Agenda Item Wording:
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Caltrans Maintenance Agreement - City Street Sweeping of State routes - Authorize the City Manager to sign a delegated maintenance agreement with Caltrans for the sweeping of state routes within City limits for the annual amount of $37,215.00.
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Prepared by: Jason Serpa, Public Works Manager, jason.serpa@visalia.city, 713-4533; Nick Bartsch, Public Work Director, nick.bartsch@visalia.city, 713-4052
Department Recommendation: Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to sign a delegated maintenance agreement (DMA) with Caltrans for the sweeping of state routes within City limits for the annual amount of $37,215.00.
Summary:
In December of 2023, City Council authorized the City Manager to award a contract to SCA, Inc. for city-wide street sweeping. Apart from new additions to the contract to add new streets and mileage for City growth, one major change to the contract from previous versions was a determination by the Department of Industrial Relations that street sweeping was considered a maintenance item and therefore qualified it for prevailing wage. This increased costs on all items within the contract, including the portion that Caltrans reimbursed the City for as seen in the following figure:
As shown above, as the new contract changed to prevailing wage, the contracted street sweeping cost of the State routes went from $14,562 annually to $37,215 annually. This increase resulted in staff and Caltrans working towards the proposed new agreement to reimburse the City for the increased cost. It is important to note that due to Caltrans budget constraints, the new proposed annual figure reflects a reduction in the total number of sweeps per year from 52 (weekly) to 26 (bi-weekly). This change was made in May of 2024 and staff has been satisfied with the results.
Because the proposed delegated maintenance agreement is for the pass-through costs of the contracted street sweeping, with no term end date, there is a section of the agreement that allows the City, with Caltrans approval, to amend the contract for any yearly increases that may occur to keep the City from subsidizing any delegated Caltrans work. With the approval of Caltrans and the City, an amendment to the contract may be executed at any time to increase, or decrease, the contract amount. In addition, the agreement also has a clause that allows either party to terminate the agreement with a 30-day notice.
Background Discussion:
The City has historically been reimbursed by Caltrans for the sweeping of State routes within the City limits. The current agreement, beginning in October 1988, has had many updates for costs and items within the contract, with the last amendment effective July of 2003. This agreement also included, along with the reimbursement for street sweeping, the cost recovery for City staff to maintain electrical facilities as related to traffic signals along the same routes. The proposed new agreement will only include the street sweeping portion of the cost recovery and engineering staff will bring a separate DMA for the electrical facilities maintenance along with other Caltrans items at a later date.
Fiscal Impact: As stated above, the costs reimbursed by Caltrans pertaining to the new delegated maintenance agreement are reimbursement for direct costs billed to the City for State route street sweeping. These costs are paid and reimbursed quarterly through the Gas Tax Fund for a net zero impact.
Prior Council Action: N/A
Other: N/A
Alternatives: To not approve the staff recommendation to authorize the City Manager to sign a delegated maintenance agreement with Caltrans. This option would force Caltrans to arrange for the sweeping of their State routes within our City limits and may cause delays in transition.
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the City Manager to sign a delegated maintenance agreement with Caltrans for the sweeping of state routes within City limits for the annual amount of $37,215.00.
Environmental Assessment Status: N/A
CEQA Review: N/A
Deadline for Action: 7/21/2025
Attachments: Caltrans Delegated Maintenance Agreement