Cotati awards 2025 street-improvement contract to American Asphalt; orders prevailing-wage spot checks

The Cotati City Council voted 5-0 to award the 2025 Street Improvement Project to American Asphalt Repair & Resurfacing Company and to authorize the city manager to execute the construction contract and a construction-management and inspection-services agreement with Green Valley Consulting Engineering.

Public Works Director and city engineer Craig Scott presented the project background. Bids opened March 18 and five bids were received; the low bid was about 12.5% below the engineer’s estimate. Scott said the low bidder had completed the city’s 2024 pavement-preservation work without substantive contract-performance issues and that the city would hold a one-year warranty bond after final acceptance.

Several public commenters raised prevailing-wage and enforcement concerns after the city received a letter from the Foundation for Fair Contracting that flagged alleged prevailing-wage complaints involving the apparent low bidder. Council Member Sparks said she pulled the item from the consent calendar to request stronger payroll oversight and asked staff to add prevailing-wage spot checks to Green Valley’s construction-management scope. Sparks said the city’s standard certified-payroll submittals are required but that spot checks or worker interviews are a common additional safeguard on projects that receive federal funds.

Director Scott said the city collects certified payroll reports for public-works projects at regular intervals and posts them as public records; he confirmed that the city has performed spot checks on projects funded with federal dollars. Given the low bid and the bid-package responsiveness, staff recommended awarding the contract while adding the prevailing-wage spot-check direction for construction management.

Council approved the award and the professional agreement and directed staff to request the prevailing-wage spot-checks from Green Valley Consulting Engineering; council also authorized change orders or amendments to professional agreements within the project authorization amount. Council members noted that the project budget includes a thin contingency (staff estimated roughly 0.7% remaining in contingency, about $7,000) and that cost increases would require scaling scope or returning to council if beyond staff authorization.

The contracts will be executed and construction scheduled per the city’s normal public-works procurement procedures. Staff will post bid tabulation results and contract documents on the city website.