May 2025
Public Works Department Activity Report
Mark Rincon, Public Works Director/City Engineer
[email protected]
Noteworthy Information:
1. Well 7 Media Replacement. Operations staff coordinated with the Contractor who has been very busy at the end of spring as other water agencies ready their system for the peak of summer use. The work is now scheduled for the week of July 7.
2. Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). The CCR is an annual report that is provided to water customers with information about the quality of their drinking water. It is a report that is required by federal and state regulations, detailing where the customer’s water comes from and what contaminants may be present in their drinking water. Public Works staff completed the report and submitted to the State for approval. The CCR will be provided to water customers by the end of June.
3. Street Markings. Operations staff refreshed street paint markings, which included lettering, stop bars and crosswalks throughout the city.
4. Sewer Line Cleaning. Sewer mains were flushed and Operations staff coordinated with a contractor to perform CCTV (closed circuit TV) of specific sewer lines in the southeast part of the city. This work is in compliance with the requirements in the California Riverwatch agreement.
5. Fire Department Building Repairs. The contractor completed the repairs on the west wall of the Fire Department building from previous water damage.
6. Ives Park Storm Drain Repair. Operations staff coordinated with a contractor to provide a quote and schedule the repairs to a damaged storm drain located in Ives Park. The damaged storm drain was discovered in late April and the emergency repair work has been approved for an estimated cost of $32,000. The cost of the repairs will be paid from Measure M Parks Fund 202.
7. Storm Drain Repair near Ragle Road. Public Works was made aware of a collapsed storm drain near Ragle Road at the beginning of the year. Due to staffing changes at the time and also the fact that this section of Ragle Road is in County jurisdiction, it took some time to research who owned the storm drain and who is responsible for the repair. It was determined that the pipe in question belongs to the City and within a City-owned public storm drain easement on private property. Operations staff has obtained a quote for the work and is estimated at $7,000. The work is being scheduled at this time with the cost coming from the Streets operations budget (General Fund) and can be performed within the adopted Streets budget for this fiscal year.
8. Americorp Trail Extension Project. Having already received an approved permit for the work from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, only a permit approval from State Fish and Wildlife (CFW) is pending. The City received a draft mitigation agreement from CFW and with their 30-day public noticing requirement, it is anticipated that an approved permit to start work will occur in mid-July. After the permitting is complete, the work can commence once the site is dry enough for the contractor to perform the work (estimated to occur in late July/ August time frame). Preparation of a conservation easement over the project site is a requirement under the terms of acceptance of the grant received from Sonoma County Ag & Open Space District.
Engineering staff will be working on the preparation of the easement agreement and will present the acceptance of the easement for Council approval and acceptance at a future meeting. Due to the avoidance of wetlands and mitigations required from the various resource agencies, the scope of the trail extension has been modified and reduced.
9. Bodega Avenue Guardrails. Engineering has been reaching out to various firms to obtain a proposal for the design work and has had some difficulty finding firms that are available and willing to perform the work. Engineering sent out a Request for Proposals with no proposals received. Engineering then reached out directly to 3 firms and we anticipate that we will receive a proposal from the third firm contacted.
10. Flood Resiliency Master Plan. Due to the specialized qualifications needed to prepare the master plan, Engineering has structured the solicitation as a two-step process. The first step is a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) that was released on May 27 with Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) due on June 10. The second step is to invite the most qualified firms to submit a Proposal through a Request for Proposals (RFP) to prepare the master plan.
11. Community Center Fire-Related Building Improvements. The work was completed, but during a final walk through of the site improvements, the Fire Department raised concerns of a fire hazard due to the hanging of a wall covering over the flood-damaged repaired wall. Community Center staff had placed the covering for aesthetic reasons since the repaired wall had a fireresistant membrane. Engineering will bring a change order request to Council to make the wall paintable so that a wall covering will not be needed.
12. City Hall ADA Improvements. The work was completed by Public Works staff and was a significant savings from the original plan to hire a contractor to make the improvements. The work included ADA improvements to the interior of the building including various doors, the front lobby counter area, and bathroom area.
13. Well 4 Replacement. Engineering has been reviewing a funding memorandum prepared by the City’s consultant to identify potential grants and loans that may be available to the City for the construction work. To date, it appears that the best cost option to the City is a State Revolving Fund.