City Council
259 N. Wilma Avenue
Ripon, CA 95366
MEMO
To: Honorable City Council
From: Kevin Werner, City Administrator
Date: 05/14/2024
Subject: Fire Suppression Assessment Change Order 2
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Approve Change Order No. 2 for additional services to support the Fire District’s efforts of evaluating a Proposition 218 process to increase operating revenue in the not to exceed amount of $16,500, which is to be split between the City of Ripon and Ripon Consolidated Fire District (funding source: General Fund).
BACKGROUND:
The City of Ripon residents and businesses are served by a number of important entities, including the Ripon Consolidated Fire District. The Fire District has communicated concerns regarding their fiscal challenges of staffing Station 3 and continuing ambulance service within its’ service boundary, which includes the City of Ripon.
The members of the Ripon City Council and Ripon Consolidated Fire District Two-by-Two Committee met multiple times to discuss how best the City of Ripon can support the Fire District to ensure they are able to continue to provide the high level of service the residents and businesses of Ripon have appreciated for so many years.
At the October 12, 2021 City Council meeting, the City Council approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Ripon and the Ripon Consolidated Fire District that defined the roles and responsibilities of each entity through the Fire District’s evaluation of moving forward with a Proposition 218 process to increase operating revenue. Additionally, Council approved a professional services agreement with Harris & Associates to provide the following services to support the Fire District through this process:
Evaluate the feasibility of adopting a fire suppression assessment Development of public outreach strategy using Lucy & Company Prepare Engineer’s Report to support the Proposition 218 study Harris & Associates along with their public outreach sub-consultant Lucy & Company have completed the first two elements of the initial scope of work summarized above. The results of this work were presented to the Two-by-Two Committee along with the following recommendations:
Fire District to complete a staffing analysis as a separate report or amend the Fire District strategic plan to include the staffing analysis.
Fire District to conduct community presentations and stakeholder outreach to review the staffing analysis and receive input.
Conduct a survey to obtain data regarding community opinions of staffing levels and associated costs that are supported by the community.
At the December 13, 2022 City Council meeting, the City Council approved Change Order No. 1 in the not to exceed amount of $27,820 to support the Fire District in their efforts of initiating these recommendations.
DISCUSSION:
The project was originally started in October 2021. At that time, Harris & Associates created a parcel database using San Joaquin County parcel information and used that database to calculate the assessment for the various land use types within the Ripon Consolidated Fire District service area. After this database was created, there was a delay in the project to complete the public outreach efforts. By the time the public outreach phase was complete and the Engineer’s Report was to be finalized, the database needed to be updated to include current parcel data.
Additionally, Harris & Associates participated in meetings supporting the public outreach efforts that were not included in the original scope of work.
Harris has requested an amendment of their fees to cover the additional work that was required due to the project schedule delays and additional meetings.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Based on the Memorandum of Understanding, the City of Ripon would be responsible for funding $8,250 of Change Order No. 2. Below is a summary of the overall cost to date:
Fee City of Ripon Share Fire District
Share
Original Scope (10/12/21) $118,080 $59,040 $59,040
Change Order No. 1 (12/13/22) $27,820 $13,910 $13,910
Change Order No. 2 $16,500 $8,250 $8,250
Total $162,400 $81,200 $81,200
The City of Ripon’s share of the expenses will be paid through the City’s General Fund.
Attachments:
1. Ripon Amendment Request - Revised