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Benicia council approves consent calendar, awards pavement and custodial contracts, and adopts fire fee clarifications
Summary
The council approved multiple consent items, moved to award the citywide pavement construction contract and a custodial-services agreement (procurement based on qualifications rather than low bid), renewed an OpenGov services agreement for permitting software, and adopted clarifying fire-department fee edits including a late fee and consultant management markup.
The Benicia City Council approved its consent calendar and took votes on several contract and fee items.
Consent calendar: Staff listed consent items including minutes, a custodial-services agreement recommendation, a construction contract for the 2026 Citywide Pavement Rehabilitation Project (with an associated CEQA notice of exemption), a chemical purchase order for water/wastewater treatment and budget amendment, and a three-year renewal with OpenGov for permitting and licensing software. Several items were pulled for discussion (notably the custodial contract, construction contract and the OpenGov renewal) before the remaining items were approved.
Custodial contract: Council questioned why the recommended firm was not the low bidder; procurement staff (Mr. Leary) explained the city used a qualifications-based selection for janitorial services under municipal code and scored proposals on cost, ability to perform, integrity and municipal experience. "Selecting solely on low price can increase project risk… In this case, we chose CARLA — they have extensive municipal experience," Leary said; he also noted the low bidder had reference issues and listed a failed project in its submittal.
Paving contract and asphalt pricing: Councilmember Scott asked whether bid pricing for asphalt was stable after a local plant closure. City staff said bid prices are fixed for projects delivered under contract terms and that bids came in under engineers’ estimates; the lowest bid was roughly $1,000,000 under estimate. The council moved to award the pavement contract.
OpenGov renewal: Council asked about planned capability expansions under the proposed sole-source renewal; staff described efficiency improvements, Bluebeam integration for digital plan review, a rate library for fee adjustments and an AI-driven intake pre-check to speed plan completeness assessments.
Fire fees: Fire Chief Josh Chadwick presented clarifying edits to the fire fee schedule (adding "per hour" to hourly charges, incorporating previously adopted industrial-safety ordinance fees, a 10% late fee for overdue invoices and a 15% consultant/contract-management markup for contracted plan review). Staff noted a clerical correction related to ISO group fees; the chief said the changes were administrative and did not raise existing fees.
Why it matters: Contract awards and fee clarifications affect city operations and vendor selection; the procurement explanation underscores the city's reliance on experience and references for work in sensitive city facilities rather than simple low-bid selection.
The council approved the listed contract awards and fee resolutions by roll call.
