Council approves contract selection for seasonal beach and dune monitoring with GLO funding

The South Padre Island City Council approved the selection of the most qualified firm for seasonal beach and dune monitoring and authorized the city manager to execute a contract once negotiations are complete, Shoreline Director Christina Baburka said.

Baburka said the city received funding through the General Land Office’s Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act, Cycle 14, to expand monitoring beyond the current annual surveys. “So we were awarded funding through the GLO’s, the General Land Office’s Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act. They’re cycle 14 to expand upon our current monitoring,” Baburka said.

The project will establish seasonally based surveys and a schedule to be coordinated with the GLO project manager; Baburka said monitoring will include pre- and post-storm mobilization and bathymetry within the city’s depth of closure. She told the council the city issued a request for qualifications and received a single response; after checking references and convening a review committee that included the coastal coordinator and shoreline task force members, the panel recommended moving forward with that firm.

Funding for the work is a $120,000 GLO award with an $80,000 local match to come from the Beach Renourishment Fund (Fund 81). Baburka said the award covers two years of monitoring. The consultant will provide reports that can be shared with the shoreline task force, the council or other interested parties once monitoring is completed.

A council member moved to approve the selection; another council member seconded the motion and the council voted to carry it. Baburka said the firm’s scope includes quick mobilization for storm response and the ability to perform bathymetric scans, which the city expects will improve planning and renourishment timing.