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City staff recommends $2.1 million engineering contract for wastewater digester upgrades
Summary
City staff asked the Oxnard City Council to authorize a $2.1 million agreement with Corallo Engineers, Inc., and a $1.504 million budget appropriation to design rehabilitation of two wastewater digesters and related cogeneration improvements.
City staff recommended that the Oxnard City Council authorize the mayor to execute an agreement with Corallo Engineers, Inc., not to exceed $2,100,000 to plan and design rehabilitation of two digesters at the Water Resource Recovery Facility and to approve a $1,504,000 budget appropriation for the project.
The recommendation, presented by Tim Nieman, assistant public works director, covers Agreement No. 32500464 and project C2408. The work would include inspection and detailed design for digesters 1 and 3 and planning through final design; the contract term described in the presentation is up to five years and the design-phase budget request would move funds between the wastewater operating fund (Fund 611) and the wastewater capital fund (Fund 612).
Nieman told the council that the facility has three digesters that produce solids and methane gas. The methane is used on-site for cogeneration; the plant currently produces about 30% of its own electrical power. Two digesters were built in 1975 and the third in 1990. An integrated master plan recommended rehabbing all three digesters, beginning with digester 2; that digester’s rehabilitation is nearly complete as part of an ongoing reliability project, and the proposed agreement would fund design work to allow taking digesters 1 and 3 offline for rehabilitation once digester 2 is returned to service.
The purchasing department released Request for Proposals PW2570 on Dec. 19, 2024, sending it to 33 firms and posting it on PublicPurchase and the city website. Proposals were due Jan. 29; two proposals were received, from Carlisle Engineers and AECOM. A review panel composed of the water division manager, the wastewater project manager and an engineering project manager evaluated proposals and selected Corallo Engineers, Inc., as best value based on staff assignments, related project experience including similar work with the City of Oxnard, project approach and responsiveness.
Nieman said there is approximately $596,000 already available in the wastewater capital fund for the project. Because the design phase is starting in the current fiscal year, staff requested an additional $1,504,000 appropriation from the wastewater operating fund available fund balance and a matching increase in the wastewater capital fund to cover the agreement’s full not-to-exceed amount.
The presentation concluded with the staff recommendation; no council vote or motion on the agreement appears in the provided transcript segment. If the council approves the agreement and appropriation, staff indicated the design work would enable the staged rehabilitation of digesters 1 and 3 after digester 2 is fully returned to service.
