Modesto council approves consent calendar and awards five‑year on‑call electrical services contract

The Modesto City Council on Sept. 9 approved a multi‑item consent calendar and separately adopted a resolution awarding an on‑call electrical services contract to Advance Lighting Services Inc. for citywide facilities and parks maintenance. Both measures carried unanimously.

Consent approvals (unanimous)

The consent calendar (motion by Council member Wright; second by Council member Scudia Braton) passed by unanimous roll call. Major items included: - Approval of minutes from the Aug. 26, 2025 council meeting (Item 3). - Appointment of a voting delegate to the League of California Cities annual conference (Item 4). - Acceptance of a Stanislaus County civil grand jury response (Item 5). - Acceptance of an accounts receivable internal controls review (Item 6) and a capital improvement program assessment report (Item 7). - Acceptance of a permitting efficiency study update (Item 8). - Budget adjustments for FY 2024–25 and FY 2025–26 (Item 9). - Acceptance of a Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning grant for downtown Modesto worth $450,000 for development of a downtown multimodal transportation and land‑use compatibility plan (Item 10). - Acceptance of the Upgrade Traffic Signals 2019 project as complete and release of securities and payments totaling $1,688,000.191 to St. Francis Electric LLC (Item 11). - Subdivision and final map approvals for Founders 0.2 and Wood Glen Villages (Item 12). - Delegation of investment transaction responsibilities to the director of finance and acceptance of the annual investment report (Item 13). - Fleet purchases including a 2025 Ford F350 and a Digger Derrick truck, not to exceed $653,670 (Item 14). - Approval of emergency repairs to Fire Station 11, not to exceed $155,990 (Item 15). - Contract amendments and professional service approvals, including a third amendment with West Coast Door and Gate (Item 16), amended Moss Adams audit contract language (Item 17), a Telseyon Communications agreement for criminal justice information services not to exceed $167,592 (Item 18), and combined preemployment psychological services not to exceed $40,000 over three years (Item 19). - Approval of a five‑year prequalified local consultant list for civil engineering services (Item 21).

Item 20: On‑call electrical services (removed from consent; voted separately)

Item 20 was removed from the consent calendar for public comment and brief staff presentation. Bill Sandhu, public works director, explained the procurement: an invitation for bids was posted on PlanetBids, 21 companies downloaded the bid documents, five were local downloads, but only two bids were submitted and none from local companies. Staff said they contacted a local incumbent, Centro Valley Electric, which did not submit a bid. Staff recommended awarding the on‑call electrical services agreement to the responsive bidder, Advance Lighting Services Inc. (Dublin).

A member of the public asked whether Modesto Irrigation District (MID) could have provided the service and whether that would have been cheaper; staff said the bid was open to any qualified firm including MID if they chose to respond. The council adopted the resolution awarding the contract (motion by Council member Wright; second by Council member Alvarez). The roll call vote was unanimous.

Contract amount details and discrepancy

The staff readout and the resolution text contained slightly different totals in the public record: an earlier staff summary stated a total amount "not to exceed $1,334,456 over 5 years," while the resolution language read "a total amount not to exceed $1,335,566 over 5 years" with an estimated annual amount of $267,114. The council record did not resolve that numeric discrepancy during the meeting; staff should be asked to confirm the final contract ceiling in the executed agreement.

Ending

Both the consent calendar and the on‑call electrical services award passed unanimously. Council members asked no substantive follow‑up about the other consent items during the meeting and directed staff to implement the approved items per normal procedures.