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Corona council clarifies, approves amendment to hazmat contract to add homeless-encampment cleanup
Summary
After a public question about bidding, the city’s emergency chief told council the amendment will expand an existing hazardous-material contract with HCI by $280,000 to let police, community services and public works abate hazardous homeless encampments; council moved to approve the amendment after clarification.
Corona’s City Council heard public concern about whether expanding contractor work was competitively procured before approving an amendment that will add homeless-encampment abatement to an existing hazardous-material cleanup contract.
At the meeting, resident Mr. McQuade told council the staff report did not make clear whether the work had been competitively bid and warned the omission created an appearance of favoritism: “It doesn't say there was a competitive bid…If we're only doing one, then this is a sole source,” he said.
Council Member Tony Daddario asked staff to clarify the procurement history in public. An unnamed city chief answered that HCI was awarded a hazardous-material cleanup contract in 2025 and staff proposed amending that existing contract to increase its scope by $280,000 to allow the police department, community services and public works to abate hazardous encampments. The chief said the amendment would “increase and amend the current contract for hazmat cleanup…by $280,000” to cover encampment work.
After the chief’s explanation, Council Member Daddario moved to proceed with the item so staff could document the procurement history and the council could record the amendment on the public record. The council voted to move forward with the item following the chief’s clarification.
What the council recorded on the public record was a contract-scope amendment rather than a new separate procurement. The public record presented at the meeting did not include a line-by-line competitive-bid history in the staff report; council asked staff to clarify procurement documentation so the public can see whether the amendment is being added to an existing competitively awarded contract or whether separate procurement steps were taken.
Next steps: Council asked staff to provide clearer procurement documentation in the agenda materials and staff responses; the amendment proceeds as an expansion of the existing HCI contract per the chief’s public explanation.
(Reporting note: Mr. McQuade raised the procurement concern in public comment. The chief’s clarification on the contract’s history and scope increase is the record evidence for council action.)
