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Commission approves PMA consulting amendment, continues hauling contract debate to Sept. 18
Summary
After public comment and staff explanation, the commission approved an amendment to a DCM contract with PMA Consultants to provide scheduling/cost-control and procurement support, while a separate hauling contract with Proline drew concern over a large price increase and was continued to Sept. 18 for further staff review.
Design & Construction Management staff explained that the proposed amendment to the PMA Consultants agreement would supply short-term scheduling, cost-control and procurement expertise to help the city get several bond and grant-driven projects out to bid. "We asked PMA to give us a proposal to have someone for 7 months...to make sure procurement is compliant so that we can go through this hump of getting all the rest of the procurement done," Jose (DCM) said.
A member of the public, Siobhan McLaughlin, said she was concerned about open-ended contract increases: "a contract that's open ended that asks for a 150% of the original cost seems to me to be troubling," she said. Staff and commissioners clarified the amendment was for additional time and scope—personnel hours rather than a construction change—and the commission approved the contract amendment by voice vote.
Separately, the commission debated a two-year blanket purchase agreement with Proline Corporation for hauling catalyst and lime sludge (staff described the two-year contract as up to $600,000). Commissioner Biederman and others noted the proposed award reflected a roughly 500% increase over the previous contractor and that only one bid was received. Utilities Director Ben Morel said the market is constrained, disposal sites are often vertically integrated with haulers and nearby cities commonly use the same vendor. "We can't control who bids, but we are where we are," Morel said.
Commissioners asked staff to analyze whether the city could perform hauling in-house, what early-termination terms exist in the IFB, and whether procurement could extend the existing purchase order while staff examines options. The commission voted to continue the hauling item to the Sept. 18 meeting to give staff time to report back with contract-term details and reference checks.
On a related item, staff presented an amendment to the Aclara automated-metering contract for programming and maintenance so the aging system remains operable while staff assesses full replacement options; that amendment had been approved on the consent agenda and staff said they will continue to evaluate alternative technologies.
Staff will return with contract terms, reference checks and an analysis of in-house capability before the Sept. 18 continuation vote.
