Committee recommends council approve $1.75 million contract for catch-basin cleaning

The Oxnard Public Works and Transportation Committee recommended the City Council approve and authorize the mayor to execute an agreement with Black Point Group Construction and Management Inc. for catch-basin cleaning services, with an initial term from March 5, 2025, to March 4, 2026, and up to four consecutive one-year extensions through March 4, 2030. The contract amount will not exceed $1,750,000.

The recommendation matters because the city’s catch basins are part of the municipal stormwater collection system and the work helps the city comply with its MS4 permit, a state-issued municipal storm sewer system mandate that requires inspection and twice-yearly cleaning of catch basins. Tim Beeman, assistant director of public works, said the inspections and cleaning are a state mandate and part of why the city needs the contract.

Beeman described the catch basins and the city’s maintenance approach. “Our catch basins throughout the city are part of our stormwater collection system for surface water,” Beeman said. He told the committee the permit requires inspection and cleaning twice per year and that the city is installing stainless-steel “trash excluders” to keep debris out of the piping. Beeman said the additional excluder installations should be completed by the end of the month.

Michael Wolfe, listed as the contact for the item, and another staff presenter discussed how the storm drain system is sized and why streets can flood during larger storm events. “So those storm drain pipes are not necessarily designed to handle all the storm water that comes from large volume events,” Wolfe said, explaining that pipes are often sized to handle a defined event (he cited Ventura County’s typical design standard of a 10-year event). He added that larger events are conveyed on the street by design.

Committee members asked staff to show before-and-after pictures of cleaned catch basins to illustrate the type of debris that accumulates, and to remind the public that materials put in gutters and on streets can travel through catch basins to waterways. One committee member emphasized street sweeping as a best-management practice used to help meet MS4 requirements.

The committee moved to forward the contract recommendation to the City Council; the motion carried 3-0. Committee member Teran voted yes, Committee member Basula voted yes, and Chair McArthur voted yes.