Resolution 2023-072, authorizing the City Administrator to execute Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Services Agreement with Neill Engineers Corp. for civil engineering services associated with city-wide Drainage Improvement Projects, for a not-to-exceed fee of $159,100

Adopt Resolution 2023-072, authorizing the City Administrator to execute Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Services Agreement with Neill Engineers Corp. for civil engineering services associated with city-wide Drainage Improvement Projects, for a not-to-exceed fee of $159,100.

In September 2019, the City Council adopted Resolution 2019-064, awarding a Professional Services Agreement to Schaaf & Wheeler Consulting Civil Engineers to prepare the City's first Storm Drain Master Plan (SDMP) for a not-to-exceed fee of $174,910. This Capital Improvement Project was successfully completed on budget in the fall 2020.

The purpose of the SDMP was to provide an examination of flooding and drainage risks within the City limits and recommend actions necessary to accomplish appropriate level-of-service and reliability for the City’s storm drain system. The SDMP is available on the City’s website under the Public Works main page at: 

complete_final_sdmp_report_september_2020_small.pdf (carmel.ca.us)

The Public Works Director presented the results of the SDMP to the Climate Committee in December 2020 and to the City Council in February 2021. As discussed at these meetings, a majority of the City’s existing storm drainage system was designed to handle a once in 10-year storm event, rather than a 20-year storm event that is more common in other municipalities. Coupled with increased storm events due to Climate Change, Council and the Climate Committee requested that future drainage upgrades and repairs be sized for 20-year events while also recognizing that all repairs and upgrades will require significant funding over a long period of time to minimize the potential of flooding.

In June 2022, Council adopted Resolution 2022-048, approving 25 new Fiscal Year (FY) 2022/23 Capital Improvement Projects, including the Citywide Drainage System Repair Design, Phase II. This project, which is part of that multi-year drainage improvement program, allocated $500,000 to continue the development of drainage system improvement plans to fix the highest priority broken pipes and bottlenecks, based on the findings of the SDMP. This funding supplemented the Drainage System Repairs, Phase I project’s $100,000 carryover funds from FY 2021/22.

In October 2022, Council adopted Resolution 2022-088, awarding a Professional Services Agreement to Schaaf and Wheeler Consulting Civil Engineers to update their 2020 Storm Drain Master Plan to reflect 20-year, rather than 10-year, storm events, for a fee of $50,000.

Also, in October 2022, the City Administrator executed a Professional Services Agreement with Neill Engineers Corp., in an amount of $24,999, to provide technical support services for the SDMP Update, as well as to provide on-call services associated with programming and preliminary design of the most urgent drainage improvement projects identified in the SDMP Update. Neill Engineers was selected as the most qualified firm to provide these civil engineering services base on a review of seven (7) Statements of Qualifications received in May 2022 and reviewed by a Selection Committee in September 2022.

In June 2023, Council adopted Resolution 2023-067 approving the carry-over of 25 FY 2021/22 and 2022/23 Capital Improvement Projects, including the now-combined Drainage Design – Phases I and II Projects, with a combined initial budget of $600,000. During development of the FY 2023/24 Capital Improvement Program, Council directed staff to utilize some of the remaining funds to begin physical construction of some of the needed drainage improvements, rather than using all funds to design the most significant/costly improvements, namely trunk line capacity improvements along Junipero Street, including a bypass onto Mission Street, to be “shovel ready.”

The SDMP Update is now complete, and the Public Works Director plans to present this update at an upcoming Council meeting. As a result of Council’s guidance, the remaining funds was reprogrammed to design four (4) high priority drainage improvements, by Neill Engineers, and for construction of these facilities. The improvements selected are:

• Acacia Way headwall at Flanders Way.
• Eleventh Avenue storm drain from Carmelo Street to San Antonio Avenue.
• Santa Fe Street storm drain, from Eight Avenue into an outfall into the Mission Trail Nature Preserve.
• Storm drains along Lincoln Street, from First to Second Avenues, and along Second Avenue west towards Monte Verde Street.
• Also, as an outcome of the SDMP Update and re-programming of Projects as described above, Neill Engineers will also need to complete revisions to the plans and specification for the FY 2021/2022 Pavement Rehabilitation Project by removing (deferring) the proposed paving improvements along Junipero Street until after drainage lines are installed.

Amendment No. 1 to the Professional Services Agreement was negotiated with Neill Engineers for a not-to-exceed fee of $159,100. The design work is anticipated to be completed within five months of issuance of the Notice to Proceed. Neill Engineers' fees also include bidding and construction phase support services.

During development of the SDMP Update, the project was managed by one of the City’s project management consultants, Wallace Group. With the Update complete, and a Project Manager now on board in Public Works, our in-house Project Manager will lead the project during design and subsequent construction.

Engineering design and construction support services by Neill Engineers for Amendment No. 1 is tabulated below.

The total fee for Neill Engineers, including the original Agreement authorization of $24,999, plus this Amendment No. 1 for a not-to-exceed fee of $159,100, is $184,099.

These four drainage projects were bundled together for efficiency of design, bidding, and construction. This bundling approach also provides a cost advantage due to economy of scale. Considering ongoing inflation, the rising costs of construction labor, and supply chain challenges, it is anticipated that additional funds may be needed at the time that a construction contract is awarded. The FY 2023/24 Capital Improvement Program included a Contingency Fund for such purposes.

The following table recaps the current budget associated with the $600,000 Drainage Project:

All expenditures for these projects are covered in the Capital Projects Fund Account No. 301-311-00-43008.

In June 2022, Council adopted Resolution 2022-048, approving 25 FY 2022/23 Capital Improvement Projects, including the Citywide Drainage System Repair Design, Phase II. This project allocated $500,000 to supplement the development of drainage system improvement plans from the Drainage System Repairs, Phase I project’s $100,000 carryover funds from FY 2021/22.

In October 2022, Council adopted Resolution 2022-088, awarding a Professional Services Agreement to Schaaf and Wheeler Consulting Civil Engineers to update their 2020 Storm Drain Master Plan to reflect 20-year, rather than 10-year, storm events, for a fee of $50,000.  Also in October 2022, the City Administrator executed a Professional Services Agreement with Neill Engineers Corp., in an amount of $24,999, to provide technical support for the SDMP Update.

In June 2023, Council adopted Resolution 2023-067 approving the carry-over of 25 Fiscal Year (FY) 2021/22 and 2022/23 Capital Improvement Projects, including the now-combined Drainage Design – Phases I and II Projects, with a combined initial budget of $600,000.