Turlock approves $41,008 rehab contract for city-owned home at 591 Birchwood

Turlock’s City Council unanimously approved a contract on a special meeting to rehabilitate a city-owned home at 591 Birchwood, awarding the work to New Century Construction and Consulting Inc. for a bid of $36,390 plus a 15% contingency of $5,458 — a total project cost of $41,008.48.

The award followed a staff presentation that explained the city owns five residential properties acquired for rehabilitation and reuse. Housing staff said three properties went out to bid; one project is complete, another nearly complete and the third (591 Birchwood) was put up for bid on Sept. 22 with a walkthrough on Sept. 29 and a bid deadline of Oct. 6. "The item before you is to award the bid and approve an agreement with New Century Construction and Consulting Inc in the amount of $36,390 with a 15% contingency amount of $5,458 for a total project cost of $41,008.48," staff said during the meeting.

Public comment raised labor-compliance concerns after the city discovered the lowest bidder lacked registration with the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). A member of the public said he could not find DIR reports for prior projects and worried that contractors might not have paid prevailing wages. "I'm a little curious about how you discovered it... I’m concerned about the whole subject of DIR in terms of the contractors actually paying prevailing wage," the speaker said.

City staff told the council the previously awarded contract had been terminated once it was confirmed the low bidder did not hold the required DIR registration. Staff said contracts require compliance with prevailing-wage rules and that certified payroll is collected to verify compliance, but that staff is still looking into whether and how prior projects were reported to DIR. "But I will assure you that we do receive the certified payroll to make sure it's done appropriately," staff said.

Council members expressed urgency to act because the property is tenant-occupied and staff wanted work completed before an upcoming holiday to avoid prolonged displacement. During the meeting staff told the council the project is "anticipated to be completed within 21 days of signing the contract." A motion to award the contract to New Century Construction and Consulting Inc. passed on a roll-call vote recorded as 4–0.

The city additionally noted that it is updating internal checklists and will confer with engineering and procurement staff to ensure future city-owned rehabs that qualify as public works are handled with prevailing-wage requirements front of mind.

Next steps: staff will finalize and execute the contract with New Century Construction and monitor certified payroll and reporting to DIR as part of normal contract administration.