional Insurance. Consultant shall also procure and maintain, at its own cost and expense, any additional kinds of insurance, which in its own judgment may be necessary for its proper protection and prosecution of the Services.

3.2.12 Water Quality Management and Compliance. Consultant shall keep itself and all subcontractors, staff, and employees fully informed of and in compliance with all local, state and federal laws, rules and regulations that may impact, or be implicated by the performance of the Services including, without limitation, all applicable provisions of the City’s ordinances regulating water quality and storm water; the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251, et seq.); the California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Water Code § 13000 et seq.); and any and all regulations, policies, or permits issued pursuant to any such authority.

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drainage district, or other local agency with jurisdiction over the location where the Services are to be conducted, regulating water quality and storm water discharges. Failure to comply with laws, regulations, and ordinances listed in this Section is a violation of federal and state law. Consultant warrants that all employees and subcontractors shall have sufficient skill and experience to perform the work assigned to them without impacting water quality in violation of the laws, regulations, and policies of this Section.

3.3 Fees and Payments.

3.3.1 Compensation. Consultant shall receive compensation, including authorized reimbursements, for all Services provided pursuant to each Task Order under this Agreement at the rates set forth in Exhibit “B” attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. The total compensation shall not exceed Two Hundred Thousand and No Cents ($200,000.00) in aggregate, per fiscal year without written approval of the City Council or City Manager, as applicable.

3.3.2 Payment of Compensation. Consultant shall submit to City monthly invoices which provide a detailed description of the Services and hours rendered by Consultant.

City shall, within 30 days of receiving such invoice, review the invoice and pay all non-disputed and approved charges. If the City disputes any of Consultant's fees, the City shall give written notice to Consultant within thirty (30) days of receipt of an invoice of any disputed fees set forth therein. Consultant shall submit its final invoice to City within thirty (30) days from the last date of provided Services or termination of this Agreement and failure by the Consultant to submit a timely invoice may constitute a waiver of its right to final payment. Payment shall not constitute acceptance of any Services completed by Consultant. The making of final payment shall not constitute a waiver of any claims by the City for any reason whatsoever.

3.3.3 Reimbursement for Expenses. Consultant shall not be reimbursed for any expenses unless authorized in writing by City or included in Exhibit "B" of this Agreement.

3.3.4 Extra Work. At any time during the term of this Agreement, City may request that Consultant perform Extra Work. As used herein, "Extra Work" means any work which is determined by City to be necessary for the proper completion of the Project, but which the Parties did not reasonably anticipate would be necessary at the execution of this Agreement.

Consultant shall not perform, nor be compensated for, Extra Work without written authorization from the City.

3.4 Labor Code Requirements.

3.4.1 Prevailing Wages. Consultant is aware of the requirements of California Labor Code Section 1720, et seq., and 1770, et seq., as well as California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 16000, et seq., ("Prevailing Wage Laws"), which require the payment of prevailing wage rates and the performance of other requirements on "public works" and "maintenance" projects. If the Services are being performed as part of an applicable "public works" or "maintenance" project, as defined by the Prevailing Wage Laws, Consultant agrees to fully comply with such Prevailing Wage Laws. City shall provide Consultant with a copy of the prevailing rates of per diem wages in effect at the commencement of this Agreement. Consultant shall make copies of the prevailing rates of per diem wages for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to execute the Services available to interested parties upon request and shall post copies at the Consultant's principal place of business and at the project site. It is the intent of the parties to effectuate the requirements of sections 1771, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777.5, 1813, and 1815 of the Labor Code within this Agreement, and Consultant shall therefore comply with such Labor Code 376
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sections to the fullest extent required by law. Consultant shall defend, indemnify, and hold the City, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives, free and harmless from any claim or liability arising out of any failure or alleged failure to comply with the Prevailing Wage Laws.

3.4.2 Registration/DIR Compliance. If the Services are being performed on a public works project of over $25,000 when the project is for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work, or a public works project of over $15,000 when the project is for maintenance work, in addition to the foregoing, then pursuant to Labor Code sections 1725.5 and 1771.1, the Consultant and all subconsultants must be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”). Consultant shall maintain registration for the duration of the Project and require the same of any subconsultants. This Project may also be subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the DIR. It shall be Consultant’s sole responsibility to comply with all applicable registration and labor compliance requirements, including the submission of payroll records directly to the DIR. Any stop orders issued by the DIR against Consultant or any subconsultant that affect Consultant’s performance of Services, including any delay, shall be Consultant’s sole responsibility. Any delay arising out of or resulting from such stop orders shall be considered Consultant caused delay and shall not be compensable by the City. Consultant shall defend, indemnify, and hold the City, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives free and harmless from any claim or liability arising out of stop orders issued by the DIR against Consultant or any subconsultant.

3.4.3 Labor Certification. By its signature hereunder, Consultant certifies that it is aware of the provisions of Section 3700 of the California Labor Code which require every employer to be insured against liability for Worker's Compensation or to undertake self-insurance in accordance with the provisions of that Code and agrees to comply with such provisions before commencing the performance of the Services.

3.5 Accounting Records.

3.5.1 Maintenance and Inspection. Consultant shall maintain complete and accurate records with respect to all costs and expenses incurred under this Agreement. All such records shall be clearly identifiable. Consultant shall allow a representative of City during normal business hours to examine, audit, and make transcripts or copies of such records and any other documents created pursuant to this Agreement. Consultant shall allow inspection of all work, data, documents, proceedings, and activities related to the Agreement for a period of three (3) years from the date of final payment under this Agreement.

3.6 General Provisions.

3.6.1 Termination of Agreement.

3.6.1.1 Grounds for Termination. City may, by written notice to Consultant, terminate the whole or any part of this Agreement at any time and without cause by giving written notice to Consultant of such termination, and specifying the effective date thereof, at least seven (7) days before the effective date of such termination. Upon termination, Consultant shall be compensated only for those Services which have been adequately rendered to City, and Consultant shall be entitled to no further compensation. Consultant may not terminate this Agreement except for cause. The rights and remedies of the City provided in this section shall not be exclusive and are in addition to any other rights and remedies provided by law, equity or under this Agreement.
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3.6.1.2 Effect of Termination. If this Agreement is terminated as provided herein, City may require Consultant to provide all finished or unfinished Documents and Data and other information of any kind prepared by Consultant in connection with the performance of Services under this Agreement. Consultant shall be required to provide such document and other information within fifteen (15) days of the request.

3.6.1.3 Early Termination. Notwithstanding any provision herein to the contrary, if for any fiscal year of this Agreement the City Council fails to appropriate or allocate funds for future payment under the Agreement after exercising reasonable efforts to do so, the City may upon seven (7) days’ written notice, order work on the Project to cease. Upon termination, Consultant shall be compensated only for those Services which have been adequately rendered to City, and Consultant shall be entitled to no further compensation.

3.6.1.4 Additional Services. In the event this Agreement is terminated in whole or in part as provided herein, City may procure, upon such terms and in such manner as it may determine appropriate, services similar to those terminated.

3.6.2 Delivery of Notices. All notices permitted or required under this Agreement shall be given to the respective parties at the following address, or at such other address as the respective parties may provide in writing for this purpose:

Consultant: The Criscom Company
9550 Topanga Canyon Blvd.

Chatsworth, CA 93212
ATTN: Renee Missakian, Executive Vice President
City: City of Palm Desert
73-510 Fred Waring Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92260-2578
ATTN: Joe Barron, Finance Department
Such notice shall be deemed made when personally delivered or when mailed, forty-eight (48) hours after deposit in the U.S. Mail, first class postage prepaid and addressed to the party at its applicable address. Actual notice shall be deemed adequate notice on the date actual notice occurred, regardless of the method of service.

3.6.3 Ownership of Materials and Confidentiality.

3.6.3.1 Documents & Data; Licensing of Intellectual Property. This Agreement creates a non-exclusive and perpetual license for City to copy, use, modify, reuse, or sublicense any and all copyrights, designs, and other intellectual property embodied in plans, specifications, studies, drawings, estimates, and other documents or works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, including but not limited to, physical drawings or data magnetically or otherwise recorded on computer diskettes, which are prepared or caused to be prepared by Consultant under this Agreement ("Documents & Data"). All Documents & Data shall be and remain the property of City and shall not be used in whole or in substantial part by Consultant on other projects without the City’s express written permission. Within thirty (30) days following the completion, suspension, abandonment or termination of this Agreement, Consultant shall provide to City reproducible copies of all Documents & Data, in a form and amount required by City. City reserves the right to select the method of document reproduction and to establish where the reproduction will be accomplished. The reproduction expense shall be borne by City at 378
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the actual cost of duplication. In the event of a dispute regarding the amount of compensation to which the Consultant is entitled under the termination provisions of this Agreement, Consultant shall provide all Documents & Data to City upon payment of the undisputed amount. Consultant shall have no right to retain or fail to provide to City any such documents pending resolution of the dispute. In addition, Consultant shall retain copies of all Documents & Data on file for a minimum of fifteen (15) years following completion of the Project and shall make copies available to City upon the payment of actual reasonable duplication costs. Before destroying the Documents & Data following this retention period, Consultant shall make a reasonable effort to notify City and provide City with the opportunity to obtain the documents.

3.6.3.2 Subconsultants. Consultant shall require all subconsultants to agree in writing that City is granted a non-exclusive and perpetual license for any Documents & Data the subconsultant prepares under this Agreement. Consultant represents and warrants that Consultant has the legal right to license any and all Documents & Data. Consultant makes no such representation and warranty in regard to Documents & Data which were prepared by professionals other than Consultant or its subconsultants, or those provided to Consultant by the City.

3.6.3.3 Right to Use. City shall not be limited in any way in its use or reuse of the Documents and Data or any part of them at any time for purposes of this Project or another project, provided that any such use not within the purposes intended by this Agreement or on a project other than this Project without employing the services of Consultant shall be at City’s sole risk. If City uses or reuses the Documents & Data on any project other than this Project, it shall remove the Consultant’s seal from the Documents & Data and indemnify and hold harmless Consultant and its officers, directors, agents, and employees from claims arising out of the negligent use or re-use of the Documents & Data on such other project. Consultant shall be responsible and liable for its Documents & Data, pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, only with respect to the condition of the Documents & Data at the time they are provided to the City upon completion, suspension, abandonment, or termination. Consultant shall not be responsible or liable for any revisions to the Documents & Data made by any party other than Consultant, a party for whom the Consultant is legally responsible or liable, or anyone approved by the Consultant.

3.6.3.4 Indemnification – Documents and Data. Consultant shall defend, indemnify and hold the City, its directors, officials, officers, employees, volunteers, agents and representatives free and harmless, pursuant to the indemnification provisions of this Agreement, for any alleged infringement of any patent, copyright, trade secret, trade name, trademark, or any other proprietary right of any person or entity in consequence of the use on the Project by City of the Documents & Data, including any method, process, product, or concept specified or depicted.

3.6.3.5 Confidentiality. All ideas, memoranda, specifications, plans, procedures, drawings, descriptions, computer program data, input record data, written information, and other Documents & Data either created by or provided to Consultant in connection with the performance of this Agreement shall be held confidential by Consultant. Such materials shall not, without the prior written consent of City, be used by Consultant for any purposes other than the performance of the Services. Nor shall such materials be disclosed to any person or entity not connected with the performance of the Services or the Project. Nothing furnished to Consultant which is otherwise known to Consultant or is generally known, or has become known, to the related industry shall be deemed confidential. Consultant shall not use City's name or insignia, photographs of the Project, or any publicity pertaining to the Services or 379
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the Project in any magazine, trade paper, newspaper, television or radio production or other similar medium without the prior written consent of City.

3.6.3.6 Confidential Information. The City shall refrain from releasing Consultant’s proprietary information ("Proprietary Information") unless the City's legal counsel determines that the release of the Proprietary Information is required by the California Public Records Act or other applicable state or federal law, or order of a court of competent jurisdiction, in which case the City shall notify Consultant of its intention to release Proprietary Information. Consultant shall have five (5) working days after receipt of the release notice to give City written notice of Consultant's objection to the City's release of Proprietary Information.

Consultant shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the City, and its officers, directors, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives from and against all liability, loss, cost or expense (including attorney’s fees) arising out of a legal action brought to compel the release of Proprietary Information. City shall not release the Proprietary Information after receipt of an objection notice unless either: (1) Consultant fails to fully indemnify, defend (with City's choice of legal counsel), and hold City harmless from any legal action brought to compel such release; and/or (2) a final and non-appealable order by a court of competent jurisdiction requires that City release such information.

3.6.4 Cooperation; Further Acts. The Parties shall fully cooperate with one another and shall take any additional acts or sign any additional documents as may be necessary, appropriate, or convenient to attain the purposes of this Agreement.

3.6.5 [Reserved]

3.6.6 Indemnification.

3.6.6.1 To the fullest extent permitted by law, Consultant shall defend (with counsel of City’s choosing), indemnify and hold the City, its officials, officers, employees, volunteers, agents, and representatives free and harmless from any and all claims, demands, causes of action, costs, expenses, liability, loss, damage or injury of any kind, in law or equity, to property or persons, including wrongful death, in any manner arising out of, pertaining to, or incident to any acts, errors or omissions, or willful misconduct of Consultant, its officials, officers, employees, subconsultants or agents in connection with the performance of the Consultant’s Services, the Project or this Agreement, including without limitation the payment of all expert witness fees, attorney’s fees and other related costs and expenses except such loss or damage caused by the sole negligence or willful misconduct of the City. Consultant's obligation to indemnify shall survive expiration or termination of this Agreement and shall not be restricted to insurance proceeds, if any, received by Consultant, the City, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers, or representatives.

3.6.6.2 If Consultant’s obligation to defend, indemnify, and/or hold harmless arises out of Consultant’s performance as a “design professional” (as that term is defined under Civil Code section 2782.8), then, and only to the extent required by Civil Code section 2782.8, which is fully incorporated herein, Consultant’s indemnification obligation shall be limited to claims that arise out of, pertain to, or relate to the negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct of the Consultant, and, upon Consultant obtaining a final adjudication by a court of competent jurisdiction, Consultant’s liability for such claim, including the cost to defend, shall not exceed the Consultant’s proportionate percentage of fault.

3.6.7 Entire Agreement. This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior negotiations, 380
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understandings, or agreements.

3.6.8 Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. Venue shall be in Riverside County.

3.6.9 Time of Essence. Time is of the essence for each and every provision of this Agreement.

3.6.10 City's Right to Employ Other Consultants. City reserves right to employ other consultants in connection with this Project.

3.6.11 Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall be binding on the successors and assigns of the Parties.

3.6.12 Assignment; Subcontracting. Consultant shall not assign, sublet, or transfer this Agreement or any rights under or interest in this Agreement without the written consent of the City, which may be withheld for any reason. Any attempt to so assign or so transfer without such consent shall be void and without legal effect and shall constitute grounds for termination. Consultant shall not subcontract any portion of the Services required by this Agreement, except as expressly stated herein, without prior written approval of City.

Subcontracts, if any, shall contain a provision making them subject to all provisions stipulated in this Agreement.

3.6.13 Construction; References; Captions. Since the Parties or their agents have participated fully in the preparation of this Agreement, the language of this Agreement shall be construed simply, according to its fair meaning, and not strictly for or against any Party. Any term referencing time, days or period for performance shall be deemed calendar days and not workdays. All references to Consultant include all personnel, employees, agents, and subconsultants of Consultant, except as otherwise specified in this Agreement. All references to City include its elected officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers, and representatives except as otherwise specified in this Agreement. The captions of the various articles and paragraphs are for convenience and ease of reference only, and do not define, limit, augment, or describe the scope, content, or intent of this Agreement.

3.6.14 Amendment; Modification. No supplement, modification, or amendment of this Agreement shall be binding unless executed in writing and signed by both Parties.

3.6.15 Waiver. No waiver of any default shall constitute a waiver of any other default or breach, whether of the same or other covenant or condition. No waiver, benefit, privilege, or service voluntarily given or performed by a Party shall give the other Party any contractual rights by custom, estoppel, or otherwise.

3.6.16 No Third-Party Beneficiaries. There are no intended third-party beneficiaries of any right or obligation assumed by the Parties.

3.6.17 Invalidity; Severability. If any portion of this Agreement is declared invalid, illegal, or otherwise unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

3.6.18 Prohibited Interests. Consultant maintains and warrants that it has not employed nor retained any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working solely for Consultant, to solicit or secure this Agreement. Further, Consultant warrants that it has not 381
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paid, nor has it agreed to pay any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working solely for Consultant, any fee, commission, percentage, brokerage fee, gift or other consideration contingent upon or resulting from the award or making of this Agreement. For breach or violation of this warranty, City shall have the right to rescind this Agreement without liability. For the term of this Agreement, no member, officer, or employee of City, during the term of his or her service with City, shall have any direct interest in this Agreement, or obtain any present or anticipated material benefit arising therefrom.

3.6.19 Authority to Enter Agreement. Consultant has all requisite power and authority to conduct its business and to execute, deliver, and perform the Agreement. Each Party warrants that the individuals who have signed this Agreement have the legal power, right, and authority to make this Agreement and bind each respective Party.

3.6.20 Counterparts. This Agreement may be signed in counterparts, each of which shall constitute an original.

3.6.21 Survival. All rights and obligations hereunder that by their nature are to continue after any expiration or termination of this Agreement, including, but not limited to, the indemnification obligations, shall survive any such expiration or termination. [SIGNATURES ON NEXT PAGE]
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SIGNATURE PAGE TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALM DESERT

AND THE CRISCOM COMPANY
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the Parties has caused this Agreement to be executed on the day and year first above written.

CITY OF PALM DESERT
By:

L. Todd Hileman
City Manager
Attest:

By:

Anthony J. Mejia
City Clerk
Approved as to form:

By:

Isra Shah
Best Best & Krieger LLP
City Attorney

THE CRISCOM COMPANY, A

CORPORATION
By:

Renee Missakian
Executive Vice President
Chief Operations Officer
City Clerk QC:
_____
Contracts QC:
_____
Insurance:
_____
Initial Review
_____
Final Approval
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EXHIBIT “A”

SCOPE OF SERVICES
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EXHIBIT "B"

COMPENSATION
In the event that this Agreement is renewed pursuant to Section 3.1.2, the rates set forth above may be increased or reduced each year at the time of renewal, but any increase shall not exceed the Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. 385
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Exhibit “C”
Task Order Form
Task Order No.____________
Agreement: ______________
Consultant: ______________
Consultant is hereby authorized to perform the following work subject to the provisions of the Agreement identified above:

List any attachments:

Dollar Amount of Task Order: Not to exceed $____________.00 Completion Date: ____________
The undersigned Consultant hereby agrees that it will provide all materials, except as may be otherwise noted above, and perform all work specified above in accordance with the Agreement identified above and will accept as full payment therefore the amount showed above.

CITY OF PALM DESERT THE CRISCOM COMPANY
Date: __________________ Date:_________________
By:______________________ By:___________________
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CITY OF PALM DESERT

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

1. Parties and Date. This Agreement is made and entered into this 26th day of September, 2024, by and between the City of Palm Desert, a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of California with its principal place of business at 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260-2578 (“City”) and Ardurra Group, Inc., a Corporation, with its principal place of business at 434410 Business Park Drive Temecula, California 92590 ("Vendor"). The City and Vendor are sometimes individually referred to herein as "Party" and collectively as "Parties."

2. Recitals.

2.1 Project.

The City is a public agency of the State of California and is in need of professional services for the following project:

Grant Writing-Advocacy Services Project
(hereinafter referred to as “the Project”).

2.2 Consultant.

Consultant desires to perform and assume responsibility for the provision of certain professional services required by the City on the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.

Consultant is duly licensed and has the necessary qualifications to provide such services.

3. Terms.

3.1 Scope of Services and Term.

3.2 Responsibilities of Consultant.

Any personnel performing the Services shall not be employees of City and shall at all times be under Consultant's exclusive direction and control. Neither City, or any of its officials, officers, directors, employees, or agents shall have control over the conduct of Consultant or any of Consultants officers, employees or agents, except as set forth in this Agreement. Consultant shall pay all wages, salaries, and other amounts due such personnel in connection with their 407
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performance of Services under this Agreement and as required by law. Consultant shall be responsible for all reports and obligations respecting such additional personnel, including, but not limited to: social security taxes, income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.

3.2.3 Conformance to Applicable Requirements. All work prepared by Consultant shall be subject to the approval of City.

The key personnel for performance of this Agreement are as follows: Nicole Jules, Project Manager.

3.2.6 Consultant's Representative. Consultant hereby designates Nicole Jules, Project Manager, or his/her designee, to act as its representative for the performance of this Agreement ("Consultant's Representative"). Consultant's Representative shall have full authority to represent and act on behalf of the Consultant for all purposes under this Agreement. The Consultant's Representative shall supervise and direct the Services, using his/her best skill and attention, and shall be responsible for all means, methods, techniques, sequences, and procedures and for the satisfactory coordination of all portions of the Services under this Agreement.

3.2.8 Standard of Care; Performance of Employees. Consultant shall perform all Services under this Agreement in a skillful and competent manner, consistent with the standards generally recognized as being employed by professionals in the same discipline in the State of California. Consultant represents and maintains that it is skilled in the professional calling necessary to perform the Services. Consultant warrants that all employees and subconsultants shall have sufficient skill and experience to perform the Services assigned to them. Consultant represents that it, its employees and subconsultants have all licenses, permits, qualifications and 408
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approvals of whatever nature that are legally required to perform the Services, and that such licenses and approvals shall be maintained throughout the term of this Agreement. Consultant shall perform, at its own cost and expense and without reimbursement from the City, any services necessary to correct errors or omissions which are caused by the Consultant's failure to comply with the standard of care provided herein. Any employee of the Consultant or its sub-consultants who is determined by the City to be uncooperative, incompetent, a threat to the adequate or timely completion of the Project, a threat to the safety of persons or property, or any employee who fails or refuses to perform the Services in a manner acceptable to the City, shall be promptly removed from the Project by the Consultant and shall not be re-employed to perform any of the Services or to work on the Project.

3.2.9 Period of Performance. Consultant shall perform and complete all Services under this Agreement within the term set forth in Section 3.1.2 above (“Performance Time”).

Notwithstanding the foregoing in this section, the City may still terminate this Agreement in accordance with the termination provisions of this Agreement.

3.2.10.1 Employment Eligibility; Consultant. Consultant certifies that it fully complies with all requirements and restrictions of state and federal law respecting the 409
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employment of undocumented aliens, including, but not limited to, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, as may be amended from time to time and shall require all subconsultants and sub-subconsultants to comply with the same. Consultant certifies that it has not committed a violation of any such law within the five (5) years immediately preceding the date of execution of this Agreement and shall not violate any such law at any time during the term of the Agreement.

3.2.11 Insurance.

Consultant shall maintain professional liability insurance that covers the Services to be performed in connection with this Agreement, in the minimum amount of $1,000,000 per claim and in the aggregate. Any policy inception date, continuity date, or retroactive date must be before the effective date of this Agreement and Consultant agrees to maintain continuous coverage through a period no less than three years after completion of the Services required by this Agreement. 410
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(D) Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Consultant shall
maintain Workers’ Compensation Insurance (Statutory Limits) and Employer’s Liability Insurance (with limits of at least $1,000,000). Consultant shall submit to City, along with the certificate of insurance, a Waiver of Subrogation endorsement in favor of the City, its officers, agents, employees, volunteers, and representatives.
(E) Umbrella or Excess Liability Insurance. Consultant may opt to utilize umbrella or excess liability insurance in meeting insurance requirements. In such circumstances, Consultant shall obtain and maintain an umbrella or excess liability insurance policy with limits that will provide bodily injury, personal injury and property damage liability coverage at least as broad as the primary coverages set forth above, including commercial general liability and employer’s liability. Such policy or policies shall include the following terms and conditions:
(1) A drop-down feature requiring the policy to respond if any primary insurance that would otherwise have
applied proves to be uncollectible in whole or in part for any reason;
(2) Pay on behalf of wording as opposed to reimbursement; (3) Concurrency of effective dates with primary policies; and (4) Policies shall “follow form” to the underlying primary policies.
(5) Insureds under primary policies shall also be insureds under the umbrella or excess policies.
(F) Fidelity Coverage. (Reserved)
(G) Cyber Liability Insurance. (Reserved)
If coverage is maintained on a claims-made basis, Consultant shall maintain such coverage for an additional period of three (3) years following termination of the Agreement.

3.2.11.2 Other Provisions or Requirements.
(A) Proof of Insurance. Consultant shall provide certificates of insurance to City as evidence of the insurance coverage required herein, along with a waiver of subrogation endorsement for workers’ compensation. Insurance certificates and endorsements must be approved by City’s Risk Manager prior to commencement of performance. Current certification of insurance shall be kept on file with City at all times during the term of this Agreement. City reserves the right to require complete, certified copies of all required insurance policies, at any time.
(B) Duration of Coverage. Consultant shall procure and
maintain for the duration of the Agreement insurance against claims for injuries to persons or damages to property, which may arise from or in connection with the performance of the Services hereunder by Consultant, his/her agents, representatives, employees or subconsultants. (C) Primary/Non-Contributing. Coverage provided by
Consultant shall be primary and any insurance or self-insurance procured or maintained by City 411
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shall not be required to contribute with it. The limits of insurance required herein may be satisfied by a combination of primary and umbrella or excess insurance. Any umbrella or excess insurance shall contain or be endorsed to contain a provision that such coverage shall also apply on a primary and non-contributory basis for the benefit of City before the City’s own insurance or selfinsurance shall be called upon to protect it as a named insured. (D) City’s Rights of Enforcement. In the event any policy of insurance required under this Agreement does not comply with these specifications, or is canceled and not replaced, City has the right, but not the duty, to obtain the insurance it deems necessary, and any premium paid by City will be promptly reimbursed by Consultant, or City will withhold amounts sufficient to pay premium from Consultant payments. In the alternative, City may terminate this Agreement.
(E) Acceptable Insurers. All insurance policies shall be issued by an insurance company currently authorized by the Insurance Commissioner to transact business of insurance or is on the List of Approved Surplus Line Insurers in the State of California, with an assigned policyholders’ Rating of A- (or higher) and Financial Size Category Class VII (or larger) in accordance with the latest edition of Best’s Key Rating Guide, unless otherwise approved by the City’s Risk Manager.
(F) Waiver of Subrogation. All insurance coverage maintained or procured pursuant to this agreement shall be endorsed to waive subrogation against the City, its elected or appointed officers, agents, officials, employees, volunteers, and representatives or shall specifically allow Consultant or others providing insurance evidence in compliance with these specifications to waive their right of recovery prior to a loss. Consultant hereby waives its own right of recovery against the City, its elected or appointed officers, agents, officials, employees, volunteers and representatives and shall require similar written express waivers and insurance clauses from each of its subconsultants.
(G) Enforcement of Contract Provisions (non estoppel).

Specific reference to a given coverage feature is for purposes of clarification only as it pertains to a given issue and is not intended by any party or insured to be all inclusive, or to the exclusion of other coverage, or a waiver of any type. If the Consultant maintains higher limits than the minimums shown above, the City requires and shall be entitled to coverage for the higher limits maintained by the Consultant. Any available insurance proceeds in excess of the specified minimum limits of insurance and coverage shall be available to the City. (I) Notice of Cancellation. Consultant agrees to oblige its insurance agent or broker and insurers to provide City with a thirty (30) day notice of cancellation (except for nonpayment for which a ten (10) day notice is required) or nonrenewal of coverage for each required coverage.
(J) Additional Insured Status. General liability, automobile liability, and if applicable, pollution liability and cyber liability, policies shall provide or be endorsed to provide that the City and its officers, officials, employees, agents, volunteers and 412
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representatives shall be additional insureds with regard to liability and defense of suits or claims arising out of the performance of the Agreement, under such policies. This provision shall also apply to any excess/umbrella liability policies.
(K) Prohibition of Undisclosed Coverage Limitations. None of the coverages required herein will be in compliance with these requirements if they include any limiting endorsement of any kind that has not been first submitted to City and approved of in writing.
(L) Separation of Insureds. A severability of interests provision must apply for all additional insureds ensuring that Consultant’s insurance shall apply separately to each insured against whom claim is made or suit is brought, except with respect to the insurer’s limits of liability. The policy(ies) shall not contain any cross-liability exclusions. (M) Pass Through Clause. Consultant agrees to ensure that its subconsultants, subcontractors, and any other party involved with the Project who is brought onto or involved in the Project by Consultant, provide the same minimum insurance coverage and endorsements required of Consultant. Consultant agrees to monitor and review all such coverage and assumes all responsibility for ensuring that such coverage is provided in conformity with the requirements of this section. Consultant agrees that upon request, all agreements with subconsultants, subcontractors, and others engaged in the Project will be submitted to City for review.
(N) City’s Right to Revise Specifications. The City and the City’s Risk Manager reserve the right at any time during the term of the Agreement to change the amounts and types of insurance required by giving the Consultant ninety (90) days advance written notice of such change. If such change results in additional cost to the Consultant, the City and Consultant may renegotiate Consultant’s compensation. If the City reduces the insurance requirements, the change shall go into effect immediately and require no advanced written notice. (O) Self-Insured Retentions. Any self-insured retentions must be declared to and approved by City. City reserves the right to require that self-insured retentions be eliminated, lowered, or replaced by a deductible. Self-insurance will not be considered to comply with these specifications unless approved by City. (P) Timely Notice of Claims. Consultant shall give City prompt and timely notice of claims made or suits instituted that arise out of or result from Consultant’s performance under this Agreement, and that involve or may involve coverage under any of the required liability policies.
(Q) Additional Insurance. Consultant shall also procure and maintain, at its own cost and expense, any additional kinds of insurance, which in its own judgment may be necessary for its proper protection and prosecution of the Services.

Consultant must comply with the lawful requirements of the City, and any other municipality, 413
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drainage district, or other local agency with jurisdiction over the location where the Services are to be conducted, regulating water quality and storm water discharges. Failure to comply with laws, regulations, and ordinances listed in this Section is a violation of federal and state law. Consultant warrants that all employees and subcontractors shall have sufficient skill and experience to perform the work assigned to them without impacting water quality in violation of the laws, regulations, and policies of this Section.

3.3 Fees and Payments.

3.3.2 Payment of Compensation. Consultant shall submit to City monthly invoices which provide a detailed description of the Services and hours rendered by Consultant.

3.3.3 Reimbursement for Expenses. Consultant shall not be reimbursed for any expenses unless authorized in writing by City or included in Exhibit "B" of this Agreement.

Consultant shall not perform, nor be compensated for, Extra Work without written authorization from the City.

3.4 Labor Code Requirements.

3.4.1 Prevailing Wages. Consultant is aware of the requirements of California Labor Code Section 1720, et seq., and 1770, et seq., as well as California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 16000, et seq., ("Prevailing Wage Laws"), which require the payment of prevailing wage rates and the performance of other requirements on "public works" and "maintenance" projects. If the Services are being performed as part of an applicable "public works" or "maintenance" project, as defined by the Prevailing Wage Laws, Consultant agrees to fully comply with such Prevailing Wage Laws. City shall provide Consultant with a copy of the prevailing rates of per diem wages in effect at the commencement of this Agreement. Consultant shall make copies of the prevailing rates of per diem wages for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to execute the Services available to interested parties upon request and shall post copies at the Consultant's principal place of business and at the project site. It is the intent of the parties to effectuate the requirements of sections 1771, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777.5, 1813, and 1815 of the Labor Code within this Agreement, and Consultant shall therefore comply with such Labor Code 414
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sections to the fullest extent required by law. Consultant shall defend, indemnify, and hold the City, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives, free and harmless from any claim or liability arising out of any failure or alleged failure to comply with the Prevailing Wage Laws.

3.5 Accounting Records.

3.6 General Provisions.

3.6.1 Termination of Agreement.

3.6.1.1 Grounds for Termination. City may, by written notice to Consultant, terminate the whole or any part of this Agreement at any time and without cause by giving written notice to Consultant of such termination, and specifying the effective date thereof, at least seven (7) days before the effective date of such termination. Upon termination, Consultant shall be compensated only for those Services which have been adequately rendered to City, and Consultant shall be entitled to no further compensation. Consultant may not terminate this Agreement except for cause. The rights and remedies of the City provided in this section shall not be exclusive and are in addition to any other rights and remedies provided by law, equity or under this Agreement.
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Consultant: Ardurra Group, Inc.
43410 Business Park Drive
Temecula, CA 92590
ATTN: Nichole Jules, Project Manager
City: City of Palm Desert
73-510 Fred Waring Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92260-2578
ATTN: Joe Barron, Finance Department
Such notice shall be deemed made when personally delivered or when mailed, forty-eight (48) hours after deposit in the U.S. Mail, first class postage prepaid and addressed to the party at its applicable address. Actual notice shall be deemed adequate notice on the date actual notice occurred, regardless of the method of service.

3.6.3 Ownership of Materials and Confidentiality.

3.6.3.1 Documents & Data; Licensing of Intellectual Property. This Agreement creates a non-exclusive and perpetual license for City to copy, use, modify, reuse, or sublicense any and all copyrights, designs, and other intellectual property embodied in plans, specifications, studies, drawings, estimates, and other documents or works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, including but not limited to, physical drawings or data magnetically or otherwise recorded on computer diskettes, which are prepared or caused to be prepared by Consultant under this Agreement ("Documents & Data"). All Documents & Data shall be and remain the property of City and shall not be used in whole or in substantial part by Consultant on other projects without the City’s express written permission. Within thirty (30) days following the completion, suspension, abandonment or termination of this Agreement, Consultant shall provide to City reproducible copies of all Documents & Data, in a form and amount required by City. City reserves the right to select the method of document reproduction and to establish where the reproduction will be accomplished. The reproduction expense shall be borne by City at 416
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the actual cost of duplication. In the event of a dispute regarding the amount of compensation to which the Consultant is entitled under the termination provisions of this Agreement, Consultant shall provide all Documents & Data to City upon payment of the undisputed amount. Consultant shall have no right to retain or fail to provide to City any such documents pending resolution of the dispute. In addition, Consultant shall retain copies of all Documents & Data on file for a minimum of fifteen (15) years following completion of the Project and shall make copies available to City upon the payment of actual reasonable duplication costs. Before destroying the Documents & Data following this retention period, Consultant shall make a reasonable effort to notify City and provide City with the opportunity to obtain the documents.

3.6.3.5 Confidentiality. All ideas, memoranda, specifications, plans, procedures, drawings, descriptions, computer program data, input record data, written information, and other Documents & Data either created by or provided to Consultant in connection with the performance of this Agreement shall be held confidential by Consultant. Such materials shall not, without the prior written consent of City, be used by Consultant for any purposes other than the performance of the Services. Nor shall such materials be disclosed to any person or entity not connected with the performance of the Services or the Project. Nothing furnished to Consultant which is otherwise known to Consultant or is generally known, or has become known, to the related industry shall be deemed confidential. Consultant shall not use City's name or insignia, photographs of the Project, or any publicity pertaining to the Services or 417
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the Project in any magazine, trade paper, newspaper, television or radio production or other similar medium without the prior written consent of City.

3.6.5 [Reserved]

3.6.6 Indemnification.

3.6.7 Entire Agreement. This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior negotiations, 418
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understandings, or agreements.

3.6.8 Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. Venue shall be in Riverside County.

3.6.9 Time of Essence. Time is of the essence for each and every provision of this Agreement.

3.6.10 City's Right to Employ Other Consultants. City reserves right to employ other consultants in connection with this Project.

3.6.11 Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall be binding on the successors and assigns of the Parties.

Subcontracts, if any, shall contain a provision making them subject to all provisions stipulated in this Agreement.

3.6.14 Amendment; Modification. No supplement, modification, or amendment of this Agreement shall be binding unless executed in writing and signed by both Parties.

3.6.16 No Third-Party Beneficiaries. There are no intended third-party beneficiaries of any right or obligation assumed by the Parties.

3.6.18 Prohibited Interests. Consultant maintains and warrants that it has not employed nor retained any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working solely for Consultant, to solicit or secure this Agreement. Further, Consultant warrants that it has not 419
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paid, nor has it agreed to pay any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working solely for Consultant, any fee, commission, percentage, brokerage fee, gift or other consideration contingent upon or resulting from the award or making of this Agreement. For breach or violation of this warranty, City shall have the right to rescind this Agreement without liability. For the term of this Agreement, no member, officer, or employee of City, during the term of his or her service with City, shall have any direct interest in this Agreement, or obtain any present or anticipated material benefit arising therefrom.

3.6.20 Counterparts. This Agreement may be signed in counterparts, each of which shall constitute an original.

3.6.21 Survival. All rights and obligations hereunder that by their nature are to continue after any expiration or termination of this Agreement, including, but not limited to, the indemnification obligations, shall survive any such expiration or termination. [SIGNATURES ON NEXT PAGE]
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SIGNATURE PAGE TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALM DESERT
AND ARDURRA GROUP, INC.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the Parties has caused this Agreement to be executed on the day and year first above written.

CITY OF PALM DESERT
By:

L. Todd Hileman
City Manager
Attest:

By:

Anthony J. Mejia
City Clerk
Approved as to form:

By:

Isra Shah
Best Best & Krieger LLP
City Attorney

ARDURRA GROUP, A CORPORATION
By:

Lisa M. Penna
Regional Director
By:

Carmen Kasner
Southwest Operations Director
City Clerk QC:
_____
Contracts QC:
_____
Insurance:
_____
Initial Review
_____
Final Approval
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EXHIBIT “A”

SCOPE OF SERVICES
[***INSERT SCOPE***]
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EXHIBIT "B"

COMPENSATION
In the event that this Agreement is renewed pursuant to Section 3.1.2, the rates set forth above may be increased or reduced each year at the time of renewal, but any increase shall not exceed the Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. 423
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Exhibit “C”
Task Order Form
Task Order No.____________
Agreement: ______________
Consultant: ______________
Consultant is hereby authorized to perform the following work subject to the provisions of the Agreement identified above:

List any attachments:

CITY OF PALM DESERT ARDURRA GROUP, INC.

Date: __________________ Date:_________________
By:______________________ By:___________________
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CITY OF PALM DESERT

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

1. Parties and Date. This Agreement is made and entered into this 26th day of September, 2024, by and between the City of Palm Desert, a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of California with its principal place of business at 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260-2578 (“City”) and Engineering Solutions Services, Inc., an S Corporation, with its principal place of business at 23232 Peralta Drive, Suite 112, Laguna Hills, California 92653 ("Vendor"). The City and Vendor are sometimes individually referred to herein as "Party" and collectively as "Parties."

2. Recitals.

2.1 Project.

The City is a public agency of the State of California and is in need of professional services for the following project:

Grant Writing-Advocacy Services Project
(hereinafter referred to as “the Project”).

2.2 Consultant.

Consultant desires to perform and assume responsibility for the provision of certain professional services required by the City on the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.

Consultant is duly licensed and has the necessary qualifications to provide such services.

3. Terms.

3.1 Scope of Services and Term.

3.2 Responsibilities of Consultant.

Any personnel performing the Services shall not be employees of City and shall at all times be under Consultant's exclusive direction and control. Neither City, or any of its officials, officers, directors, employees, or agents shall have control over the conduct of Consultant or any of Consultants officers, employees or agents, except as set forth in this Agreement. Consultant shall pay all wages, salaries, and other amounts due such personnel in connection with their 497
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performance of Services under this Agreement and as required by law. Consultant shall be responsible for all reports and obligations respecting such additional personnel, including, but not limited to: social security taxes, income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.

3.2.3 Conformance to Applicable Requirements. All work prepared by Consultant shall be subject to the approval of City.

The key personnel for performance of this Agreement are as follows: Sudi Shoja, Principal.

3.2.6 Consultant's Representative. Consultant hereby designates Sudi Shoja, Principal, or his/her designee, to act as its representative for the performance of this Agreement ("Consultant's Representative"). Consultant's Representative shall have full authority to represent and act on behalf of the Consultant for all purposes under this Agreement. The Consultant's Representative shall supervise and direct the Services, using his/her best skill and attention, and shall be responsible for all means, methods, techniques, sequences, and procedures and for the satisfactory coordination of all portions of the Services under this Agreement.

3.2.8 Standard of Care; Performance of Employees. Consultant shall perform all Services under this Agreement in a skillful and competent manner, consistent with the standards generally recognized as being employed by professionals in the same discipline in the State of California. Consultant represents and maintains that it is skilled in the professional calling necessary to perform the Services. Consultant warrants that all employees and subconsultants shall have sufficient skill and experience to perform the Services assigned to them. Consultant represents that it, its employees and subconsultants have all licenses, permits, qualifications and approvals of whatever nature that are legally required to perform the Services, and that such licenses and approvals shall be maintained throughout the term of this Agreement. Consultant 498
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shall perform, at its own cost and expense and without reimbursement from the City, any services necessary to correct errors or omissions which are caused by the Consultant's failure to comply with the standard of care provided herein. Any employee of the Consultant or its sub-consultants who is determined by the City to be uncooperative, incompetent, a threat to the adequate or timely completion of the Project, a threat to the safety of persons or property, or any employee who fails or refuses to perform the Services in a manner acceptable to the City, shall be promptly removed from the Project by the Consultant and shall not be re-employed to perform any of the Services or to work on the Project.

3.2.9 Period of Performance. Consultant shall perform and complete all Services under this Agreement within the term set forth in Section 3.1.2 above (“Performance Time”).

Notwithstanding the foregoing in this section, the City may still terminate this Agreement in accordance with the termination provisions of this Agreement.

3.2.10.1 Employment Eligibility; Consultant. Consultant certifies that it fully complies with all requirements and restrictions of state and federal law respecting the employment of undocumented aliens, including, but not limited to, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, as may be amended from time to time and shall require all subconsultants 499
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and sub-subconsultants to comply with the same. Consultant certifies that it has not committed a violation of any such law within the five (5) years immediately preceding the date of execution of this Agreement and shall not violate any such law at any time during the term of the Agreement.

3.2.11 Insurance.

Consultant shall maintain professional liability insurance that covers the Services to be performed in connection with this Agreement, in the minimum amount of $1,000,000 per claim and in the aggregate. Any policy inception date, continuity date, or retroactive date must be before the effective date of this Agreement and Consultant agrees to maintain continuous coverage through a period no less than three years after completion of the Services required by this Agreement. (D) Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Consultant shall
maintain Workers’ Compensation Insurance (Statutory Limits) and Employer’s Liability Insurance 500
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(with limits of at least $1,000,000). Consultant shall submit to City, along with the certificate of insurance, a Waiver of Subrogation endorsement in favor of the City, its officers, agents, employees, volunteers, and representatives.
(E) Umbrella or Excess Liability Insurance. Consultant may opt to utilize umbrella or excess liability insurance in meeting insurance requirements. In such circumstances, Consultant shall obtain and maintain an umbrella or excess liability insurance policy with limits that will provide bodily injury, personal injury and property damage liability coverage at least as broad as the primary coverages set forth above, including commercial general liability and employer’s liability. Such policy or policies shall include the following terms and conditions:
(1) A drop-down feature requiring the policy to respond if any primary insurance that would otherwise have
applied proves to be uncollectible in whole or in part for any reason;
(2) Pay on behalf of wording as opposed to reimbursement; (3) Concurrency of effective dates with primary policies; and (4) Policies shall “follow form” to the underlying primary policies.
(5) Insureds under primary policies shall also be insureds under the umbrella or excess policies.
(F) Fidelity Coverage. (Reserved)
(G) Cyber Liability Insurance. (Reserved)
If coverage is maintained on a claims-made basis, Consultant shall maintain such coverage for an additional period of three (3) years following termination of the Agreement.

3.2.11.2 Other Provisions or Requirements.
(A) Proof of Insurance. Consultant shall provide certificates of insurance to City as evidence of the insurance coverage required herein, along with a waiver of subrogation endorsement for workers’ compensation. Insurance certificates and endorsements must be approved by City’s Risk Manager prior to commencement of performance. Current certification of insurance shall be kept on file with City at all times during the term of this Agreement. City reserves the right to require complete, certified copies of all required insurance policies, at any time.
(B) Duration of Coverage. Consultant shall procure and
maintain for the duration of the Agreement insurance against claims for injuries to persons or damages to property, which may arise from or in connection with the performance of the Services hereunder by Consultant, his/her agents, representatives, employees or subconsultants. (C) Primary/Non-Contributing. Coverage provided by
Consultant shall be primary and any insurance or self-insurance procured or maintained by City shall not be required to contribute with it. The limits of insurance required herein may be satisfied by a combination of primary and umbrella or excess insurance. Any umbrella or excess insurance 501
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shall contain or be endorsed to contain a provision that such coverage shall also apply on a primary and non-contributory basis for the benefit of City before the City’s own insurance or selfinsurance shall be called upon to protect it as a named insured. (D) City’s Rights of Enforcement. In the event any policy of insurance required under this Agreement does not comply with these specifications, or is canceled and not replaced, City has the right, but not the duty, to obtain the insurance it deems necessary, and any premium paid by City will be promptly reimbursed by Consultant, or City will withhold amounts sufficient to pay premium from Consultant payments. In the alternative, City may terminate this Agreement.
(E) Acceptable Insurers. All insurance policies shall be issued by an insurance company currently authorized by the Insurance Commissioner to transact business of insurance or is on the List of Approved Surplus Line Insurers in the State of California, with an assigned policyholders’ Rating of A- (or higher) and Financial Size Category Class VII (or larger) in accordance with the latest edition of Best’s Key Rating Guide, unless otherwise approved by the City’s Risk Manager.
(F) Waiver of Subrogation. All insurance coverage maintained or procured pursuant to this agreement shall be endorsed to waive subrogation against the City, its elected or appointed officers, agents, officials, employees, volunteers, and representatives or shall specifically allow Consultant or others providing insurance evidence in compliance with these specifications to waive their right of recovery prior to a loss. Consultant hereby waives its own right of recovery against the City, its elected or appointed officers, agents, officials, employees, volunteers and representatives and shall require similar written express waivers and insurance clauses from each of its subconsultants.
(G) Enforcement of Contract Provisions (non estoppel).

Specific reference to a given coverage feature is for purposes of clarification only as it pertains to a given issue and is not intended by any party or insured to be all inclusive, or to the exclusion of other coverage, or a waiver of any type. If the Consultant maintains higher limits than the minimums shown above, the City requires and shall be entitled to coverage for the higher limits maintained by the Consultant. Any available insurance proceeds in excess of the specified minimum limits of insurance and coverage shall be available to the City. (I) Notice of Cancellation. Consultant agrees to oblige its insurance agent or broker and insurers to provide City with a thirty (30) day notice of cancellation (except for nonpayment for which a ten (10) day notice is required) or nonrenewal of coverage for each required coverage.
(J) Additional Insured Status. General liability, automobile liability, and if applicable, pollution liability and cyber liability, policies shall provide or be endorsed to provide that the City and its officers, officials, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives shall be additional insureds with regard to liability and defense of suits or claims 502
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arising out of the performance of the Agreement, under such policies. This provision shall also apply to any excess/umbrella liability policies.
(K) Prohibition of Undisclosed Coverage Limitations. None of the coverages required herein will be in compliance with these requirements if they include any limiting endorsement of any kind that has not been first submitted to City and approved of in writing.
(L) Separation of Insureds. A severability of interests provision must apply for all additional insureds ensuring that Consultant’s insurance shall apply separately to each insured against whom claim is made or suit is brought, except with respect to the insurer’s limits of liability. The policy(ies) shall not contain any cross-liability exclusions. (M) Pass Through Clause. Consultant agrees to ensure that its subconsultants, subcontractors, and any other party involved with the Project who is brought onto or involved in the Project by Consultant, provide the same minimum insurance coverage and endorsements required of Consultant. Consultant agrees to monitor and review all such coverage and assumes all responsibility for ensuring that such coverage is provided in conformity with the requirements of this section. Consultant agrees that upon request, all agreements with subconsultants, subcontractors, and others engaged in the Project will be submitted to City for review.
(N) City’s Right to Revise Specifications. The City and the City’s Risk Manager reserve the right at any time during the term of the Agreement to change the amounts and types of insurance required by giving the Consultant ninety (90) days advance written notice of such change. If such change results in additional cost to the Consultant, the City and Consultant may renegotiate Consultant’s compensation. If the City reduces the insurance requirements, the change shall go into effect immediately and require no advanced written notice. (O) Self-Insured Retentions. Any self-insured retentions must be declared to and approved by City. City reserves the right to require that self-insured retentions be eliminated, lowered, or replaced by a deductible. Self-insurance will not be considered to comply with these specifications unless approved by City. (P) Timely Notice of Claims. Consultant shall give City prompt and timely notice of claims made or suits instituted that arise out of or result from Consultant’s performance under this Agreement, and that involve or may involve coverage under any of the required liability policies.
(Q) Additional Insurance. Consultant shall also procure and maintain, at its own cost and expense, any additional kinds of insurance, which in its own judgment may be necessary for its proper protection and prosecution of the Services.

Consultant must comply with the lawful requirements of the City, and any other municipality, drainage district, or other local agency with jurisdiction over the location where the Services are 503
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to be conducted, regulating water quality and storm water discharges. Failure to comply with laws, regulations, and ordinances listed in this Section is a violation of federal and state law. Consultant warrants that all employees and subcontractors shall have sufficient skill and experience to perform the work assigned to them without impacting water quality in violation of the laws, regulations, and policies of this Section.

3.3 Fees and Payments.

3.3.1 Compensation. Contractor shall receive compensation, including authorized reimbursements, for all Services provided pursuant to each Task Order under this Agreement at the rates set forth in Exhibit “B” attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. The total compensation shall not exceed Two Hundred Thousand and No Cents ($200,000.00) in the aggregate, per fiscal year without written approval of the City Council or City Manager, as applicable.

3.3.2 Payment of Compensation. Consultant shall submit to City monthly invoices which provide a detailed description of the Services and hours rendered by Consultant.

3.3.3 Reimbursement for Expenses. Consultant shall not be reimbursed for any expenses unless authorized in writing by City or included in Exhibit "B" of this Agreement.

Consultant shall not perform, nor be compensated for, Extra Work without written authorization from the City.

3.4 Labor Code Requirements.

3.4.1 Prevailing Wages. Consultant is aware of the requirements of California Labor Code Section 1720, et seq., and 1770, et seq., as well as California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 16000, et seq., ("Prevailing Wage Laws"), which require the payment of prevailing wage rates and the performance of other requirements on "public works" and "maintenance" projects. If the Services are being performed as part of an applicable "public works" or "maintenance" project, as defined by the Prevailing Wage Laws, Consultant agrees to fully comply with such Prevailing Wage Laws. City shall provide Consultant with a copy of the prevailing rates of per diem wages in effect at the commencement of this Agreement. Consultant shall make copies of the prevailing rates of per diem wages for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to execute the Services available to interested parties upon request and shall post copies at the Consultant's principal place of business and at the project site. It is the intent of the parties to effectuate the requirements of sections 1771, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777.5, 1813, and 1815 of the Labor Code within this Agreement, and Consultant shall therefore comply with such Labor Code sections to the fullest extent required by law. Consultant shall defend, indemnify, and hold the 504
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City, its officials, officers, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives, free and harmless from any claim or liability arising out of any failure or alleged failure to comply with the Prevailing Wage Laws.

3.5 Accounting Records.

3.6 General Provisions.

3.6.1 Termination of Agreement.

3.6.1.1 Grounds for Termination. City may, by written notice to Consultant, terminate the whole or any part of this Agreement at any time and without cause by giving written notice to Consultant of such termination, and specifying the effective date thereof, at least seven (7) days before the effective date of such termination. Upon termination, Consultant shall be compensated only for those Services which have been adequately rendered to City, and Consultant shall be entitled to no further compensation. Consultant may not terminate this Agreement except for cause. The rights and remedies of the City provided in this section shall not be exclusive and are in addition to any other rights and remedies provided by law, equity or under this Agreement.
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Consultant: Engineering Solutions Services, Inc.
23232 Peralta Drive
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
ATTN: Sudi Shoja, Principal
City: City of Palm Desert
73-510 Fred Waring Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92260-2578
ATTN: Joe Barron, Finance Department
Such notice shall be deemed made when personally delivered or when mailed, forty-eight (48) hours after deposit in the U.S. Mail, first class postage prepaid and addressed to the party at its applicable address. Actual notice shall be deemed adequate notice on the date actual notice occurred, regardless of the method of service.

3.6.3 Ownership of Materials and Confidentiality.

3.6.3.1 Documents & Data; Licensing of Intellectual Property. This Agreement creates a non-exclusive and perpetual license for City to copy, use, modify, reuse, or sublicense any and all copyrights, designs, and other intellectual property embodied in plans, specifications, studies, drawings, estimates, and other documents or works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, including but not limited to, physical drawings or data magnetically or otherwise recorded on computer diskettes, which are prepared or caused to be prepared by Consultant under this Agreement ("Documents & Data"). All Documents & Data shall be and remain the property of City and shall not be used in whole or in substantial part by Consultant on other projects without the City’s express written permission. Within thirty (30) days following the completion, suspension, abandonment or termination of this Agreement, Consultant shall provide to City reproducible copies of all Documents & Data, in a form and amount required by City. City reserves the right to select the method of document reproduction and to establish where the reproduction will be accomplished. The reproduction expense shall be borne by City at 506
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the actual cost of duplication. In the event of a dispute regarding the amount of compensation to which the Consultant is entitled under the termination provisions of this Agreement, Consultant shall provide all Documents & Data to City upon payment of the undisputed amount. Consultant shall have no right to retain or fail to provide to City any such documents pending resolution of the dispute. In addition, Consultant shall retain copies of all Documents & Data on file for a minimum of fifteen (15) years following completion of the Project and shall make copies available to City upon the payment of actual reasonable duplication costs. Before destroying the Documents & Data following this retention period, Consultant shall make a reasonable effort to notify City and provide City with the opportunity to obtain the documents.

3.6.3.5 Confidentiality. All ideas, memoranda, specifications, plans, procedures, drawings, descriptions, computer program data, input record data, written information, and other Documents & Data either created by or provided to Consultant in connection with the performance of this Agreement shall be held confidential by Consultant. Such materials shall not, without the prior written consent of City, be used by Consultant for any purposes other than the performance of the Services. Nor shall such materials be disclosed to any person or entity not connected with the performance of the Services or the Project. Nothing furnished to Consultant which is otherwise known to Consultant or is generally known, or has become known, to the related industry shall be deemed confidential. Consultant shall not use City's name or insignia, photographs of the Project, or any publicity pertaining to the Services or 507
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the Project in any magazine, trade paper, newspaper, television or radio production or other similar medium without the prior written consent of City.

3.6.5 [Reserved]

3.6.6 Indemnification.

3.6.7 Entire Agreement. This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior negotiations, 508
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understandings, or agreements.

3.6.8 Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. Venue shall be in Riverside County.

3.6.9 Time of Essence. Time is of the essence for each and every provision of this Agreement.

3.6.10 City's Right to Employ Other Consultants. City reserves right to employ other consultants in connection with this Project.

3.6.11 Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall be binding on the successors and assigns of the Parties.

Subcontracts, if any, shall contain a provision making them subject to all provisions stipulated in this Agreement.

3.6.14 Amendment; Modification. No supplement, modification, or amendment of this Agreement shall be binding unless executed in writing and signed by both Parties.

3.6.16 No Third-Party Beneficiaries. There are no intended third-party beneficiaries of any right or obligation assumed by the Parties.

3.6.18 Prohibited Interests. Consultant maintains and warrants that it has not employed nor retained any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working solely for Consultant, to solicit or secure this Agreement. Further, Consultant warrants that it has not 509
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paid, nor has it agreed to pay any company or person, other than a bona fide employee working solely for Consultant, any fee, commission, percentage, brokerage fee, gift or other consideration contingent upon or resulting from the award or making of this Agreement. For breach or violation of this warranty, City shall have the right to rescind this Agreement without liability. For the term of this Agreement, no member, officer, or employee of City, during the term of his or her service with City, shall have any direct interest in this Agreement, or obtain any present or anticipated material benefit arising therefrom.

3.6.20 Counterparts. This Agreement may be signed in counterparts, each of which shall constitute an original.

3.6.21 Survival. All rights and obligations hereunder that by their nature are to continue after any expiration or termination of this Agreement, including, but not limited to, the indemnification obligations, shall survive any such expiration or termination. [SIGNATURES ON NEXT PAGE]
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SIGNATURE PAGE TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALM DESERT
AND ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS SERVICES, INC.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the Parties has caused this Agreement to be executed on the day and year first above written.

CITY OF PALM DESERT
By:

L. Todd Hileman
City Manager
Attest:

By:

Anthony J. Mejia
City Clerk
Approved as to form:

By:

Isra Shah
Best Best & Krieger LLP
City Attorney

ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS SERVICES, AN

S CORPORATION
By:

Sudabeh Shoja
Chief Executive Officer / Secretary
City Clerk QC:
_____
Contracts QC:
_____
Insurance:
_____
Initial Review
_____
Final Approval
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EXHIBIT “A”

SCOPE OF SERVICES
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EXHIBIT "B"

COMPENSATION
In the event that this Agreement is renewed pursuant to Section 3.1.2, the rates set forth above may be increased or reduced each year at the time of renewal, but any increase shall not exceed the Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. 513
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Exhibit “C”
Task Order Form
Task Order No.____________
Agreement: ______________
Consultant: ______________
Consultant is hereby authorized to perform the following work subject to the provisions of the Agreement identified above:

List any attachments:

CITY OF PALM DESERT ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS SERVICES, INC.

Date: __________________ Date:______________________
By:______________________ By:________________________
514
City of Palm Desert
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
July 15, 2024
Submitted By:

Engineering Solutions Services
23232 Peralta Drive, Suite112
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
(949) 797-6055
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i
Table of Contents
A. Cover Letter.......................................................................................................................... 1 B. Experience and Technical Background.................................................................................... 2 Background................................................................................................................................... 2 References..................................................................................................................................... 4 Subcontractors............................................................................................................................... 8 C. Firm Staffing and Key Personnel ............................................................................................ 9 D. Proposed Method to Accomplish the Work............................................................................ 33 E. Fee Schedule....................................................................................................................... 53 516
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1 A.Cover Letter
Joe Barron
Senior Contracts and Grants Analyst
73510 Fred Waring Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92260
July 15, 2024
Re: Proposal to Provide Grant Writing and Advocacy Services Dear Mr. Barron,
Engineering Solutions Services (ESS) welcomes the opportunity to provide grant writing and advocacy services for the City of Palm Desert (the City). Our goal is to bring in the maximum available grant funding for the City. Having secured more than $788 million in the past twelve years for a variety of projects, we bring an unmatched level of experience to identify and assist the City with developing a strategic plan, prepare winning grant applications, and policy and stakeholder advocacy services to ensure an expedited and successful funding award.

What sets ESS apart is that we are not just a funding company but former municipal managers with technical and funding expertise that have earned deep-rooted relationships with funding agencies. As such, we are aware of upcoming funding opportunities and have been achieving the highest awards for projects by preparing credible reports and strategizing timely submittal of applications on behalf of our clients. In addition, the ESS team is comprised of a diverse collection of technical experts in transportation, infrastructure development and maintenance, sustainability, parks and recreation, community planning, community and economic development, affordable housing, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), planning, habitat conservation, and other municipal project types.

We are aware of the City’s primary project types identified in the City’s Adopted Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and Request for Proposal (RFP) and, as it is demonstrated in our proposal, we have a proven track record in successful award of grants for the classifications of projects the City has listed. We will use our expertise to conduct a needs assessment and leverage our relationships with the funding agencies to identify grants, and work with City staff to secure those grants. We are also proficient in grant management and meeting compliance requirements of Federal and State funding. Effective, full-circle strategies like these are key to obtaining the most possible grant award funding for the City’s projects. We will also provide advocacy services to increase visibility to potential funders, stakeholders, and policymakers for the City’s projects.

I will serve as the project manager and point of contact during proposal evaluation and during the contract period. As the Principal of ESS, I can bind ESS to this contract with the City. I can be reached at (949) 637-1405 or via email at [email protected]. My project team and I look forward to working with you and answering any questions you may have about our proposal. We acknowledge the receipt of Addenda 1 and the Questions and Answers.

Sincerely,

Sudi Shoja, PE, Principal, Engineering Solutions Services, Inc. 23232 Peralta Drive, Suite 112
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
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2 B. Experience and Technical Background
Background
Engineering Solutions Services, Inc. (ESS) was founded by Sudi Shoja, PE, a former City Engineer who has more than 30 years of experience in managing Capital Improvement Programs and Water and Sewer programs of over $100 million. She founded ESS in 2012 with the goal of assisting local entities in achieving their goals in funding and compliance, program management, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), and project delivery. She leverages her successful experience in transforming the agencies where she worked from losing funding to securing maximum grant funding possible, meeting the various funding agency requirements, and serving as an example for successful audit processes. As a result, she has earned a reputation that gained ESS our impressive repeat client list in a short timeframe.

ESS is comprised of former agency personnel who are thoroughly familiar with the intricate details of various funding requirements and excel at strategic planning for clients to maximize the potential for securing grants, successful management for meeting the requirements, obtaining proper authorization and reimbursements and positive audit process of the projects. ESS is certified as a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) with 12 employees at its Laguna Hills, CA office. ESS is a S-Corporation in California. What sets ESS apart is:
• ESS has a proven track record in successful award of over $788 million in a variety of federal, state, local, and private funding sources. • Successful grant applications to LPP, FHWA, DOT, ATP, SB1 and other transportation funding.
• Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) identified the ESS grant application as one of the best and posted the package on their website. • A proven track record in obtaining grants for park development, acquisition, and urban greening projects through the CA Department of Parks and Recreation and Caltrans.
• ESS has been providing successful grant compliance on a $280 million San Bernardino County Transportation Authority project that consists of more than 11 different funding sources.
• Established relationship with various funding agencies to gain information to assist our clients.
• Successful in obtaining funding for planning and design for various projects including utilities, hazard mitigation, climate adaptation, water master plans, etc.
• Successful award of Safety Action Plan for multiple clients Our Clients
Served as prime or subconsultant
City of Indian Wells
City of Palm Springs
City of Perris
City of Hemet
City of Downey
City of Norco
Chino Basin WCD
San Bernardino MWD
SBCTA
OCTD
City of Santa Ana
City of San Clemente
City of Seal Beach
City of Laguna Beach
City of Lake Forest
City of Laguna Woods
City of Newport Beach
City of Laguna Niguel
City of Irvine
City of Tustin
County of Orange
City of Long Beach
Port of Long Beach
City of Redondo Beach
County of Los Angeles
Long Beach Water
Department
Central Basin Municipal
Water District
Santa Clarita Valley Water
Agency
City of Sacramento
Turlock Irrigation District
Olivenhain Water District
San Diego County Water
Authority
City of Carlsbad
City of Oceanside
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3 • Award of multiple grants for each cycle from Bureau of Reclamation for a variety of water and energy efficiency projects in the past decade.
• Leading Consultant for preparation of grants for FEMA/CalOES funding including sea level rise, flooding and seismic retrofit projects.

We understand that the City is seeking a qualified firm to provide full grant services including an in-depth needs assessment, grant research and identification, preparation of complete and timely submissions, administration, monthly progress reporting, and advocacy. ESS is a multidisciplinary grant funding company comprised of technical experts and former agency personnel.

Our team is one of the leading consultants in preparation of successful grants for the Department of Transportation (DOT), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), California Department of Parks and Recreation (CA DPR) and many other federal and state funding agencies.

We have the unique ability to distill and convey complex project information into funding agencies’ specific formats for grant applications. Our experience in coordinating, managing, and writing different types of applications has led to successful procurement of funding for many clients. Similarly, our experience with grant administration has enabled us to see another side of grant acquisition, wherein we can capitalize on this knowledge. ESS has been utilizing its established process and experienced staff to provide successful grant funding for similar agencies.

ESS fully understands the inner workings of the regional and municipal government process.

Comprised of former government engineering and traffic managers, we have been confronted with many of the same design, budget, schedule, and project-delivery challenges that face our client governments. This understanding allows our people to think like public agencies and address the challenges they are facing with proactive, well-planned, cost-efficient, and innovative solutions tailored to your needs. We approach every project strategically and scale our resources to fit the agency and scope of work.

Our services include: Funding Strategy Development, Grant Research, Grant Writing, Fund Administration, Grant Administration & Fund Compliance, and Advocacy Services ESS specializes in various funding resources, such as: California Department of Parks and Recreation Land and Water Conservation Fund, Recreational Trail Program, DOT Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A), DOT Bridge Investment Program, Congestion Relief Program, Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), FHWA Charging and Fueling Infrastructure, Environmental Protection Agency Clean and Heavy Duty Vehicles, Caltrans Clean CA Local Grant Program, Community Project Funds, DOT Active Transportation Program (ATP), Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE), Railroad Crossing Elimination Program, Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods, FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, CALFIRE Urban Community and Forestry, Department of Water Resources Urban Community Drought Relief, US Bureau of Reclamation Environmental Water Resources, CA Natural Resources Agency Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation, Urban Greening, Youth Community Access, CA Department of Parks and Recreation Outdoor Recreational Legacy Program (ORLP), Department of Housing and Urban Development, CA State Library, local tax measures, 519
Proposal to Provide
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4 Proposition 1B, Proposition 84, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and numerous other grants
We are committed to being accountable and sharing ownership of the product and service.

We believe that successful projects are the result of a well-managed and motivated team. Our team members possess a proven ability to establish and implement best practices, maintain continuity and flexibility, and deliver timely responses. We offer accessibility to a network of experts to address unique needs.

We believe in doing the job right the first time. Our commitment to providing excellent customer service has gained us repeated clients and contracts. We understand the challenges and requirements of municipal governments since many of our staff have held senior and executive management positions with California cities, including Public Works Directors, City Engineers, Capital Project Managers, and Construction Managers. This background and experience are important because document preparation will require a high level of interaction with the state project managers.

ESS is the right team to provide consulting services for identifying and securing grants, finalizing funding agreements and monitoring funding compliance. We work as your partner, incorporating grant funding conversations in the process of each project as early as possible in order to maximize the potential for planning grant funding as well as implementation grand funding. Proprietary tools, such as our Work Plan Structure (WPS), in conjunction with our team’s extensive experience and relationships with funding agencies, make this process easy.

Furthermore, ESS has deep-rooted connections with personnel from several State and Federal funding agencies, which allows ESS to provide valuable information such as funding priorities to our clients. We have established relationships with the following agencies that allow us to be your best advocates to receive funding:
• DOT/FHWA
• FEMA/CalOES Pre-Disaster Mitigation
and Hazard Mitigation Planning
• Caltrans – various Districts
• AQMD
• CARB
• EPA
• US Energy Commission
• CA Department of Parks and Recreation
• California Natural Resources Agency
• Various Conservancies/Non-profit
advocacy organizations
References
As demonstrated in our scope of work and approach, our key services at ESS align directly with all services identified in the RFP. We understand that the City several key transportation, streets, traffic, facilities, parks and open space, community development, planning, police and fire improvements and vehicle purchasing projects in the City’s CIP. ESS team members bring their extensive experience in developing and managing CIP programs to develop successful grant applications on behalf of our clients.

The below table provides a quick glance of our experience in preparation of grant applications for similar projects:

We strive to exceed
expectations, not just
meet them.
520
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
5 Grant Writing Services City of Indian Wells, CA
ESS has been working closely with the City’s Public Works Department to identify potential projects and grant opportunities for funding. ESS has been responsible for preparing and submitting applications for the following successful grant awards:

Grant Amount Funding Agency Program Projects
Agency Projects Funding Sources Value
(millions)
City of Arvin WWTP upgrade, RW DWR, BOR, CalRecycle $ 30.80 City of Belvedere Sea Level Rise, Erosion Control Dept of Parks, FEMA/BRIC $ 26.00 City of Carlsbad Parks, SCADA, Street Impr. CPF, CalRecycle, ATP, HSIP, SWRCB $ 14.80 Central Basin Municipal Water District Multiple RW Projects SWRCB, Prop 13,68 $ 19.90 Chino Basin Muni Conservation District Channel Diversion BOR, MWD $ 1.00 City of Colton Reservoir FEMA/CalOES $ 6.00
City of Commerce Traffic Signal Coordination HSIP $ 1.00 Coachella Valley Water District AMI, Stormwater WIFIA, FEMA, BOR $ 58.50 County of San Diego Drought Resiliency Planning DWR $ 0.13 City of Downey Water Quality SWRCB $ 8.00
EVMWD - JRC RW, Treatment, Water Repl Community Project Fund $ 4.90 Desert Water Agency Water/Energy Efficiency BOR $ 0.60
City of Fort Bragg
Water Supply Pipeline & Reservoir
DWR/SWRCB $ 19.50
City of Hemet Flood, Energy, Water, Sewer, Traffic SWRCB, LPP, HBP, Prop 68 $ 28.00 City of Indian Wells Stormwater DWR, CFP $ 5.80
City of Irvine Multiple Projects ATP, HSIP $ 2.00
City of Long Beach Complete Street Project LPP $ 2.88
Long Beach Water Department Parks, AMI, Wells, RW, Security BOR, SWRCB, FEMA $ 7.75 Mission Springs Water District Water/Energy Efficiency BOR $ 0.30 City of Newport Beach Emergency Management FEMA/Cal EMA $ 9.00 Olivenhain Water District AMI BOR $ 0.50
Orchard Dale Water District Seismic Retrofit FEMA/CalOES $ 3.00 City of Palm Springs WWTP, Cogen Project SWRCB SRF/GPR $ 37.00 City of Petaluma AMI, RW DWR $ 11.65
City of Redwood City RW & AMI SWRCB $ 7.00
San Bernardino Associated Government Energy/GHG Reduction TIRCP/DOT $ 39.20 San Bernardino Municipal
Water Department RW, Water & Sewer
FEMA, SWRCB, BOR, DWR $ 33.30
City of Sacramento Parks, Water & Sewer, SW EPA, Parks, BOR, SWRCB $ 13.10 City of Santa Ana RW, Energy, Water, Sewer, Parks Various $ 76.76 Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency AMI, Wells, PFAS BOR, Title XVI, FEMA $ 9.36 City of San Clemente $ 0.13
City of Seal Beach Sand Replenishment Community Projects $ 16.10 South Coast Water District Water & Sewer SRF, BOR $ 103.00 Turlock Irrigation District Parks, water/energy, Dams Parks Dept, FEMA, BOR $ 20.00 City of Tustin Multiple Projects ATP, HSIP $ 3.00
Valley Sanitary District WWTP & RW Expansion WIFIA, Prop13 & 68 $ 45.84 City of Vista
Parks, Storm Water, Bike Trails,
Sewer, Streets Prop 84, EPA, HSIP, SWRCB $ 64.00
City of Wildomar SW, Bike Trails, Streets FEMA/CalOES, ATP, HSIP $ 2.70 Water Replenishment District Sea Water Intrusion, PFAS BOR, DWR, SWRCB $ 2.06 San Diego County Water Authority Utility Protection, Seismic Retrofit FEMA $ 50.00 Monterey One Water Sea Level Rise FEMA $ 3.10
City of Huntington Beach Trail Restoration CA Department of Parks and Recreation $ 0.38 TOTAL $ 788.05
521
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
6 $5,000,000 Community Project
Funds
Community Project
Funds
Channel Lining
Project
$200,000 FHWA SS4A Safety Action Plan
$600,000 Department of Water
Resources
Prop 68 Channel Project
REFERENCE:

Dina Purvis, Public Works Manager
760-346-2489, [email protected]
Grant Writing, & Compliance Services, City of Santa Ana Public Works Department, Santa Ana, CA
ESS was selected to provide needs assessment, grant identification, grant writing and compliance services for the City of Santa Ana’s Water and Sewer services Department. ESS started by reviewing the City’s CIP and unfunded projects and developed a funding plan by identifying grants. To date, ESS has prepared successful applications for a variety of utilities, streets and parks for the following projects:

Grant Amount Funding Agency Program Projects
$387,000 U.S. FTA All Stations
Accessibility Program
(pending)
ADA Improvements
at Regional
Transportation Center
$2,199,000 California Dept. of
Transportation
Clean California Grant
Program Cycle 2
Walnut Street Urban
Greening Project
$2,250,000 California Natural
Resources Agency
Land and Water
Conservation Fund
Flower Street Park
$1,500,000 Bureau of Reclamation Water Energy
Efficiency
AMI System
$3,000,000 Bureau of Reclamation Drought Contingency 3 Well Projects $3,500,000 IRWM SAWPA Well design and
construction
$75,000 SWRCB Prop 13 Water Recycling
Master Plan
$25,200,000 SWRCB DWSRF, CWSRF AMI, Septic to
Sewer, Well
Rehabilitation
$100,000 IRWM SAWPA Well design
$400,000 Bureau of Reclamation Irrigation Improvements Residential Rebates $2,500,000 SWRCB CWSRF Septic to sewer
522
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
7 $300,000 CalOES Community Power
Resiliency
Emergency Generator
$1,000,000 CARB Alternate Fuel Program CNG Fueling Station $1,000,000 SCE Charge Ready EV charging Stations
$300,000 Bureau of Reclamation Water Energy
Efficiency
Hydropower
Modifications
$500,000 Bureau of Reclamation Water Energy
Efficiency
Solar Panel
Installation
$200,000 Bureau of Reclamation Small Water Efficiency Turf Removal Rebate $1,500,000 Bureau of Reclamation Drought Resiliency PFAS Treatment Plant
REFERENCE:

Nabil Saba, PE / Executive Director of Public Works
714-647-3380, [email protected]
Grant Identification and Writing Services, City of Carlsbad, CA ESS was selected for the as-needed grant writing services for the City and has been successful in award of over $14.8 million in the last two years. ESS coordinated with U.S. Congressional Representative, Mike Levin’s office and the City of Carlsbad in preparing an application for its Veterans Memorial Park Project under the Community Project Funds funding opportunity. The Project was a high priority project for the City and its residents as the Project commemorates veterans and provides several recreation facilities. ESS assisted the City in identifying and developing a project description that highlighted eligible funding elements for the City’s Veterans Memorial Park Project. ESS prepared the budget, schedule, and public outreach efforts that ranked the project for award. The Project was submitted to Community Project Funds in 2022 and was completed in March 2022. ESS has acquired funding through community project funds, SWRCB’s CWSRF, and FHWA’s HSIP program for the projects listed below.

Grant
Amount Funding Agency Program Projects
$9,000,000 Community Project Funds
Annual Allocation -
2022 Veterans Park
$5,000,000 Community Project Funds
Annual Allocation -
2021
Neighborhood
Revitalization
$4,600,000 SWRCB CWSRF SCADA System
$4,000,000 NOAA, DOT, EPA PROTECT, ICARP,
Road realignment,
climate change
impact mitigation
523
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
8 REFERENCE:

Jason Haber / Intergovernmental Affairs Director
442-339-2958, [email protected]
Grant Writing Services, Long Beach Water and Public Works Departments, Long Beach, CA
ESS has been providing grant assistance services for each of the listed agencies that started with a needs assessment and review of the agency’s CIP projects and unfunded projects. ESS presented a funding strategy and matching opportunities to projects that was approved by the Long Beach Water Department (LBWD). ESS has secured funding for LBWD from CalOES, and the Bureau of Reclamation funding programs. Additionally, ESS provided grant writing services for the City’s Public Works department which ESS secured funding from FHWA as noted below.

Grant
Amount
Funding
Agency Program
Projects
$2,800,000 FHWA HSIP, LPP
Street Widening & Pedestrian
Improvements
$300,000 CalOES
Community Power
Resiliency
Generator Procurement
$1,500,000 BOR WEEG AMI
$4,200,000 BOR DRP 4 Wells
$75,000 FEMA Training Emergency Response Training
$1,970,000 BOR Title XVI 2 Recycled Water Projects
REFERENCES:

Water Resources: Dean Wang, PE / Water Resources Manager, 562-570-2311, [email protected]
Public Works: Keith Hoey, PE, Assistant City Engineer
562-570-6586, [email protected]
Subcontractors
ESS is not proposing any subcontractors for this opportunity. $1,200,000 FHWA HSIP Multiple Projects
524
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
9 C. Firm Staffing and Key Personnel
ESS will assign the staffing based on the requested project needs, grant funding source, and staff expertise and will receive the City’s approval before assigning work to individuals. Sudi Shoja, will be the City’s Project Manager/main point of contact and will assign the Project to the appropriate technical expert based on the grants need to prepare grant applications. James Klueber oversees all grant compliance related efforts such as reimbursements, and reporting.

They will be available to the extent of the proposed project duration and will not be removed or replaced without written communications with the City. Technical experts will be brought in on an as needed basis.

Please see the below Organization Chart for key personnel and as-needed technical experts proposed to provide the scope of services identified in the RFP. Resumes for ESS’ key personnel can be found below.
525
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
10 Sudi Shoja, PE, F. ASCE, Project Manager
Sudi brings more than 40 years of municipal engineering, grant and fund management experience.

She has an extensive experience in securing and managing various federal, state and local funds, gaining successful audits in all cases. She has been responsible for budgeting, scheduling and implementation of annual funds of over $100 Million for various agencies. Moreover, she has also held numerous leadership positions and served on committees
with regional and local government, professional associations and philanthropic organizations to advance regional planning, transportation, policy issues and local interests.

The following are a sample of Sudi’s success stories since 2012:
• Analysis of project information for the County of Orange resulted in submittal of two applications and award of an additional $1.2 Million in HSIP funds. • Identified Green Project Reserve (GPR) application for City of Palm Springs to bring in more than $1.1 Million in grant funding.
• Award of over $47 Million in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction since 2016 • The 2012 HSIP Grant written for County of Orange was considered one of the best examples by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and posted on their website.

Relevant Experience
City of Carlsbad Grant Writing Services, Carlsbad, CA
Responsible for meeting with various department directors and management staff to discuss projects and identify applicable grant funding. Develop funding strategies for every department, review project elements to match grant details. Prepare grant application packages for roadway alignment, climate change impacts, bikeway, pedestrian walkway and safety improvements along major city streets, procurement of a generator for City’s Safety Center and implementation of the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.

Grant Writing Services, Multiple Projects, City of Hemet Water Department, Hemet, CA Responsible for preparation of grant application packages for more than $10 million in grant and $18 million in SRF loan for Automated Water Metering, master plans, water distribution system upgrades and sewer collection system on behalf of the City. Also responsible for program management, public works staff augmentation, and traffic engineering for the City.

As-Needed Grant Writing Services, Public Works Agency, City of Santa Ana, Santa Ana, CA
Responsible for identification of grant funding opportunities, preparation of a funding strategy that identified over $42.4 million in grant funding. Responsible for successful grant applications and compliance-management services for grants from BOR, SWRCB, and SAWPA, CalOES, and LWCF. Additionally, Sudi and the ESS team acquired $2.2 million for a urban greening project through Caltrans’s Clean California Grant Program Cycle 2.

Redlands Passengers Rail Program, San Bernardino, CA
Responsible for fund management and grant writing for the $280 million project. Grants submitted for TIRCP received over $9. Sudi has prepared multiple other grants for DOT, FRA and FTA and manages all of the required reporting. Project management for all funding related Education: M.S., Civil Engineering,
Purdue University, 1983
B.S., Civil Engineering, Purdue
University, 1979
Registration: Professional Engineer
CA, 42958, 1986
Years of Experience: 40
526
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
11 matters including compliance, process of all funding documents to meet the funding source regulations, review of project’s contract and invoicing procedures and development of guidelines.

Stormwater & Water Recycling Grants, City of Downey, CA Responsible for identification & application of successful $8 million for stormwater quality project that and submittal of a grant application for a recycling project.

SANBAG FTA Eligibility Review, San Bernardino, CA
Evaluation of the current agency’s practices on implementation of the FTA regulations, review of agency contract and invoicing procedures and development of guidelines for staff on FTA and all other applicable funds for SANBAG.

Program & Fund Management Services–North County Transit District ( NCTD), Oceanside, CA
Review of all fund and program management practices and recommendations and development of necessary policies and forms to meet all required funding and regulatory requirements.

Grant Application Assistance Services, County of Orange, Santa Ana, CA Worked closed with the program managers on evaluation of complex projects for best match with FHWA regulations and preparation of grant application packages for Highway Safety Improvement Project (HSIP) since 2012 that has resulted in 100% award. Project Manager to develop a grant eligibility matrix as a tool to automatically identify all applicable grants for each of the CIP projects. Population of the matrix includes record research, field data collection, review of environmental, traffic, and other reports. Created data collection forms to develop scope of work including site assessment and cost estimates.

Fund Management Assistance- Lake Forest, Villa Park, Laguna Woods, Commerce, Irvine, Newport Beach, CA
As a consultant, Sudi has been responsible for various fund and program management services to process the documents for various federal and state and local funding measures and prepare grant application packages for HSIP, ATP, RAC and MPAH and FEMA.

SR-78 Corridor Enhancements, City of Vista, CA
Responsible for successful implementation of several design and construction projects with over $25ML involving a combination of Federal, State and local funding with full support from Caltrans and final successful approval on all audits. Sudi led the negotiations and worked closely with Caltrans environmental, design, traffic, local assistance, ROW, bridge, permitting and administration divisions. Her responsibilities included leading the efforts on scoping and defining projects, securing of funding on behalf of Caltrans, design approvals to meet the requirements and construction management of the projects for final acceptance by Caltrans. All these projects involved a combination of Federal, State and local funding with full support from Caltrans and final successful approval on all audits.

Highway Rail Crossing Safety Accounts, Multiple Agencies, CA Identified and submitted multiple applications for grade separation projects. Attended all qualification meetings and successfully secured higher ranking for projects. 527
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
12 I-5 Widening Segment II – OCTA, CA
Project Manager for preparation of the drainage report and structural evaluation for segment II of this 6.5-mile corridor improvement that adds several adding lanes on each direction including auxiliary lanes and ramp improvements.

OCTA – Master Plan of Highway (MPAH), Multiple Agencies, CA Preparation of multiple applications for MPAH Improvements, Measure M, and Growth Management Area Improvements for various arterials and intersections in cities of Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Villa Park, and Lake Forest. Coordination with Caltrans and other neighboring jurisdictions.

As-Needed Grant Writing Services, City of Long Beach Public Works and Water Department, Long Beach, CA
Responsible for identification of grant funding opportunities, preparation of a funding strategy and preparation successful grant applications for Bureau of Reclamation Drought Resiliency and Water Energy Efficiency Grant Programs, and Title XVI and compliance-management services for the Department. ESS has identified and applied for grants over $10.8 million since 2018. ESS has also been responsible for successful award of $2.8 million in LPP funds for the complete street improvements.

Grant Writing and Management Services, Seismic Retrofit of Steel Reservoirs and Drinking Water Line Replacement, FEMA/CalOES Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and DWSRF, San Bernardino Municipal Water Department,
Responsible for preparation and submission of FEMA/CalOES HMGP grant application and management for Seismic Retrofit of Steel Reservoirs ($5.6 million) and preparation of DWSRF applications and management for Seismic Retrofit of Steel Reservoirs ($8.6 million) and Drinking Water Line Replacement ($11.2 million) projects.

Grant Writing Services, City of Sacramento, CA
Responsible for preparation of grants for a groundwater well, sump station rehabilitation, median landscaping, flood mitigation and stormwater project for a variety of State and Federal funding opportunities. Sudi’s involvement in this contract has led to the successful award of several projects for the City to date.
528
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
13 Gary Sturdivan, Hazard Mitigation Planning Expert
Gary has a vast knowledge in Emergency Management,
Emergency Preparedness, Hazard Mitigation Planning,
Vulnerability Assessment Planning, and updates, as well as Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
documentation, FEMA reimbursement and has an extensive
background with State Revolving funding, FEMA, and
DHS Funding Programs.

In the last 10 years, Gary has been responsible for
successful write up and completion of 62 Hazard
Mitigation Plans that received California Office of
Emergency Services (CalOES) and FEMA approval. He
has also written 12 Emergency Response Plans in the last 7 years. Gary has an established relationship with CalOES & FEMA review team members.

Gary was a member of the USGS planning team for Golden
Guardian 2008 and is one of the signers of the document and California, Shake Out. Gary has served as the Region 6 Chair of CalWARN and was the Vice-Chair of the
CalWARN State Steering Committee for 6 years. Gary was
also the editor of the American Water Works Association G-440 Emergency Planning Standard that was adopted by
the National Institute of Standards and Technology and was the first Editor of the AWWA M-19 rewrite committee, which was released in 2016. Gary was a Beta Tester for the AWWA J-100 Risk Analysis and Management for Critical Asset Protection (RAMCAP), On-line training Module and Manual. The J-100 RAMCAP was later adopted by the U.S.E.P.A and FEMA as the tool for Risk Analysis and Management for critical Asset Protection. Gary has participated in the Southern Operation Center on various occasions and in the State Operations Center on two occasions. Gary used the FEMA HSEEP tools to organize the water/wastewater agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties during the Statewide Golden Guardian exercise’s starting in 2008. Gary is a speaker at various conferences throughout the nation on emergency issues, including speaking in front of the Department of Interior, with Secretary Kenneth Salazar and department heads at USGS headquarters in Washington D.C.

Relevant Experience
COVID-19 Cost Recovery Reimbursements, City of Colton, Mission Springs Water District, Twentynine Palms Water District, and Hi-Desert Water District Assisted the above listed agencies with COVID-19 cost recovery applications for funding provided through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. All applications are still pending approval by the various federal agencies.

Director of Safety/Regulatory Affairs/Emergency Management and Grants, East Valley Water District, Highland, CA
• Secured 42 FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants totaling $38,000,000 in FEMA grant funding’s, over an 8-year period.

Education: B.S., Business
Management and Business
Administration, University of Phoenix
– 2001
Years of Experience: 24
Certifications:
• FEMA ICS 100, 200, 700 and
800, Trainer
• FEMA ICS 300 and 400
Certified Trainer
• FEMA EOC Position Specific
Certified Trainer
• California, Water Treatment
Operator T-1
• California Water Distribution
Operator D-1
• California Certified Trainer in G611, “Water Desk Training” • AWWA J-100 RAMCAP
Certified
• ANSI/AWWA Standard G-440
529
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
14 • Managed and directed CalOSHA Safety Programs to ensure District’s compliance with all Federal, State, local laws, and regulations.

FEMA/CalOES Grant Writing, City of Colton, San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, Orchard Dale Water District, CA
• Led the effort to secure funding for each of the above agencies • Negotiated the grant amount for the Orchard Dale Water District that resulted in an increase of $1.5 million
Hazard Mitigation Plans, Grant Writing and Training, Yucaipa, CA • Hazard Mitigation Plans. American Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) • Hazard Mitigation and PDM grants
• FEMA Training ICS- 100, 700, 300, 400, 200, 800. Emergency Response Planning Local Hazard Mitigation Plans, Cities of Colton, Twenty-Nine Palms, and Villa Park CA Responsible for successful preparation of Hazard Mitigation Plans that received CalOES and FEMA approval within the scheduled time and budget.

Local Hazard Mitigation Plans/Grant/Training, Bighorn Desert View Water Agency, CA • Secured Hazard Mitigation Grant for the Agency
• Responsible for successful preparation of a Hazard Mitigation Grants that received an award of $ 2.5 Million to capture flood water run-off to re-charge the underground aquifer • Responsible for award of funding to Mitigate freezing and flooding to water wells and booster stations in the amount of $100,000.

Local Hazard Mitigation Plans/Grant/Training, Hi-Desert Water District, Yucca Valley, CA
• Secured Hazard Mitigation Grant for Hi-Dessert Water that allowed the Agency to write and obtain an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan
• Prepared the Hazard Mitigation Plan for District
• Completed Emergency Response Plan that received the Board of Directors approval Local Hazard Mitigation Plans/Grant/Training, Multiple Agencies, Twentynine Palms Water District, Contra Costa Water District, Cucamonga Valley Water District, Yucca Valley, CA
• Successful preparation of Hazard Mitigation Plan that received CalOES and FEMA approval • Prepared Emergency Response Plan (ERP) that received Board of Directors approval • Trained District staff on the use of the ERP. Conducted FEMA 100, 700, 300 and 400 certification training and conducted an Emergency Response Table-Top exercise. • Conducted FEMA Training classes and conducted a Table-Top Emergency Response Exercise
530
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
15 Miles Wagner, FEMA/CalOES GIS Specialist
Mr. Wagner has over 40 years of emergency management
experience in law enforcement, emergency management,
Red Cross services, and geological investigations. Mr.

Wagner has served at several key positions such as the
Emergency Services Officer of San Bernardino County, the Sergeant Deputy Sheriff at the Washoe County Sheriff’s
Department, as the Support Services Supervisor at the City of Colton Police Department, and as a member of the Board of Directors for American Red Cross of the High Desert
Chapter. He has complimented these experiences by also
becoming a Certified Emergency Management Specialist, a Geographic Information Services Specialist, an instructor with the California Specialized Training Institute, an Operations SOG/ConOps Developer, and HSEEP Developer.

Mr. Wagner has led numerous emergency response campaigns as the Emergency Services Officer including the 2003 Bark Beetle Emergency, the 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2016 Fire storms, 2003-2020 winter weather events, and 119 additional real-world emergency operations since 2003 with each event lasting an average of eight days.

Relevant Experience
Cyber Security Funding, multiple agencies: County of San Diego, San Diego Water Authority, Elsinor Valley Water District, Cityof Carlsbad, CA Miles has been reviewing and assisting the above agencies to prepare to benefit from State grants.

Emergency Services GIS Specialist
Mr. Wagner has been responsible for creation and development of the Geographic Information System (GIS) Unit within the Office of Emergency Services. This program provides GIS services during normal operations as well as OES activations within the County. The GIS Unit also provides GIS support to federal Incident Management Teams upon request outside the County. Systems to allow rapid and comprehensive damaged structures and infrastructure are under development and in the field-testing stage. Among many, his experience includes mapping the San Fernando Earthquake and the Salt Wells Valley/Paxton Ranch Earthquake Sequence surface rupture, field exploration in the Calabasas and west Los Angeles areas, and threat and hazard analysis for Washoe County, Nevada and San Bernardino County, CA.

Plans and Guidelines Development
Mr. Wagner has authored several Plans and Guidelines for several programs within San Bernardino County including:
• The FEMA required Multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (Updated and approved by FEMA every five years) requiring coordination between five separate jurisdictions during the planning and writing process. Additional coordination was conducted with other political jurisdictions within the County to ensure their MJHMP’s are updated every five years.

Education: B.A. Business
Administration, Trinity College and
University - 1991, A.A. Geology and
Criminal Justice – Pasadena City
College, 1972
Years of Experience: 40+
Affiliations:
• Certified EOC Responder
• Federal MIT Member
• ESRI Conference Presenter
531
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
16 • Department Emergency Operations Plan (DEO) development and implementation. This program requires all County departments to develop a Department Emergency Operations Plan, train and maintain key personnel to operate within the DEOP during emergencies, and conduct other activities related to the DEOP. Development requires coordination between key Department personnel and OES during the year to ensure plans are maintained and updated. Training materials are developed, and training of participating staff is performed.

Programs, policies, laws, and regulations are reviewed and recommendations for changes are made.
• The Flood Area Safety Taskforce Standard Operating Guidelines (FAST). FAST is updated at least twice a year. This program ensures key County Departments and other cooperating state, and federal agencies are prepared to respond to and assist the residents of the County during potential flood incidents.
• The Fire Management Assistant Grant Program (FMAG) Standard Operating Guidelines.

This SOG guides the completion and submission for a FMAG grant in the early stages of a potentially significant wildland fire. FMAG when approved can reimburse County Fire for up to 75% of fire suppression costs.
• The original Family Disaster Guide in 2005 for the Bark Beetle Emergency in San Bernardino County. This guide is updated and republished as needed by San Bernardino County.
• StormReady certification from the National Weather Service. This program provides a discount for those persons purchasing flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. StormReady was first approved in 2008 and is renewed every three years.

Mr. Wagner also has over 50 years for experience as a first responder in emergency management, law enforcement, and fire services. His experience includes 119 Real world EOC activations or incidents since May 2003 and many exercises. Incidents worked include Fire, Controlled Burn, EQ, Flooding, High Winds, Hospital Evacuation – Hazmat, Insects/Drought, Pandemic, Power Outage - Excessive Heat, Pre-Planned Event, Satellite Reentry, Terrorist Attack, Traffic Incident, Train Derailment Virulent Bird Disease, and Water Contamination.

Sergeant Deputy Sheriff
Experience included supervising and training deputies, field training, review of field performances, reports and other written work products and conducting annual employee performance evaluations. He was also instrumental in forming the Crime Analysis Unit for the Department. This 3-year project resulted increasing functionality of crime analysis unit (CAU), developing patterns, and recommending strategies to apprehend offenders. 532
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
17 Tamim Atayee, PE, F. ASCE, Infrastructure Funding Expert Tamim is a registered professional engineer with 31
years of experience. Tamim works as a technical expert
for grant applications that involve expertise in
hydraulics, hydrology, water resource engineering, flood hazard mitigation, scour, sediment transport and
stormwater management. He is a skilled designer and a
capable manager and has authored many technical
papers. Tamim is experienced in both numerical and
physical modeling of hydraulic problems and has,
amongst other things, developed hydrology and
hydraulics software used as standards in the industry. As a subcontractor to the Western US Technical Evaluation
Contractor to FEMA, he reviewed several map revision
processes, such as Letters of Map Revisions, for projects that impacted flood hazard areas. On the other end of the process, as the technical representative for applicants, he successfully secured approval of several map revisions
for land developers, public agencies, and mine property owners.

Tamim’s expertise and knowledge assist us in
preparation of high-quality technical reports for grant applications that result in minimal comments and
expedited review of applications.

The following are Tamim’s experiences and skills:
• Expert in preparing FEMA related grants
• Technical expertise that lend to writing highly
qualified & credible reports for grant applications
• Trusted expert working with various Caltrans
districts GPR application
• Extensive experience in hydraulics, hydrology, water
resource engineering, flood hazard mitigation, scour, sediment transport and storm water management.

Relevant Experience
FEMA Grant Applications, San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, San Bernardino, CA
Responsible for review of agency documents and preparation of a successful grant application for four water steel tanks. Preparation of technical sections and interpretations to match the funding. Development of required technical documents for the Benefit Cost analysis.

FEMA Grant Applications, City of Colton, and Orchard Dale Water District, CA Responsible for review of agency documents and preparation of a successful grant application for seismic retrofit of the water tank. Preparation of technical sections and interpretations to match the funding. Development of required technical documents for the Benefit Cost analysis.

Education
MS Civil Engineering – Water Resources,
The George Washington University
BS Civil Engineering, Old Dominion
University
Registered Professional Engineer –
California, Colorado, Virginia
Years of Experience: 31
Professional Affiliations & Awards:
• Instructor of Excellence (2009, 2010,
2011, 2012)
• National Highway Institute Fellow
(F.ASCE)
• American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE)
• Distinguished Engineering Educator
Lifelong Learning Award,
• Outstanding Engineering Merit Award,
Orange County Engineering Council
• Outstanding Engineer of Merit Award,
American Society of Civil Engineers,
Orange County Branch
• Outstanding Civil Engineer in
Community Service, American Society
of Civil Engineers, Los Angeles
Section
• California Emergency Services
Association (CESA)
533
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
18 FEMA Grant Applications, Coachella Valley Water District, Coachella Valley, CA Responsible for review of agency documents for the two regional storm drain projects and preparation of successful phase I grant applications. Preparation of technical sections and interpretations to match the funding. Development of required technical documents for the Benefit Cost analysis.

Flood Assistance Grant Program, City of Wildomar, Wildomar, CA Prepared Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA), technical reports, cost estimate and all back up documentation to prepare two successful application for stormwater projects.

Sustainability Grants, Port of long Beach, Long Beach, CA Responsible for preparation of technical documents and all the necessary justifications for a sustainability grant funded by Homeland Security. Review of agency documents, preparation of cost estimates, back up documents, exhibits and other information as needed.

Storm Water Grants, Turlock Irrigation District, Turlock, CA Technical expert in development of successful grant application for District’s priority project in the amount of $16.5 million. Review of District documents and recommendations and preparation of grant sections to meet the funding goals.

Otay River Bridge, San Diego, CA
Provided hydrologic, hydraulic and scour engineering services to assist with the design of the new State Route 125 Toll Road Bridge over Otay. The objective of the project was to characterize the hydraulics and scour potential and develop countermeasures to sustain the erosive forces to which the bridge substructure would be subjected.

Alta La Jolla Restoration, San Diego, CA
Responsible for independent assessment of the hydrologic, hydraulic and channel stability of outlet channel of a storm drain system in the private development, Alta La Jolla in San Diego, California. The objective of the project was to characterize the drainage and develop a concept to stabilize the eroded outlet channel.

Caltrans Drainage Law & floodplain Issues Course Development & Delivery, CA Responsible for development of two one-day courses and delivery to various Caltrans Districts in the state. Class material was developed for highway designers to discuss hydrology and hydraulic & identify issues pertaining to floodplains and effective discharge, minimize liability to public agencies short courses for FHWA, and Caltrans.

Caltrans Expert Services, San Bernardino Office of Caltrans San Bernardino County, CA Provided expert witness services for a successful conclusion including forensic analysis of the historical records for hydrology, hydraulics and sediment transport for the flood damage analysis of Lobecks Pass in a lawsuit case against Caltrans by Pacific Gas & Electric Company. 534
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
19 Carlos Pineda, PE, Infrastructure Funding Expert
Carlos is a registered civil engineer in the State of
California with over 38 years of experience in civil
engineering and project management. He has extensive
experience working for both private and public sectors.

His private sector design experience covers a wide
range of projects including residential master planned
communities and “in tract” residential improvements.

His public works design experience covers a wide
variety of projects including the improvement of major
arterials, secondary highways and collectors, flood
control and drainage projects, ADA retrofit, and safe
routes to school projects.

Relevant Experience
Trail Restoration Project, City of Huntington Beach,
CA
Carlos has been responsible for successful development
of a conceptual plan for the Shipley Park trail project that met the approval of the Parks Board members.

Carlos then prepared the application for the California Department of Parks and Recreation
Multiple Parks and Recreation Projects, City of Santa Ana, CA Responsible for preparation of cost estimates and narratives for successful grant application for multiple projects for the City resulted in funding from LWCF and Urban Greening funding.

LOSSAN Corridor, Peer Review, Hydrology & Hydraulics, San Diego, CA As part of RailPros Team, Carlos has been providing peer review on Civil engineering plans for several portions of the LOSSAN Corridor project.

Metro- Metrolink Station Location Studies, Los Angeles, CA ESS served as a sub consultant and provided site study and study the utility constraints involved.

This study included four stations and multiple alternatives for each location. The utility study included coordination with various stakeholders such as cities, and SCE. ESS also prepared a grant strategy for Metrolink.

Recycling Water Projects, Central Basin Municipal Water District, CA Responsible for preparation of 3 application packages for cities of Downey, Southgate and Bell Gardens. Developed cost estimate and the grant application for submittal on behalf of the agency.

Senior Project Manager – Community Development/Transportation (Stantec) As a Senior Project Manager, he was responsible for the marketing of Engineering Services to municipalities and other private clients such as developers, builders, and architects. Responsible for the management of Projects including close coordination with clients and with the Project team, responsible for executing the project, producing, and submitting deliverables and meeting the budget and schedule established in the contract.

Supervised engineers in the preparation of Plans, Specifications and Estimates (PS&E) for the construction of Civil Engineering projects, including residential subdivisions, public works projects and community parks. Provided Quality Assurance and Quality Control for the Projects. Also, Education: MS, Civil Engineering –
Structures, California State University,
Long Beach
MBA, Business Administration, University
of Phoenix
BS Civil Engineering (Cum Laude),
Virginia Polytechnic & State University,
Blacksburg, Virginia
Years of Experience: 38+
Registrations:
• Professional Engineer, California
(38639)
• LEED Accredited Professional, U.S.

Green Building Council
• Qualified Stormwater Pollution
Prevention Plan Practitioner
(California)
• Qualified Stormwater Pollution
Prevention Plan Developer (California)
535
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
20 provided clients with engineering support during the Construction Phase of the projects, including responding to RFI’s, plan revisions, review of submittals etc.

Sample Projects:
• Butterfield Stage Road Phase III Improvements, Temecula • Lincoln Park ADA and Landscape Improvement Project, Pomona • Boys and Girls Parking Lot Improvements, San Clemente • Camino De Los Mares Improvements, San Clemente
• Cress Street Sidewalk and Retaining Wall Improvements, Laguna Beach • Queda Way Drainage and Retaining Wall Improvements, Laguna Beach • Village Pond Park Improvements, Lake Forest
• NW Open Space Park, San Juan Capistrano
• Avella Apartments, Irvine, The Irvine Company
• Los Serranos Infrastructure Improvements -Safe Routes to Schools Program Phase 3, Chino Hills • Project Manager for Various CIP Projects for the City of Pomona Director of Engineering (CivilSource)
As a Director of Engineer was responsible for the marketing of Engineering Services to municipalities and other private clients. Responsible for the management of Projects including close coordination with clients and with the Project design team, responsible for executing the project, producing, and submitting deliverables and meeting the budget and schedule established in the contracts. Supervised engineers in the preparation of Plans, Specifications and Estimates (PS&E) for the construction of Civil Engineering Public Works projects. Responsible for providing quality assurance and quality control for all projects. Also, provided clients with engineering support during the Construction Phase of the projects, including responding to RFI’s, plan revisions, review of submittals etc. Assisted in providing civil engineering assistance to Cities as part of Staff Augmentation, this included providing engineering advice and plan checking for ongoing permit applications.

Sample Projects:
• Cerritos Avenue Widening Project, City of Cypress.
• SR2S Hermosa View Improvements, Hermosa Beach
• Retaining Wall Improvements – Moulton Parkway, County of Orange • Mermaid St. Sidewalk and Retaining Wall Improvements, Laguna Beach • Project Manager for Various Projects for the City of Laguna Woods. – Staff Augmentation 536
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
21 Omar Dayani, PE, TE, Transportation Funding Expert
With more than 32 years of project management
experience, Omar has completed more than $200
Million worth of capital improvement projects and
received numerous project awards for his efforts while
serving as the Traffic Engineer for the City of San
Marcos.

He has strong managerial skills and proven experience
in traffic engineering practices, as well as capital
improvement and land development procedures and
guidelines. He developed one of the most advanced
traffic management and traffic signal systems in the
state. Omar is well-versed in managing projects with
federal, state and local funding. He is also experienced with federal, state and local grant programs and the
appropriate processes by which to prepare various grant applications.

Omar is a skilled problem-solver who elevates his teams and consistently brings feasible and creative solutions to project leadership. He has extensive experience
conditioning and reviewing land development projects
and scoping various CIPs. He has established excellent
working relationship with City staff, adjacent public
agencies, Caltrans, SANDAG (MPOs), major
developers, contractors and resource agencies in the
region. He is also knowledgeable in storm water and water-quality programs and design.

Relevant Experience
LA Metro Highway Program Support Services, Los Angeles, CA Funding Consultant to provide funding strategies, prepare grant application packages and monitoring of grants.

City of Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Preparation of multiple roadway improvement grant applications including HSIP, PROTECT, NOAA, and ICARP for road realignment, pedestrian and bike safety projects, climate change mitigation projects.

As-needed Traffic Engineering Services – Multiple Cities, CA Provided traffic engineering services including design of federally funded projects, plan check of development projects, review of citizen requests, preparation of grant applications on an asneeded basis for cities of Hemet, Wildomar and Villa Park.

As-Needed Consulting Services, San Diego Association of Government, San Diego, CA Responsible to provide funding strategies, prepare grant application packages and monitoring of grants.

Education: B.S., Civil Engineering, West
Virginia Institute of Technology, WV
Registration:
• Registered Civil Engineer, California,
59972
• Registered Traffic Engineer,
California, 16171
• Professional Transportation Operation
Engineer, California
Years of Experience: 32+
Memberships:
• American Public Works Association
(APWA)
• American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE)
• WTS International (WTS)
• Construction Management
Association of America (CMAA)
• California Emergency Services
Association (CESA)
537
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
22 City of San Marcos, CA
• Successfully managed and prepared numerous federal, state and local grant requests obtained more than $60 Million in federal and state grants for the City of San Marcos. Managed numerous special projects such as Inland Rail Trail, and Creekside Marketplace. • Management of the Traffic Engineering Section and all related activities. • Managed more than 175 capital improvement projects ranging from ITS and shopping centers and street improvements to rail and rail trails. • Serving as the City Traffic Engineer with extensive involvement in traffic circulation elements, ITS projects, traffic signal systems including design and operation of traffic signals, central monitoring systems, traffic signal adaptive systems, and wireless and fiber optic interconnect.
• In charge of traffic safety issues and preparation of reports and monthly presentations to the City Commission.
• Representing the City of San Marcos at SANDAG, Caltrans, NCTD, County of San Diego and other adjacent Jurisdictions, establish good working relationship with key members of San Diego County’s public and private sectors.
• Prepared and reviewed numerous technical reports such as traffic studies and reports to the City Council and various commissions.
• Prepared annual capital improvement projects (CIP) budget for five years.

City of Poway, CA
• Prepared numerous federal, state and local grant applications. • Managed more than 45 capital improvement projects including reclaimed water system, water treatment plant, water reservoirs and other specialty capital project. • Served as construction manager for numerous Capital Improvement Projects. In-house designed several relatively complex projects.
• Managed the AutoCAD and Soft Desk design activities.
• Assisted the traffic engineer with traffic safety and traffic circulation issues, and was assigned to Land Development section for two years
538
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
23 Stanley Klemanowicz AIA, PMI, LEED, Facility and Energy Conservation Funding Expert
Stan brings more than 25 years of hands-on experience
in architectural design and project delivery within time and budget on many public and private projects. As a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) Professional, he has directedsustainability and
led project teams in exceeding desired green building
accreditation levels. He has been responsible for
completion and approvals of ongoing design and valueengineering, preparation of construction documents, permitting, and funding details. Stan’s extensive
experience in the design field has allowed him to be a
technical expert for all energy- related grant pursuits.

Stan has been dealing with various utility providers and Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and other
funding agencies directly and has first-hand knowledge
of the available grants and their requirements. The
following are a sample of Stanly’s experiences and
skills:
• Expertise in evaluation of facility design
improvements to meet funding requirements.
• Responsible for design and renovation of facilities to obtain LEED Platinum and Gold • Proven track record in providing Construction Management & funding Relevant Experience
Funding Resources Consultation Applications
Federal and State funding, IRS EP Act 2005 Tax Credit, Utility company rebate and incentives.

Statewide Utility Companies Energy Efficiency Program
Savings by Design on behalf of Southern California Gas Company and Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, and Integrated Demand Side Management with Southern California Edison.

Capital Improvement Program, City of Santa Monica, California Project Manager responsible for design and delivery of multiple capital improvement and major maintenance projects embracing State and City sustainability guidelines including: Police/fire headquarters, city hall, renovations, civic auditorium city pool, senior housing, parks facilities and animal shelter.

California Task Force on Court Facilities, Los Angeles County Directed on-site surveys and evaluations of thirty courthouses in Los Angeles County for physical condition, life-safety, code compliance, functionality, security, accessibility, and space requirements as prerequisite for development of capital construction budget for master planning and new construction.

Education: BS, Architecture, The
CityUniversity of New York
Registration: Licensed Architect,

CA,NY, NJ
Years of Experience: 25+
Memberships:
• American Institute of Architects
(AIA)
• National Council of Architectural
Boards (NCAB)
• National Institute of Building
Sciences (NIBS)
• United StatesGreen Building
Council (USGBC)
• Commissioner: City of Redondo
Beach, Uniform Codes
Commission (UCC)
• Project Management Institute
(PMI)
539
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
24 Modernization Project - Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Responsible for design development and validation of project scopes and budgets, design and construction documents, DSA submittals, and project delivery methodology. Directed preconstruction efforts for 300 Measure K and BB Bond modernization projects of existing facilities with an aggregate value of projects exceeding $50 million. Developed project delivery system for JOCS (Job Order Contract System), where over 100 projects were initiated in less than a year. Managed architect/engineer teams.

Port of Los Angeles – Pier 400, Los Angeles, CA
On-Site Project Manager, responsible for oversight of the design-build process for the design and construction of 18 office and gate facilities at the largest proprietary marine cargo terminal in America. Facilities included corporate offices, operations, and maintenance buildings. Cost of facilities exceeded $60 million. Total cost of project - $900 million.

Construction Administration – LEED Silver Project Hollywood, CA Senior Construction Administrator for the Hollywood W Hotel & Residences, the largest LEED Silver project in Los Angeles County, a luxury hotel and residential development valued over $360,000,000. Managed and directed the architectural design team of over fifteen consultants.

Responsible for completion and approvals of ongoing design and value-engineering, preparation of construction documents, permitting, submittal reviews, requests for information, change orders, field observation, and project closeout.
540
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
25 Mir T. Fattahi, PE, F. ASCE Infrastructure Funding Expert Mir brings extensive experience in securing and
managing grants of more than $20 Million from the
BOR, CA SWRCB & DWR. He is highly
knowledgeable on water and sewer related funding
pursuits and has successfully secured and managed
funding and project implementation on behalf of various agencies.

He is experienced in directing projects and staff in fastpaced, results-oriented environments. Mir is an articulate communicator able to elicit outstanding performance
from a diverse array of professionals. He has been
highly successful in developing synergistic relationships to bring projects to completion on time and under
budget, in part because of his strong leadership,
organization, and communication skills.

Mir has more than 35 years of extensive experience in
all facets of water and sewer engineering, planning, design and project management; budgeting, scheduling, contract administration, change order management, claim analyses and mitigation; biddability/ constructability review, development and implementation of quality assurance and control (QA/QC) procedures. He has led and managed major Capital Improvement Program (CIP) infrastructure projects in water/wastewater including recycled water for various agencies in Southern California.

Relevant Experience
As-Needed Grant Writing Services, Coachella Valley Water District, Coachella Valley, CA Involved in preparation of successful applications to WIFIA for funding over $50 Million for two projects and a successful application for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) demonstration project from BOR Funding.

Grant Writing Services, Multiple Projects, City of Hemet Water Department, Hemet, CA Preparation of grant application packages for more than $10 Million in grant and $18 Million in SRF loan for Automated Water Metering, master plans. water distribution system upgrades and sewer collection system on behalf of the City.

Storm Water & Recycling Grants, City of Downey, CA
Identification & application of successful $4 Million for stormwater quality project that ranked one of the highest for funding and a submittal of a grant application for a recycling project.

Recycled Water Program, Project Manager/Engineer, Simi Valley, CA Project Manager/Engineer in charge of preparation of plans and specifications for recycled water connections, preparation of engineer’s report, cross connection testing and report, site supervisor training and issuance of certificate for Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8, City of Simi Valley.

Education: MS, Civil Engineering, CA
State University Long Beach, CA, 1992
Years of Experience: 35
Registration:
• Registered Professional Engineer in
CA 59465; Certified Cross Connection
Control Specialist – USC
• General Engineering Contractor
License “A” (#969080)
• Principals of Supervision
• Supervisor’s Academy Cross
Connection Control – Certified by
USC Foundation.
• Traffic Control, Trenching and
Excavation
541
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
26 Recycled Water Program, Project Manager/Engineer Fontana, CA Project Manager/Engineer in charge of preparation of plans and specifications for local lateral connections, preparation of engineer’s report, cross connection testing and report, site supervisor training and issuance of certificate for Fontana Water Company.

Water and Reclaimed Water Systems, Project Manager Aliso Viejo, CA Project Manager responsible for design and preparation of construction plans, specifications, and cost estimates for Oak Grove water and reclaimed water systems. The project consists of approximately 10,000 acre-feet (AF) of water and reclaimed water pipelines designed for the Moulton Niguel Water District to be constructed in the community of Aliso Viejo. PVC and Ductile Iron Pipes were specified for this project.

Recycled Water Program, Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), Project Manager, Chino, CA
Program manager of the Agency’s Recycled Water Program. Under his direction the recycled water use increased from 15,000 to 37,000 AFY in 2.5 years with a target of 50,000 AFY by the end of 2012. The program involved site investigation, preparation of retrofit plans, preparation of engineering report, and testing. Users of Recycled Water include farmers, schools, industrial entities, golf courses, parks, and commercial office landscape areas.

As-Needed Grant Writing Services, Water and Sewer Department, City of Santa Ana, CA Participation in identification of grant funding opportunities, preparation of successful grant applications for BOR, SWRCB, Santa Ana Watershed Authority and many more. Also, assisted with compliance-management services for the City.

Three Application Packages for Sewer Improvement Projects, City of Laguna Beach, CA Preparation of applications and coordination with State project managers to obtain approval for securing $10 Million funding on behalf of the City. Projects involve upgrade of sludge export force main, treatment facility upgrades, and sewer line rehabilitation throughout the City.

Water, Sewer and Reclaimed Water Transmission Pipeline Design, Project Manager, Laguna Hills, CA
Project Manager in charge of the design, contract document preparation and construction management of the Wood Canyon water, sewer, and reclaimed water facilities for the Moulton Niguel Water District. The project consisted of 3 miles of water transmission pipeline, 2 miles of reclaimed water transmission pipeline, and 3 miles of gravity and force main sewers. Several pipe materials, including CML&C steel pipe, DIP and PVC pipe were specified based upon design requirements.
542
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
27 Chenxia Li, Federal Funding Expert
Chenxia has over 20 years of experience and an
extensive background in the capital planning process and in developing long-range capital improvement programs
including regional and agency-wide transportation
planning. She has successfully secured and managed
various federal, state, and local funding measures
including FTA/FRA/FEMA/Caltrans, Highway Rail
Crossing Safety Account (HRCSA), Highway Safety
Improvement Program (HSIP), High Priority Projects
(HPP), Transportation community and many other
grants.

Chenxia has been responsible for performing policy and financial analyses, negotiating agreements with FTA/FRA and other funding agencies, as well as the preparation and presentation of reports to agency board of directors.

Chenxia is highly skilled in identifying appropriate measures, policies and procedures to comply with federal, state, regional, and county laws, regulations, and environmental mandates.

Relevant Experience
San Bernardino GHG reduction Strategy, TIRCP 2018 Grant Application Package, San Bernardino County Transpiration Authority, San Bernardino, CA Responsible for development of a successful grant application package for two significant projects in the region, meeting with CalSTA, preparation of GHG reduction and all write up.

Redlands Passenger Rail Project, San Bernardino County Transpiration Authority, San Bernardino, CA
Funding expert responsible for preparation of TIRCP, PTC and FTA grants for the $280 million project. Facilitated meetings with grant funding agencies, prepared agendas and presentation topics. Researched the available documents and prepared successful grant application packages.

Advised on negotiations, grant agreements, and reporting needs.

Grants Manager, San Diego North County Transit District (NCTD), Oceanside, CA Responsible for final QA/QC during the BOR WaterSMART Drought Resiliency Projects grant writing process and assisted with various research, mapping, and grant writing tasks in order to submit the application promptly. Worked on 4 applications simultaneously and submitted all applications successfully and on-time. Each application was for $2 million in federal grant funding.
• Administered NCTD grant programs and managed grant staff. Performed strategic, programmatic, and detailed grants management of NCTD’s federal, state, and local grant programs.
• Coordinated with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to forecast grant revenues for five-year capital improvement program. Developed recommendations to assign the grant funds to the capital and planning projects.
• Worked with the Federal and State funding agencies for grant application/ amendments/closeout. Managed grant programs for requirements compliance.

Education: Ph.D. in Planning, University
of Southern California, 1992
Master of City Planning, University of
California at Berkeley, 1985
Bachelor of Engineering, Tongji
University, Shanghai, China 1982
Years of Experience: 20+
543
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
28 • Maintained grant database using the JD Edwards system to ensure accuracy and grant compliance.
• Prepared the required project progress reports, financial status reports, and grant closeout reports. Ensured timely processing grant billings; reviewed the project expenditures against the approved project scope and in compliance with federal, state and local funding requirements; and validated appropriateness of supporting documents and justifications. • Developed and revised grant management procedures and the board finance policies. • Responsible for the SAFE schedule and the required single audit schedules. • Prepared responses to the FTA Triennial Review and Enhanced Technical Capacity Review.

Grants and Strategic Development Planner, Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA)
• Coordinated with FTA/FRA/FEMA/Caltrans on the grant administration, led FRA/Caltrans quarterly reviews, analyzed Federal and State transportation policies and funding programs, and communicated with staffers on grant issues.
• Worked with Engineering Department and Program Management Office on the programmatic issues pertaining to the capital rehabilitation and improvement projects, and prepared grant applications by closely working with the stakeholders. Participated in monthly project managers’ meetings, worked with all necessary parties to ensure implementation of grant- funded projects in compliance with the grant requirements and grant contract provisions.
• Administered Federal and State grants; prepared the grant fact sheets to disseminate grant information; tracked contract commitments and expenditures; prepared project progress and financial reports; responded to the grantors’ inquiries concerning grant compliance issues; performed the grant closeouts; and responded to the audit requests. • Tracked grant balances; reviewed proposed changes to the project scope to ensure consistency with the funding agreements; reviewed and validated the eligibility of project budget reallocations by fund source and by project; and ensured the grant records being updated with a documented audit trail.
• Performed timely and comprehensive analysis of capital budget versus actual expenditures at the project level and program level, and performed monthly, quarterly, and year-end reconciliations.
• Maintained detailed grant records on all capital projects to ensure accuracy and integrity of the accounting records in the Oracle Financial System and reconciled the grant records. • Participated in various cross-functional meetings and task forces within the agency to address capital budgeting, financial analysis, allocation initiatives, and other funding and capital activities.

Senior Capital Planning Specialist, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, CA • Worked with project managers to develop project scope, budget, financial plan, and delivery schedule to ensure the award of grants; prepared environmental documents for categorical exemptions; and managed the grants by closely working with the funding 544
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
29 agencies to ensure implementation in compliance with the grant requirements and the government regulations.
• Led agency’s capital planning process and developed long-range capital improvement programs (Regional Transportation Plan, county’s State Transportation Improvement Program, Countywide Transportation Plan and Measure B Reauthorization Expenditure Plan) and short-range capital plans.
• Administered agency’s federal grant programs (2006-2011) and state grant programs (1995- 2010); developed grant proposals, prepared grant applications, coordinated with the funding agencies to expedite award of grants; and performed post- award grant management. • Communicated regularly with the agency Board of Directors and Executive Staff regarding funding issues, prepared and presented reports and Board items, and performed policy and financial analyses at the request of the Board Directors and General Manager. • Provided fiscal oversight of the grant implementation, set up grants in the PeopleSoft Financial System, tracked funding commitments, reviewed and validated requisitions, monitored grant expenditures and balances at project level and in aggregate to ensure grant implementation on budget and on schedule, prepared project progress reports and financial reports.
545
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
30 James Klueber, Senior Grants Analyst
James started his career as an analyst specializing in
various water resource investments and is very familiar with Californian water law, water systems,
federal/state/local management plans, and water
infrastructure. He is a team player and brings his can-do attitude to work every day. Currently, his primary role at ESS is to provide grant compliance monitoring,
QA/QC support for all grant applications and funding
opportunities. His work ethics coupled with his passion for helping build stronger communities is demonstrated in his work and aligns with our ideals and qualities at ESS.

James is highly skilled in identifying appropriate measures, policies and procedures to comply with federal, state, regional, and county laws, regulations, and environmental mandates.

Relevant Experience
Local Partnership Program (LPP) Grant, City of Carlsbad and Long Beach, CA Responsible for final QA/QC during the LPP grant writing process and assisted with various research, mapping, and other tasks in order to submit the application fully and promptly.

FEMA/CalOES Grant Applications, Cities of Pasadena, Sacramento, Belvedere, Oceanside, CA
Responsible for preparation of supporting documentation and estimates for a variety of projects including seismic retrofit of Dam structures, City Hall and parking structure, bridge, reservoirs, and a sea wall project that met the approval of CalOES.

BOR WaterSMART Drought Resiliency Grant, Long Beach Water Department, Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, City of Santa Ana, City of Sacramento, CA Responsible for final QA/QC during the BOR WaterSMART Drought Resiliency Projects grant writing process and assisted with various research, mapping, and grant writing tasks to submit the application promptly. Worked on 4 applications simultaneously and submitted all applications successfully and on-time. Each application was for $2 million in federal grant funding.

BOR WaterSMART Water Energy and Efficiency, Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, Olivenhain Municipal Water District, Desert Water Agency, City of Santa Ana, San Bernardino Municipal Water District
Responsible for final QA/QC during the BOR WaterSMART Water Energy and Efficiency grant writing process and assisted with various research, mapping, and grant writing tasks to submit the applications fully and promptly. He worked on 6 applications simultaneously for this opportunity. Applications ranged from $500,000 - $2 million federal grant funding.

Department of Water Resources, Multibenefit Drought Grants Program, City of Petaluma, Fort Bragg and San Bernardino Municipal Water Department.

James assisted the City of Petaluma, Fort Bragg, and San Bernardino with several Department of Water Resources Multibenefit Drought Grant applications. The City of Petaluma received Education:

MS, Environmental Sciences &
Management, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,
CA (2023)
BS, Environmental Economics & Policy,
U.C. Berkeley, CA (2018)
Years of Experience: 6
546
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
31 funding for a recycled water line implementation project and an Advanced Metering Infrastructure project totaling $11.5 million in funding. SBMWD received $2 million in funding for an Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project and City of Fort Bragg received $20 million for two conveyance and storage projects.

Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Compliance Services, Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency
Responsible for SWRCB SRF compliance requirements for a $3.9 million water transmission line project including reimbursement requests, progress payments, AIS, DBE, and prevailing wage requirements.

Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, Cities of Sacramento and Carlsbad, Valley Sanitary District, CA
James has prepared and submitted CWSRF and DWSRF applications via FAAST to upgrade various components of wastewater and water systems ranging from $4.5 - $35 million projects. 547
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
32 Savannah Regan, Project Engineer/Grant Support
Savannah graduated from San Diego State University in May 2022 with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering. Savannah is proficient in grant research and analysis of complex grant guidelines to match with project elements. She is now
applying her engineering background for technical writing to assist ESS on various State and Federal grant applications, cost estimates, and QA/QC measures. She is the lead project engineer for all water or environmental based projects. Savannah is also skilled in 2-D and 3-D drawings and providing grant related supporting documents.

Relevant Experience
Multiple Parks and Recreation Projects, City of Santa Ana, CA Savannah has been responsible for submittal of multiple applications for grants including Urban Greening, LWCF, Clean California, Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program, and habitat conservation fund.

Bridge Rehabilitation Projects, Cities of Long Beach, Pico Rivera and Oceanside, CA As the project engineer, she was responsible for assistance with the technical writing of the City’s applications for the Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program.

Multiple roadway projects, City of Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA As the project engineer, she has been responsible for assistance with a variety of projects such as pedestrian safety, roadway realignment, mitigation of climate change impacts. In addition, she was responsible for drafting CAD drawings for the street’s existing and proposed typical sections.

Shipley Nature Center Trail Restoration Project, City of Huntington Beach, CA As the project engineer, she was responsible for preparing the City’s application to the Recreation Trails Program. The application consisted of engineering, environmental sustainability, and environmental justice technical writing.

Project Engineer/Grant Writer, Various Projects, City of Paradise, Seal Beach, Fort Bragg, CA
As the project engineer, she was responsible for preparing the Cities’ applications for the State Revolving Fund. This included the preparation of the Engineering Technical Report, cost estimates, and schedules.

Project Engineer, Various Projects, County of San Diego, San Diego, CA Savannah has been the contact person for various department of the County and has successfully worked on grants for planning, transportation, sustainability, climate change, broadband, fire prevention, and parks and drought related grants.

Education: BS, Environmental
Engineering, San Diego State
University, San Diego, CA
Years of Experience: 3
548
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
33 D. Proposed Method to Accomplish the Work
Our goal is to bring in the highest possible amount of funding for the City. To achieve this goal, ESS brings its extensive experience and a highly qualified team to work closely with the City’s Project Manager to mold the City’s project components, to maximize eligibility and ranking under various funding programs.

Our process ensures that City staff time is limited to as much time as they would like to be involved in the process. Our request for City staff involvement is during the kick-off meeting, providing project information, and review of draft and final application. We will research all available information before reaching out to the City staff to make sure optimum use of staff time. Below describes our detailed scope of work for each task identified in the scope of work.

Task 1. Funding Needs Analysis
Once a notice to proceed has been issued by the City, Sudi Shoja will arrange a kick-off meeting with the City’s Project Manager and appropriate ESS staff to review and discuss the City’s project priorities, including projects specifically mentioned in the RFP and CIP. Sudi will serve as the Project Manager and the point of contact for the City. She will assign task managers and grant writers as needed (if multiple pursuits are followed at the same time) to best meet the project deadlines.

We believe that one of our most important tasks is to work with the City to position the projects for maximum ranking for various grant opportunities. ESS is well qualified to achieve this goal as our staff not only been responsible for similar activities in their former positions, but they also have developed strong relationships with the funding agencies that allow us to learn about funding goals for future cycles and present them to our clients.

Working with the City Project Manager, we will review and discuss the current status of projects, available funding, established priorities, project planning and design status, management preferences and regulatory requirements. With our thorough knowledge of available and historical funding opportunities and our technical expertise in managing similar programs, we will be able to recommend a strategy and ranking of projects for funding pursuits.

Based on our experience, we will also be able to offer cost-saving measures such as multi-year grants on a program level in lieu of individual projects that will reduce the regulatory burden of managing various funding agreements and the cost of preparation of applications and compliance monitoring.

ESS believes the City will be best served by working together to create a strategy that enables us to write winning applications that will maximize funding for the City while minimizing the administrative burden on the City staff.
✓ Developed a funding plan for the City of Santa Ana that identified more than $25 million in grant funding in water, recycled water, and sewer projects and has delivered multiple successful grant applications for the City.
549
Proposal to Provide
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34 ✓ Review of City of Hemet’s bond options and developing a funding strategy resulted in savings of more than $13.5million for the City. In addition, analysis of the City’s CIP program and the unfunded list of projects resulted in identification of more than $28 million in funding.
✓ Working with the County of Orange, we recommended a strategy that resulted in submittal of an additional successful grant application for the same project, almost doubling the amount of funding County was expecting to receive.

Deliverable(s):
• Recommendation for Project Priority List with financial breakdown and timeline with pertinent information for funding pursuits.

The complex and elaborate process of obtaining funding can delay the ability to act. Our comprehensive knowledge of the funding process helps us conceptualize and develop an appropriate action plan, thereby maximizing success. We will identify eligibility requirements, availability of funding, terms, conditions, and other key parameters. Our step-by-step process to a successful application is shown in the following flow chart:

Task 2. Grant Funding Research
Identification of Grant Resources
ESS team members keep up to date with the available Federal and State level funding alternatives for many types of grants, including economic development, library improvements, parks and recreation, public safety and disaster recovery, public infrastructure capital projects/maintenance, sustainability programs, electric vehicle procurement and charging, and transportation/street rehabilitation projects. We attend various funding fairs, participate in 550
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
35 providing input to guidelines for funding opportunities, and are subscribed to receive notices on available funding. ESS subscribes to various grant resources and will use this service to identify funding opportunities.

Established Relationships with Funding Agencies
We understand that successful grant funding consists of two-thirds planning and one-third writing. With that in mind, we pride ourselves on our close relationships with funding agencies.

Those relationships, plus appropriate and meticulous planning, allow us to obtain key information about the successful awarding of grant funds. One of the tactics used to ensure this strategy’s success is to identify opportunities for in-person meetings with the funding agency when we are initiating a pursuit. We know this approach provides results from experience. ✓ ESS arranged for a meeting with BOR to discuss LBWD projects in advance of the grant application announcements.
✓ ESS was aware of the additional grant funding available to the SWRCB and as such aligned the submittal of its applications such that they were well ahead of the competition and received the due attention.
✓ When applying for stormwater grants for Coachella Valley Water District, ESS arranged a conference call with EPA staff to discuss the two top-priority projects for the District and receive key input from grant funding project managers.

We have established relationships with the following agencies:
• California Department of Parks and
Recreation
• US Department of Commerce –
Economic Development
Administration
• Caltrans/US DOT
• US Energy Commission
• CA Public Utilities Commission
• FEMA/CalOES
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Air Quality Management District (AQMD)
Various Conservancies and non-profit
advocacy organizations
Once a project prioritization list is developed, we will then use our extensive experience to match the City’s projects with the available funding options and develop a matrix of all potential funding alternatives specifically to match the City’s projects that will serve as a tool for the project team and the City staff to use.

As an example, our team members have been providing the available grants services for water and sewer projects to WaterReuse members on a regular basis and will continue to provide this information for this contract as well. Information could look like the following table, based on projects:

Local, State, and Federal Funding Opportunities
PROGRAM Total
Allocation
Funds
Offered
this
Round
Purpose Eligible
Projects Status
Anticipat
ed
Timeline
Notes
SWRCB
Stormwater
Implementati
$200M $80M
Multibenefit
SW
Impleme
ntation
projects
Round 1
OPEN
TBD
2018:

Round 2
Planni
ng
grant
551
Proposal to Provide
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36 on Grants/
Proposition 1
projects
that
respond to
climate
change, &
are
included
in an
adopted
SW
Resource
Plan or
IRWMP
facilities
includin
g but not
limited
to: Green
infrastru
cture;
SW
capture;
SW
treatmen
t
solicitatio
ns for
implement
ation
grants
solicit
ation
closed
in
March
($20M
)
additio
nal
round
of
$100
M for
imple
mentat
ion
grants
anticip
ated
DWR Water
Use
Efficiency:

CA
Revolving
Fund/ Prop 1
$10M $10M
Sustainabl
e funding
source for
urban
water use
efficiency
projects.

Dish/clot
hes
washer
upgrades
; Watersaving
plumbin
g
fixtures;
Hotwater
recircula
ting
pumps;
Leak
detection
,
irrigation
upgrades
;
Solicitation
opening
soon
Summer
2017:

Loan
applicatio
ns due
$5M
for
loans
to
local
agenci
es for
water
efficie
ncy
upgrad
es;
$5M
for
loans
to
custo
mers
for
onsite
project
s or
leak
repairs
DWR
IRWM:

Implementati
on Grants/
Prop 1
$418M
state-wide
$98M for
LA Region
TBD
Projects
and
programs
that
support
IRWM.

Surface
storage/
GW
recharge;
Water
conveya
nce;
In
developmen
t
TBD:

Round 1
solicitatio
n for
implement
ation
grants
Public
comm
ent
period
ended
April
552
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37 We will evaluate the projects, review eligibility and potential project ranking, and provide recommendations to the City Project Manager, so that all relevant information is easily available to choose which grants to pursue.
✓ Our analysis of the unfunded plans of a project for the City of Palm Springs allowed us to recommend alternative grant opportunities that resulted in submittal of two additional successful grant applications, with $5.1 million awarded. ✓ Review of City of Downey CIP program and unfunded list of projects resulted in identification of a grant programs for the City for up to $8 million in funding.

Deliverable(s):
• Funding Matrix identifying all available funding for the City’s Projects • Updated Funding Matrix on monthly or as-needed basis
Task 3. On-Call Grant Research
ESS will also perform on-call grant research for funding opportunities identified by the City to serve as potential funding sources for its projects beyond the types of Projects listed in the RFP.

Task 4. Grant Writing/ Grant Proposal Development
Reviewing Application Guidelines
Once a funding source and a pursuit have been identified, ESS will arrange for a kick-off meeting and will come prepared with a Work Plan Structure (WPS), which is a matrix of the fund parameters and is essential to project management throughout the grant writing and submission process. ESS prepares a WPS for all funding pursuits based on the detailed analysis of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and funding source guidelines. The WPS identifies detailed grant fund requirements and populating it will help identify the necessary documents and resources and areas of responsibilities between team members and internal deadlines.

The WPS will also serve as a tool for both the City staff and ESS team members to track the project progress and alignment with the funding. When developing the WPS, ESS will also note the implementation constraints that may have an impact on selection of the project elements.

For example, most funding sources require that a grant agreement be in place prior to the start of construction. ESS will work with the City Project Manager to identify solutions and/or assist with reprioritization of the grant applications to meet the requirements. Topics commonly found in the WPS include:
• Eligibility criteria • Matching funds
• Budget needs • Maps and pictures
• Project programming requirements • the City’s prior grant management record • Submittal requirements • Evaluation criteria
• Resolutions and approval letters required from the Board of Directors • Technical reports: Benefit Cost Analysis, Environmental Reports, Life Cycle Analysis Watersh
ed
restorati
on/prote
ction
8,
2016
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Proposal to Provide
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38 • Project readiness: CEQA status, Feasibility studies, Project design reports • Support documentations: certifications, forms, project reports A sample segment of a WPS appears below. It is organized for clarity and is an invaluable reference tool that is used throughout every project.

Deliverable(s):
• Work Plan Structure for the identified grant pursuit, such as the example below:
• Application template and application package checklist Reviewing Program and Project Documents
The first step for our targeted approach is to develop a full understanding of the project elements, project milestones, and available project reports. We will also study the previously awarded projects from the funding agencies and learn about the key points that may be overlooked for their simplicity. In developing the WPS, we will identify the primary and secondary evaluation criteria to help highlight the project strengths. We will work closely with the City Project Manager to identify the potential gaps, analyze alternatives, and recommend resolutions to minimize their impact. ESS shall ensure that all applications prepared are competitive and responsive to the screening and scoring criteria for the pursued grant. With this approach, ESS has added value for our clients:
✓ ESS recommended re-strategizing of funding pursuits for four projects for the City of Santa Ana resulted in identification of additional $10 million in grants. ✓ Review of City of Commerce projects resulted in changing the scope of work and a successful award of more than $1 million.

Requirements BY Schedule

3.2 Project
Description
Template
Project sponsors must provide descriptive information on the proposed Small Starts project and the regional public transportation system. FTA uses the information in the Project Description Template to understand the project and to establish a database of project characteristics and local contact information. All Small Starts project sponsors must submit ESS Week 1

3.3.1 Project
Identification
2-3 sentences on the essential characteristics of the proposed project (location, length, termini, number of stations, hours of service and frequency by time period) Week 1

3.3.5 Purpose of the
Project
Succinctly describe the specific ways that the proposed major transit investment will address the problems identified in the corridor. Week 1

3.3.6 Merits of the
Project
Describe how the project addresses the Purpose for the Project more effectively compared to other alternatives week 1 -2

3.4 Project Maps Week 1

3.4.3 Map Details:

Stations
Stations included in the project, marked in a distinguishable manner from existing transit stations and labeled. Stations with park & ride facilities should be further distinguished from others, either via markings or labels.

ESS Week 1

3.4.9 Map Details:

Legend A legend, scale and compass. ESS Week 1

3.6 Operations and
Maintenance
Costs

3.7 Capital Costs ESS Week 2

4.3 Cost Effectiveness Need to put in Trip information; Horizon Year; the project's annualized federal share.

See Page 16-17: FY18 Reporting Instructions for the Section 5309 Small Starts Criteria. ESS/City Week 2 ItemA2:H3

1.0 Introduction

3.0 General Reporting
Must submit to FTA documentation summarizing how operating and maintenance costs were developed.

Additionally, the following considerations apply:
• System-wide and route level operating cost data (and factors) are typically available as part of ongoing operations planning.

Electronic maps must be submitted for inclusion in Annual Report on Funding Recommendations and/or posting on FTA website. Maps should be 8.5x11 and be able to be copied in grey scale. Typical orientation for N/S is portrait and E/W is landscape. 554 Proposal to Provide
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39 ✓ Detailed evaluation of the grants has enabled us to advise the agencies if the project is not competitive and resulting in cost savings by not preparing grant applications.

WRITING-TO-WIN Approach
What sets us apart is that our grant writers are licensed technical experts in this industry and therefore have the ability to convey complex project information into the specific format of a grant application.

Using a targeted approach to analyze objectives and match goals to opportunities provides us with the details we need for our writing-to-win approach. Once a funding strategy is in place, the next challenge is to create a winning application. ESS brings its proven track record in creating an application package that will stand out among hundreds, highlighting the project’s merit in full compliance with the instructions and limitations.

This approach uses a high degree of expertise and creativity. ESS understands that impactful illustrations transform well-researched information into powerful persuasion. ESS has used the clarity of graphics and schematic drawings to show grant evaluators the client agency’s expertise and vision:
✓ For a Department of Water Resources grant, ESS provided pictorial highlights of the project’s energy-efficiency benefits matching the goals of the grant. ✓ For a cap-and-trade grant to reduce GHG emissions, ESS replaced the executive summary with graphics highlighting projects matching the grant focus. This resulted in an award of more than $9 million.
✓ For another project, ESS used an AQMD pollution map as a base and plotted all of the appropriate, completed energy-efficiency projects.
✓ ESS application was ranked as one of the best and posted on FHWA website. FHWA asked Sudi Shoja for input and used the table format created by ESS in a grant application as a requirement for future cycles.

Compile and Review Project Information/Identify Missing Project Data Depending on the grant requirements, ESS will work with the City Project Manager to receive the available technical studies, environmental documents and plans and specifications. We will then use our highly experienced team members to complete the technical write-up sections of the grants. As needed, and upon the City’s direction, we will be prepared to perform additional technical research and analysis to supplement the effort.

The ESS engineering team has been directly responsible for implementation of various CIP programs for transportation and street improvements, water and sewer projects and facility management and will bring their expertise to articulate the technical information of the grants.

Our expert grant writers will review the project documents to highlight the project’s strengths matching the grant goals to achieve maximum ranking of the application. ESS will compile and/or develop all relevant project information and exhibits, including but not limited to project cost estimate, funding plan, narrative, project’s benefits, and other information and data, graphics, maps, charts, tables or photos pertinent to the funding program requirements and In one example of a
successful utility project, the
technical application for the
$103 million project
received no comments and
was approved in record
time.
555
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
40 evaluation criteria in order to produce a competitive application. ESS will also identify any missing information and/or data needed from the City in order to complete the project application.
✓ The complex FEMA applications prepared by ESS have been approved by CalOES for funding by FEMA.
✓ ESS prepared a successful and highly technical grant application package for San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, providing detailed GHG reduction calculations, trip generation interpretations, and available technologies for alternative fuel that resulted in a $30 million award.

Budget Analysis and Construction Planning
The ESS team will assist the City in identifying qualifying information to meet grant requirements for budgeting and construction planning. Budgets need to demonstrate project flexibility and scalability to make the grant applications more attractive and create opportunities to apply again even after a successful application’s award. Some areas of focus will include:
• Qualifying matching funds
• Budget scalability
• Scheduling details
• Implementation requirements for allocation purposes
Support Letters
Often, this aspect of a grant application is given only cursory attention and proves to be invaluable. At ESS, these potentially undervalued areas are key endorsements that ESS crafts in close cooperation with clients. ESS will recommend stakeholders to contact and will draft focus points that align with key ideas in the narrative and grant criteria so that support letters send strong, targeted messages.

Grant Application Review and Approval Process
For every project, ESS will assign a QA/QC manager, which is an important factor of a successful grant application. We will use our internal grant checklist to ensure the application package is ready for submittal. This process will follow the WPS and an internal guide for editorial quality. To ensure grant applications are completed efficiently, ESS will arrange a meeting with the City Project Manager to answer questions, finalize budget, and schedule concerns and to further align the project with the grant goals and objectives. All final grant application packages will be submitted to the City for review and approval prior to submittal to the granting agency.

Deliverable(s):
• Draft grant application package for City’s input
• Final grant application package for submittal
• Status report on grant applications submitted
556
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
41 Technology
Many funding agencies have online grant submittal and management tools, including the DWR Bond Management System (BMS), California’s Grants Review and Tracking System (GranTS), the State Water Resources Control Board’s Financial Assistance Application Submittal Tool (FAAST), the federal government’s www.grants.gov website and the online submittal platforms for IRWM.

BOR

BMS

FAAST

IRWM

GranTS

Grants.gov

Furthermore, our team routinely performs grant management and administration services for funding by various agencies that utilize some of the same portals.

Deliverable(s):
• Submitted application packages for the City’s records • Submittal confirmations for the City’s records
Cultivating partnerships with other organizations
Both Sudi Shoja and ESS’s Project Managers have extensive experience in managing multijurisdictional projects on behalf of various agencies. They have been able to create synergy between different clients to benefit all agencies and winning applications. After submittal of each grant application ESS stays in close communication with funding agency project managers to learn about the application status and provide any additional information to enhance project clarity.
✓ We have been leading the efforts for Chino Basin Water Conservation Authority to partner with Inland Empire Utilities Agency on two application projects, recently funded by MWD. ✓ ESS arranged for support letters from other utility agencies to support the Coachella Valley Water District grant application and coordinated the effort to obtain results of a demonstration project benefiting all agencies in hot arid regions. ✓ ESS worked directly with Cal OES’ project manager on behalf of Turlock Irrigation District that resulted in successful application approval for $17 million grant.

Deliverable(s):
• Record of conversation with funding agencies
• Response to questions asked by funding agencies
Disadvantaged Communities
Many funding opportunities allocate a certain percentage of the funding to projects benefiting disadvantaged communities (DACs) and therefore, it is imperative that the need and applicability is effectively demonstrated. For example, grants funded by the federal government must meet the Justice40 Initiative which aims to provide at least 40% of available funding to benefit the DACs. Claiming benefits to DACs requires documentation and substantiation of
meaningful benefits, as well as explanation of the
methodology used for assuring accomplishment of those
Demonstration of low-earning
jobs in cities of San Bernardino
and Redlands for a successful
award of more than $9.2 million
557
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
42 benefits. This identification must be based on geographic (i.e., CEJST mapping tool), socioeconomic, public health, and
environmental hazard criteria (Health and Safety Code
Section 37911).

ESS is acutely familiar with researching geographic equity and the degree to which the City’s DACs would benefit from a project. ESS will work with the City staff to identify projects in these communities and highlight the benefits in order to win the grant funding. ✓ A successful application for San Bernardino County Transportation Authority demonstrated 41 DACs in the area.

Task 5. Grant Administration
Grant & Contract Management Support

1. Grant Management Support
ESS has provided grant management and compliance monitoring services for federal projects on behalf of several agencies since the start of our company. As you will read in the subsequent sections, ESS’s approach to grant management and compliance monitoring is holistic and ensures that all management and compliance tasks are met efficiently and promptly. Our approach can be broken down into the below general tasks which are as follows:

1. Grant Management and Development of Work Plan Structure (WPS) for each phase

2. Compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations

3. Technical Narratives for basis of the projects including scope of work as it corresponds to the funding requirements, damages incurred, cost and schedule.

4. Develop templates for project reporting needs to streamline the process.

5. Reimbursement Requests for all eligible costs and all the FEMA required forms.

6. Progress Reports as need to include narratives on scope of work, budget, and schedule.

7. Grant closeout process

8. Record retention and audits
Kick-off Meeting and Development of WPS for Grant Management and Compliance Summary of our general services for grants management is presented below:

Once a notice of intent to award has been issued, ESS will arrange for a meeting and will come prepared with a WPS, which is a matrix of Federal (e.g., Buy America), State, and local compliance parameters. ESS prepares a WPS for all grant fund management efforts based on the detailed analysis of the grant guidelines and the executed agreement. The WPS identifies detailed grant fund requirements and populating it will help identify the necessary documents and resources, and areas of responsibilities between team members and internal deadlines. The WPS will also serve as a tool for both the City and ESS to track the required information and timing for full alignment with the funding conditions.

Topics commonly found in the WPS include:

1. Funding: Funding agreement and related correspondence, and deadlines

2. Internal Controls: grant policies and/or internal control procedures 558
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
43 3. Contracts: advertising for the construction contract, contractor selection process and contracts, and all related documents

4. Invoices: Original vendor requests, identification of eligible and ineligible budget items, required back up documents, change orders, approvals, reimbursement requests

5. Accounting Records: Receipts, deposit slips, cancelled checks, bank statement ledgers for receipts and disbursements.

6. Administration Costs: Contract and City personnel working on the project, timesheets, payrolls and supporting documents.

7. Schedule: Project timeline, progress reports and reimbursement due dates leading to the grant deadline along with timelines for receiving the back-up documents

8. Other: other related items such as photo documentation and as-builts

9. Meetings: ESS will propose monthly conference calls to learn about project status, update the schedule and budget as needed and review upcoming deadlines A sample segment of a WPS is below. It is organized for clarity and is an invaluable reference tool that is used throughout the project compliance period. We will add the information gained at the kickoff meeting to the WPS. We will also request a meeting with the funding agency’s grant representatives to discuss expectations and next steps. We will repeat these meetings periodically and specifically after the first submittal to gain feedback and restructure our process if needed.

Grants Agreement Assistance
Many funding agencies including BOR require substantiation of cost estimates provided in the application and confirmation for the proposed milestones. ESS will work with the City and funding Agency’s Grants Specialists to develop the agreement terms to meet the Project goals while meeting agency requirements.

NEPA Clearance
559
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
44 If desired, ESS team members are available to assist with NEPA process that needs to be completed before the start of the construction Deliverable(s):
• Work Plan Structure for the grant with tabs for agency records • Meeting agendas
• Meeting minutes and updated WPS according to the input received in the meetings. ✓ ESS provided a thorough review of agreements with BOR for LBWD, identifying the sections that need to be added to construction documents. ✓ ESS has been providing compliance-monitoring and reimbursement services for City of Palm Springs’ $29 million wastewater treatment projects. In the final audit by the SWRCB, ESS was complimented by the auditors and received full approval of its processes.
✓ ESS has been providing successful grant compliance on a $280 million San Bernardino County Transportation Authority project that consists of more than 11 different funding sources.

2. Compliance with Grants Conditions, Federal, State, and City Regulations Compliance with Grant Conditions, Federal, State, and City Regulations Bid Procurement Assistance
ESS team members are thoroughly familiar with the requirements of all the funding programs’ policy and agreement details. ESS has experts on the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) requirements and ESS will guide the procurement and other compliance measures to be followed throughout the life of the project. They will provide the required narratives to be included in the procurement documents and will review the final package before their release. Prior to advertising for the construction bids:
• ESS will provide the specification sections that need to be included in the bid documents. • ESS will verify if a new Federal Wage Determination is issued within 10 days of the bid opening and prepare an addendum as needed.
• ESS will assist in preparation of responses regarding questions that may come up during bidding
Contract Award
ESS will use its extensive experience in construction management to assure a successful award of the contract:
• Provide a comprehensive review of the bids for labor compliance, and good faith effort to assist in the assessment of contractor’s responsiveness. • Review the bid package for compliance with other funding agency’s requirements such as BABA and the required certifications.
• Conduct contractor eligibility check before contract award. 560
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
45 Deliverable(s):
• Specification sections and addenda as needed.
• Bid review results.
✓ Our experience as former agency managers coupled with our expertise in managing BOR and other federally funded projects will guarantee full compliance for the project.

Grant Management
As mentioned in the previous section, ESS will work with the funding agency to ensure that all grant requirements are identified and achieved through a multistep process.

Pre-Construction Meeting
We will request to be added to the pre-construction meeting agenda and will come prepared to provide the contractor and the construction management team with relevant information about the state/federal compliance and discuss a process to meet all the requirements.

ESS will also support the City in other related requirements such as getting approval for Project sign.

Deliverable(s):
• Documentation process for compliance with AIS, DBE and prevailing wages • Review of Project sign template
Reimbursement Requests
ESS is thoroughly familiar with the types of information needed to complete the semi-annual progress report, reimbursement requests. Depending on the grant agreement details, we are prepared to start the reimbursement process by:

1. Process the budget forms that need to be approved by the funding agency’s management to allow for processing the reimbursements.

2. Process the reimbursement request for planning and engineering expenses if stipulated in the agreement

3. ESS will request a copy of the invoices approved by the construction management team.

4. ESS will review the invoices for eligible vs. ineligible expenditures and prepare reimbursement forms accordingly and submit for City review and signature. ESS will request the appropriate back up documents for all the eligible costs such as approved change orders.

Deliverable(s):
• Draft Reimbursement Requests for review and signature • Submittal of finalized reimbursement requests to funding agencies. ✓ ESS has been processing reimbursement requests for a $50 million SRF funded project without receiving comments or delays in payment for an agency with limited cash flow.

Progress Reports
561
Proposal to Provide
Grant Writing and Advocacy Services
46 As it is demonstrated in this proposal, ESS team members have extensive experience preparing progress reports on behalf of various agencies. We will utilize our hands-on project management process to develop the progress reports in a professional and consistent manner meeting the funding agency’s requirements.

The following will be our proposed approach to receiving, storing and organizing information, and submitting progress reports, however, we remain flexible to meet the City’s preferred process:

1. ESS will request a copy of the weekly meeting minutes prepared by the construction management team.

2. We will then draft a progress report based on the information gained from the weekly meeting minutes, approved progress payment and change orders.

3. ESS will then set up a conference call with the City’s Project Manager to ask questions and review the categories on the template to gain additional information to complete the draft report accordingly. This meeting time will allow all the questions to be answered in the most efficient manner versus over several correspondences. Following this process has proven to relieve our clients from dedicating extensive time to provide detailed information.

5. ESS will finalize the progress report based on the City’s comments. All progress reports will need to have a complete photo documentation that will be added to the final document.

6. We will review the draft final form for compliance with all funding agency requirements.

ESS will then send the final draft version to the City for review and approval.

7. Once the progress report is approved by the City, ESS will request a signature and will submit the documents to the funding agency. All project progress reports will be submitted through the respective online portal or unique submission process.

ESS will create an archive of all the submitted documents and any review comments that may be received from the funding agency. The progress reports are due semi-annually and require the following information: a summary of progress including a description of progress since the last report, percent construction complete, percent contractor invoiced, and percent schedule elapsed; a description of compliance with environmental requirements; a listing of change orders including amount, description of work, and change in contract amount and schedule; and any problems encountered, proposed resolution, schedule for resolution, and status of previous problem resolutions.

Environmental Compliance
ESS will review the environmental documents and include all the compliance measures in the WPS for tracking purposes. ESS will note the documentation for meeting the compliance requirements as they are developed and keep all the records that will be used in progress reports, final close out and audit sessions.

Schedule for Report Submission
The WPS will include a schedule for submission of the required progress reports, final reports, and invoices. This schedule will also include dates for reminder notices that will be sent to City staff for the required information to meet the grant deadlines.

Deliverable(s):
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Proposal to Provide
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47 • Checklist of information needed to complete draft Progress Reports will be sent with reminders for upcoming deadlines
• Draft progress reports with updates on environmental process • Finalize progress reports and submit to the funding agency ✓ ESS will take the full responsibility for all timelines and reminders to meet the grant requirements.
✓ ESS Project Managers bring their extensive experience on similar projects to create the project documents and develop accurate and credible progress reports.

AIS requirements
ESS will also review all updated AIS requirements and will identify all project components that are required to comply with AIS based on the contractor’s cost items and components. ESS will continuously check submittals of project components to ensure that all relevant steel products have the required AIS certificates and will communicate De Minis requirements for minor components in the project.

Deliverable(s):
• List of Project components that are required to comply with AIS and provide template of required AIS certificate
• Continuous monitoring of Project submittals to ensure products purchased have the required AIS certificates
Labor Compliance to meet Federal Requirements
While the project has to meet federal requirements, it also has to abide by the State Department of Industrial Relations requirements. ESS will review the contract documents for applicable wage determination and will discuss posting the required information on site with the project inspectors. Certified Payrolls including all subcontractors will be requested. In addition, contractors will be required to provide documentation about apprentice certifications and labor union agreements as needed.

ESS will coordinate with the City inspector and provide all the forms and reminders to perform the monthly interview of all labor classifications.

Deliverable(s):
• Review certified payroll, fringe benefits, and various labor unions for the contractor and the subcontractors on the project to meet the wage determination applicable to the project • Review of employee interview & comparison with certified payroll • Follow up on any incompliance or inconsistencies. ESS will set up tracking documents and will let the construction management team know of any non-compliance matters in a timely manner.
• ESS will support the team in filling out the required forms as needed.

Project Closeout
ESS will prepare the closeout documents according to the funding agency’s closeout guidance.

ESS will work with the agency to facilitate a site inspection visit so they can prepare an inspection report. ESS will also include copies of audit reports performed to date as part of the 563
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48 closeout documentation. Environmental compliance and its documentation will be another key subject for the project closeout. In summary, ESS will prepare for the closeout from the kickoff meeting and will compile the information and documentation collected through the life of the project to complete the closeout document. ESS will make sure that all the funding agency comments (if any) are addressed within the designated time.

Project Documentation
As it is noted above, the WPS will include all the project compliance requirements including Federal, State and City requirements, environmental compliance measures along with details and checklists for progress reports, reimbursement requests and project closeout.

The WPS will guide both the City staff and ESS in meeting all the requirements and provide a timeline for managing the grant agreement. Using this comprehensive checklist developed by our federal funding agency experts will allow us to notify the City of any issues in a timely manner and reconcile as needed.

Depending on the City’s preferences, ESS will create a secured shared-drive folder to provide access for all the documents. Additionally, ESS will format the shared-drive folders to meet the federal level audit requirements enforced by funding agencies to ensure optimal organization.

Documents will need to be submitted electronically to agencies and record of all submission records will be filed and reported to the City’s Project Manager at submission. The respective online portal will be used for submittal of all reimbursements and reports.

Deliverable(s):
• Filing system and access information
• Submittal confirmations for reports and reimbursement records • Final transfer of grant records to the City in the desired format Audit Preparation and Support
As noted above, we will start setting up a successful and stress-free audit from our kick-off meeting. WPS will guide us on where to locate the applicable documents.

Upon notice of an audit request, ESS will communicate with the funding agency to learn about the preferred method of reviewing documents: electronic or hard copy submittals. Based on their response, ESS will prepare Audit Books (if paper copies are preferred) for each project that will contain the up-to-date information for the audit. Our detailed filing system will allow us to be ready for an audit session at any given time. We will also utilize our audit check list to review the documents needed and prepare for the meeting. Below are some of the details that will be provided:

1. General Grant Requirements: internal controls, organization charts, City procurement policy, grant policies and/or internal control procedures.

2. Grant Agreements:
• Grant Agreement: Fully executed grant agreement and amendments (if any). • Correspondence with the funding agency.

3. Project Specific Documents:
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49 • Solicitation process documentation, detailing history of the process, and selection process.
• Price/cost analysis, final budget approval form and supplemental documents, final agreement(s), consultant, and construction contracts. Contracts need to include required contract provisions.
• Environmental compliance and documentation of mitigation measures • Progress Reports: submitted package along with all the backup documents. • Reimbursement Requests: submitted reimbursement records along with all back up documents and confirmations. Cash Documents: receipts, deposit slips, cancelled checks, and bank statements, Accounting Records: ledgers for receipts and cash disbursements.
• Project Completion Reports for approval of work, copies of completed studies and construction documents, final payments and as-builts for the construction phase. • Contractor Invoices: records of all submitted invoices and records of payments by the City
• Backup Documents: original vendor requests, identification of eligible and ineligible budget items, back up documents, approvals, reimbursement requests ✓ ESS was complimented by SWRCB and Federal auditors during an audit session for the $29 million wastewater treatment plant for the City of Palm Springs Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)
Quality Assurance begins with our highly qualified professional staff and project managers. Sudi Shoja will serve as the project manager and the primary point of contact throughout the life of this contract. She will be responsible for coordinating all work products, ESS team assignments, and staff assignments for this project. Although our QA process is not unique, the intensity with which we carry out our QA process is the foundation for our success.

We follow three principles:
• Do it right the first time: The more accurate the deliverable, the better the control • Avoid surprises: Keep our clients apprised of any potential issues or changes through clear and consistent communication.
• Complete the project within budget and on time: Close schedule and cost monitoring keeps the project on track.

As discussed above, ESS personnel have been responsible for similar work as employees and as consultants. This ensures that all work products will be consistent, accurately reflect the scope of the proposed project, and appropriately maintain internal consistency and accuracy. We will use meetings and conference calls as needed during document development to facilitate discussion of issues, reviews of preliminary and administrative drafts, and timely completion of each task. We value the opportunity to serve as your consultant and our commitment to exhibit an exceptional level of transparency, ethics, and customer service is reflected throughout this proposal. Also included in this commitment is our pledge to solicit feedback regularly from the agency staff. 565
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50 Methods that help assure quality include:

1. ESS uses a proactive method to develop a WPS to outline all the compliance requirements, identify the necessary documents and resources, areas of responsibilities between team members and internal deadlines. The WPS will also serve as a tool to track the project progress and alignment with the funding by both City and ESS staff members.

2. Progress meetings and issuance of meeting minutes: ESS expects that the City will make staff roles clear and inform ESS of any preferences in how staff are contacted.

3. Established process for review and final approval of submittals with ample time for the City’s staff.

4. Status report that will include updates on submitted reports and reimbursements.

5. ESS staff are trained to track their time spent on every project accurately and in 15 minutes durations.

6. As a matter of course, ESS includes in all on-call contracts a monthly report that itemizes areas our client would like to see summarized, along with invoices indicating actual times spent.

7. ESS conducts a post-submittal review of the process with City staff to receive input on the completed process and to modify approach to gain maximum efficiency and client satisfaction. We propose to have a review session after the first semi-annual report submittal.

8. ESS will follow up with the funding agency on all submittals and revisit our process as needed.

ESS also conducts annual surveys from its clients to find out on how to better serve them. Some of the comments received are shared earlier in this proposal.

Task 6. Monthly Reports
ESS will follow the City’s directions regarding timing and formatting of monthly status reports and will revise it based on the input received from staff. The status reports in general will identify the following:
• Status of grant applications under development.
• Submitted grant application details such as amounts, submittal dates and expected notices of funding.
• Action items and timelines for tasks needing completion. • Upcoming grant funding opportunities relevant to each project. • Updates on any legislative items or funding opportunity guidelines affecting the City’s funding strategy plan.
• Contract control information, responsible party and items needed from the City. • Time spent on tasks undertake during the previous month. • Any other information requested from the City.

Deliverable(s):
• Comprehensive status report on a monthly basis or as requested by the City. 566
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51 Task 7. Advocacy Services
ESS is also well equipped to provide the advocacy services the City is seeking for this contract.

Specifically, ESS will conduct research and analysis of policy issues that relate to the City’s mission and priority projects. ESS will also develop policy positions and advocacy materials to support the City’s objectives. Finally, ESS will also development and implement the advocacy strategy to build relationships with key stakeholders including funders, policymakers, and community leaders.

Deliverable(s):
• Develop advocacy materials to support the City’s objectives and build relationships with key stakeholders.

Task 8. Additional Services (Optional)
ESS staff are fully capable of bringing their extensive experience in design and construction of water utilities to provide additional services as needed. As former agency personnel, ESS team members are fully prepared to support the City’s Project Manager with all required analysis, reports, design review and specification sections, cost estimating, preparation of staff reports, and resolutions as needed. Specifically, ESS can provide the following additional services. • Provide design review and prepare specification sections to meet the terms of grant agreements and guidelines.
• Assists in preparation of required California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) • Prepare technical documents to support the grant applications and/or prepare RFP for technical services needed.

Our goal is to bring in the highest possible amount of funding for the City. To achieve this goal, ESS brings its extensive experience and a highly qualified team to work closely with the City’s Project Manager to mold the City’s project components to best fit funding opportunities priorities, to maximize eligibility and ranking under various funding programs. SWRCB announced project readiness as a criterion for higher ranking 30 days prior to grant deadline. ESS staff used their technical expertise to prepare specifications on behalf of four agencies that all received the highest ranking and the requested funding. ✓ In a rushed grant application for the City of Santa Ana, ESS was tasked with preparation of all the grant requirement documents including CEQA, cost estimates and direct coordination with SCE and City’s consultants to finalize the technical reports for a successful award from BOR on a hydropower improvement project. 567
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52 First-Year Schedule and Deliverables
Task/Milestone Schedule Key Deliverables
Funding Needs Analysis Will occur within
first 2 weeks of
contract execution
• Funding priority matrix
Grant Funding Research On-going throughout
contract duration.

ESS conducts grant
research on weekly
basis.
• Grant summaries once NOFO is
released.

On-Call Grant Research On-going throughout
contract duration.
• Grant summaries once NOFO is
released.

Grant Writing / Grant
Proposal Development
On-going throughout
contract duration.

ESS will provide a
more detailed
schedule once a
grant is pursued as
schedules will very
depending on the
grant pursued.
• WPS based on funding guidelines
and agendas for meetings.
• All supporting documents (draft
support letters, resolution, project
location and DAC benefit maps,
budget template in agency format).
• Draft of full grant application
responses based on information
provided by City
• Full grant application package and
grant confirmation.

Grant Administration On-going throughout
contract duration.
• WPS based on grant agreement
• Labor compliance tracker
• Draft progress reports for City’s
review
• Reimbursement request packages
for City’s review and signature.

Monthly Reports Monthly reports. • Monthly reports based on requested information from City.

Advocacy Services On-going throughout
contract duration
• Advocacy materials to provide to
stakeholders such as funding
agencies.

Additional Services On-going throughout
contract duration
ESS can provide as-needed
technical services to bolster grant
applications such as environmental
attachments (ie CalEEMOD),
technical write-ups, and other
technical documents.
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53 E. Fee Schedule
ESS proposes an annual not-to-exceed cost proposal of $70,000 based on the below hourly rates.

The annual cost is broken down based on the following assumptions:

Funding Needs Analysis and Grant Strategy: $6,000
Funding Research (On-going and on-call): $7,200 ($600 per month) State Grants: $30,000 (Assumes 2 state grants written costing $15,000 each) Federal Grant: $26,800 (Assumes 1 federal grant written (not from FEMA/CalOES)).

Total: $70,000
All ESS staff track hours to 15-minute increments so we can provide fair and accurate cost for the tasks assigned.

Cost increases will follow City’s policy and the acceptable escalation rates.

Fee Schedule
Position Hourly Rate
Principal $218
Project Manager $208
Senior Associate $188
Associate $166
Support Associate $140
Technical Experts $225-280
Reimbursable Cost
Reproduction Cost
Courier Services Cost
Transportation Cost
569
570

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Palm Desert City CouncilSeptember 26, 2024

Palm Desert City Council
September 26, 2024