TITLE:
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR ON-CALL STAFF SUPPORT FOR GENERAL PLANNING SERVICES
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DEPARTMENT: ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT/ PLANNING DIVISION
PRESENTED BY: ANNA MCGILL, PLANNING & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
CONTACT INFORMATION: ANNA MCGILL, PLANNING & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, (714) 754-5609
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council:
1. Approve and authorize the City Manager and City Clerk to execute a three-year Professional Service Agreement (PSA) with two one-year renewals in a form as approved by the City Attorney for on-call staff support for general planning services:
• City Advisors, LLC
• Community Catalyst, Inc.
• Dudek
• Interwest Consulting Group, Inc
• Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
• MIG, Inc.
• Placeworks, Inc.
• The Code Group, Inc.
2. Authorize the City Manager, or designee, and City Clerk to execute the PSA and future amendments with the above listed firms including any potential increases in compensation as long as the amendments are within the annual budget.
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BACKGROUND:
The City’s Economic and Development Services Department seeks to establish agreements with consultants for on-call staff support for general and specialized planning services, in connection with medium to large development projects, as well as key policy projects. In 2024, the Department’s Planning Division established an advanced planning team focused on the development and implementation of the City’s long range planning programs including housing element implementation, implementing the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance, processing the City’s advanced planning efforts such as the Rezone Program and Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, monitoring and implementing state legislation and monitoring grant opportunities.
As the City continues to process and implement key advance planning projects, it is anticipated that the City will also begin to see medium and large scale housing projects submitted to the City for review. The Department requires the ability to quickly secure temporary additional resources to address major projects while maintaining daily customer service operations. The Department also relies on on-call general staffing for planning services in the event of vacancies, to ensure that the delivery of services continues uninterrupted.
On September 25, 2024, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for on-call staff support for general and specialized planning services. The RFP also requested environmental expertise to continue to facilitate City needs during entitlement review. City staff anticipates presenting an environmental specialized services on-call list to the City Council for consideration in Spring 2025.
ANALYSIS:
The City received eight proposals for general planning services. Proposals were screened for compliance with the City’s RFP, and proposals were evaluated based on the method of approach, qualifications, and experience, staffing and cost proposal. (Attachment 1)
To ensure an objective selection process, an evaluation committee was assembled. All members evaluated proposals independently to assess qualifications and experience to address the City’s needs. Based on the City’s criteria and selection procedures set forth in the RFP, the evaluation committee recommended that agreements be awarded to the following eight (8) firms for staff support for general planning services:
• City Advisors, LLC
• Community Catalyst, Inc.
• Dudek
• Interwest Consulting Group, Inc
• Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
• MIG, Inc.
• Placeworks, Inc.
• The Code Group, Inc.
Under the proposed agreements, on-call consultants will provide support for general planning services, at an hourly rate in accordance with their contracts. When the City requires services, City staff would contact one or more on-call consultants to secure a cost proposal and proposed staffing for the needed service.
Establishing on-call lists will allow the City to quickly pull in outside expertise for a variety of professional and technical expertise, as needed, in the following areas:
• General planning, including medium and large development project management and staffing support;
• Planning review of building permits, including reviewing and documenting project compliance with Conditions of Approval and CEQA mitigation measures, ongoing site monitoring and inspection until project completion;
• Housing planning and analysis (including expertise on State Density Bonus Law, Affordable Housing Ordinance implementation, Housing Accountability Act, and other applicable housing and state legislation);
• Advanced planning;
• Economic analysis;
• Transportation and parking demand analysis;
• Geographic Information System (GIS) expertise/support; and
• Urban design.
The proposed new on-call list provides the Department with the spectrum of expertise necessary to address the ongoing and anticipated advanced and current planning projects. An example Professional Services Agreement (PSA) has been attached for reference. (Attachment 2) Individual PSAs will be executed with each awarded firm.
ALTERNATIVES:
An alternative would be to not move forward with the contracts for on-call consulting services. Due to the volume of current and long-range planning projects being managed by the Planning Division, this could result in significant time delays.
FISCAL REVIEW:
Some of the cost of consultant services is paid for by the project applicants as a “pass-through cost” and/or the City from the annual budget. Use of contract services are on an as-needed basis, and the cost of each service varies by subject and task.
For tasks that are not paid for by project applicants, funding for the professional services agreements are available within the Department’s existing approval budget. For Fiscal Year 2024-25, the Economic and Development Services Budget in the General Fund (Fund 101) has $275,000 through salary savings from the vacant Planning and Sustainable Development Manager, Principal Planner, and Associate Planner positions. For the remaining fiscal years of the contract, the Department will allocate funds from salary savings through position vacancies and/or through other department and/or citywide funding sources within the City Manager’s authority.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The attached sample PSA was prepared by the City Attorney’s Office and the staff report has been reviewed and approved as to form.
CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND PRIORITIES:
This item supports the following City Council Goals:
• Diversify, stabilize, and increase housing to reflect community needs.
• Advance environmental sustainability and climate resiliency.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager and City Clerk to execute a three-year Professional Service Agreements (PSA) with two one-year renewals for as-needed staff support for general planning services, as well as future amendments to those agreements so long as such amendments are within the annual budget.