Council approves on-call professional services list; some members voice concerns about volume and oversight

The Gardena City Council on Sept. 10 approved a slate of prequalified on-call professional services across six categories to support an expanding capital improvement program, but the vote exposed council unease about the pace and scale of contracting.

Public Works said 57 statements of qualification were reviewed and top‑rated firms were selected to create a prequalified pool for general civil engineering, construction management and inspection, traffic engineering, architecture/landscape architecture, geotechnical/materials testing, and staff augmentation. The recommended approach lets staff solicit proposals quickly from prequalified firms on a per-project basis and—subject to council authority for contracts above a $100,000 threshold—authorize the city manager to approve contracts up to $100,000 tied to specific projects.

Councilmember Love and Councilmember Francis said the staff packet presented too many contracts at once (dozens of firms and lengthy contract documents), which made review difficult. Francis voted no and asked that future on-call agreements be presented in smaller batches so council can properly vet them. Public Works and the city manager responded that the prequalification creates a competitive bid environment among qualified firms and reduces the risk of awarding design work to unproven vendors; they also said engineers will oversee consultant performance and that larger contracts remain subject to council review.

The motion to approve on-call consultants and grant the city manager contract authority up to $100,000 passed by roll call with two 'No' votes.