Solano County accepts $19.84 million FEMA grant for justice campus flood protections; board approves compressed schedule

The Solano County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday accepted a $19,844,231 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to augment funding for an asset-protection project at the county justice campus in Fairfield.

The project, now estimated at about $33 million, seeks to shield the courthouse, jail and other campus facilities from repeated stormwater and tidal flooding. The board voted 5-0 to accept the grant, approve associated appropriations and give staff authority to move forward with procurement and limited contractual delegations necessary to meet the grant’s performance timeline.

The grant requires faster delivery than the county had planned. “The 36-month project length that we needed has been reduced to 20 months,” Solano County General Services Director Megan Grevy told the board, adding that staff will change the delivery approach to meet the shorter schedule. Capital projects manager Mark Hummel said staff will break the work into multiple bid packages and contract directly with prime trade contractors so long-lead items can be ordered and work begun sooner.

Hummel told the board that the package will include earthwork and raised berms, concrete retaining walls, vehicle ramps and self‑raising floodgates to protect the entry plaza, service yards and vehicle access routes. A project rendering presented to the board shows raised landscaped berms at the campus entrance, low retaining walls and ramped vehicle crossings to divert floodwaters around the buildings.

Because FEMA’s award period is compressed, staff also asked the board for an exception to the county’s standard approach to project labor agreements. Hummel said the county would still require prevailing wages, apprenticeship usage where applicable and documentation to satisfy audits, but the typical negotiated project labor agreement would not be feasible within the grant window.

Grevy warned the board that other administrative steps could slow delivery: many vehicles and equipment needed to support the work must be procured and outfitted through existing county processes, and staff said they will need help from General Services and Human Resources to accelerate purchasing and onboarding. Grevy also noted prior design expenditures and said about $30 million remains to complete the work after prior design and preparatory costs.

The board adopted multiple authorizations: acceptance of the FEMA award, a budget appropriation to recognize unanticipated grant revenue, delegation to the county administrator to execute grant documents and to the general services director to solicit bids and award construction and related contracts with county counsel concurrence, and an exception to the project labor agreement policy to meet the grant schedule.

The county will be required to document compliance and will be subject to FEMA audits, board members and staff noted; Hummel said the county will collect the required payroll and apprenticeship records for verification.

If implemented on the compressed timeline, the project aims to reduce recurring flood impacts that have interrupted court and public-safety operations at the site.