Sunset council awards city cleaning contract to Stratus Building Care over staff concerns about higher cost

SUNSET, July 1, 2025 — The Sunset City Council approved awarding the city's cleaning services contract to Stratus Building Care on Tuesday after a committee review and reference check, a move council members said will increase near-term costs but improve service reliability.

The motion to approve the award was made by Councilmember Ridley and seconded by Councilmember Hope Thompson; the measure passed on a 4-1 roll-call vote (Ricky Carlson, Hope Thompson, Nancy Smalling and Lakeisha Wrigley voting yes; Sam Bartling voting no).

Council members said the selection followed a competitive request for proposals. "We had the committee go through the proposals. There was 6 of them. And Stratus Building Care came out, the highest," the office manager said during Tuesday's meeting, describing the committee's scoring and reference checks. The office manager added that the company received "extremely high marks" from references.

Why it matters: The selected bid is higher than the city's current spending on cleaning services, prompting questions about budget impacts and contract terms. Council members said the city can accommodate the increased cost in the short term and revisit budget adjustments later.

What the council heard and decided

City staff told the council the procurement committee initially evaluated six proposals, narrowed them to three and then to two finalists, and relied on external references to break the tie. The office manager said Stratus' references clearly distinguished it from other finalists.

Council members raised price and contract-term questions. The office manager said the bids generally ran higher than the city's current expenditures; one bid the council discussed was $2,300 a month, while the city's current informal arrangement had been paying roughly $811 a month. Public Works Director Jason Monroe told the council he identified options in the existing budget "to make it happen for now," and suggested the council could address longer-term budget effects later.

The office manager confirmed the selected firm documented insurance coverage above $1,500,000 and indicated staff will require background checks before any workers access secure areas of city facilities. She also said the city's current provider, which has served the city for about 14 years, submitted a bid that was markedly higher than its historical informal rate.

Councilmember questions focused on the contract scope (daily vacuuming, restroom cleaning, event-space deep cleans), how event-related deep-clean fees would be charged, and whether the city's existing deposits would cover special cleaning needs. The office manager said the event-space deep-clean fee in the proposal is $100 per deep clean and that the city's standard room deposit is $2.50, with carpet cleaning identified separately (about $600).

Next steps and conditions

The council vote authorized staff to award the contract to Stratus Building Care and to finalize contract documents. Staff were directed to circulate the full proposal and contract terms to council members after the meeting and to confirm required insurance and background-check provisions prior to service start-up.

No ordinance, statute or other legal authority was cited during the discussion; the award proceeded under the council's standard procurement authority.

Ending

Council members said they would monitor the new contract during the coming months and consider budget adjustments in future agendas if the higher annual cost requires it. Staff said they will provide the full proposal and reference checks to the council and execute standard pre-hire checks before any contractor staff enter secured areas.