Agenda Item Wording:
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Award contract and appropriate funds - Authorize the City Manager to award a professional services contract to SZS Engineering Access Inc. for the preparation of Americans with Disabilities Act Self Evaluations and Transition Plans and appropriate additional funds.
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Agenda Date: 11/16/2026
Prepared by:
Katherine Woodhull-Fuget, Associate Engineer, Katherine.Woodhull-Fuget@visalia.gov, (559) 713-4447
Eric Bons, Senior Civil Engineer, Eric.Bons@visalia.gov, (559) 713-4350
Chris Crawford, City Engineer, Chris.Crawford@visalia.gov, (559) 713-4331
Jason Huckleberry, Engineering & Building Director, Jason.Huckleberry@visalia.gov, (559) 713-4495
Department Recommendation: Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to award a professional services contract to SZS Engineering Access Inc. for the preparation of two (2) separate ADA Self-Evaluations and Transition Plans for the Public Right of Way and City Facilities in the amounts of $524,805 and $445,785 respectively; and appropriate $15,000 from Measure R Local and $151,000 from General Fund for the respective projects.
Summary:
As a public entity the City is required to conduct Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Self-Evaluations and maintain comprehensive ADA Title II Transition Plans. To meet this requirement, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP 25-26-43) in June 2026 and received proposals from four firms on July 30, 2026.
The solicited scope of work includes the development of two independent but coordinated Self Evaluations and Transition Plans (SETPs or “plans”) for the Public Right of Way (PROW) and for City facilities. Separate SETPs were solicited for both the PROW and for City facilities because separate regulations apply in the PROW and due to different funding sources.
SZS Engineering Access Inc. was identified as the most qualified firm during the proposal review process. The scope of work was further refined in collaboration with SZS during negotiations, resulting in not-to-exceed costs of $524,805 for the PROW SETP and $445,785 for the Facilities SETP.
Background Discussion:
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides civil rights protections to persons with disabilities. Areas affected include employment, government services, transportation, telecommunications, and access to public accommodations. Title II of the ADA regulates public entities such as Visalia and the programs, services, and activities (PSAs) they provide. Title II required state and local governments to develop transition plans for PSAs in the 1990s.
The City of Visalia developed an ADA transition plan for facility accessibility in 1992 for Title II compliance, meeting the initial requirement to have a plan. Unfortunately, current staff have been unable to locate records of the actual implementation of the plan. To achieve Title II compliance, an ADA transition plan must be continually implemented, maintained, and updated.
The City of Visalia Purchasing Division issued the Request for Proposals RFP 25-26-43 on June 19, 2026. On July 30, 2026, proposals were received from four firms: Made Welcome (San Francisco, CA), Kimley Horn (Los Angeles, CA), SZS Engineering Access Inc (Sacramento, CA), and Bureau Veritas (Sacramento, CA). A review committee was established to review, rate, and rank the proposals. Based on the proposals, the committee elected to interview Kimley Horn, SZS Engineering, and Bureau Veritas. Interviews were held September 17 and 18, 2026. Based on the interviews, the committee identified SZS Engineering as the most qualified candidate due to their clear understanding of the scope of work and their emphasis on a programmatic access evaluation approach.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) requires that public entities operate each service, program, or activity so that the service, program, or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities (28 CFR 35.150). This is referred to as programmatic access. By emphasizing programmatic access, SZS Engineering will start the evaluation by identifying where the City’s PSAs take place and then focus their assessments and remediation recommendations on those locations. This will result in far more strategic and cost-effective transition plans.
The solicited scope of work included the development of two separate but coordinated plans for the Public Right of Way (PROW) and for City facilities. The separate plans were budgeted by the City as separate capital improvement projects: CP8350 for the PROW SETP is funded by Measure R Local (131) and CP0678 for the Facilities SETP is funded by the General Fund. In addition to having different fund sources, staff chose to solicit separate SETP because facilities and PROW are governed by different design codes. Facilities must comply with the California Building Code while the PROW will be evaluated primarily based on the federal Access Board’s Public Rights-of-Way Guidelines (PROWAG).
PROW SETP Scope Refinement
The original solicited scope for the PROW plan included field assessment of all sidewalks and curb ramps citywide. This would involve a field technician manually propelling a multi-sensor rolling profiling device along an estimated 950 miles of sidewalk and physically assessing an estimated 9000 curb ramps. This proposal would take a lengthy amount of time to complete and cost a significant amount beyond the currently proposed budget, which would decrease the funds available to complete projects.
City staff discussed potential options with SZS, and in consideration of applicable requirements under Code of Federal Regulations Title 28, section 35.150(d)(2) which states that public entities such as the City that have responsibility over streets, roads, or walkways, shall give priority to walkways serving entities covered by the ADA, including state and local government offices and facilities, transportation, places of public accommodation, and employers, followed by walkways serving other areas. In consideration of the requirements to prioritize areas of the city with entities covered by the ADA, the City determined that the field assessment should be focused in non-residential areas of the city and adjacent areas providing pedestrian connectivity to provide an assessment of these higher priority areas first.
For residential areas, a desktop review will be conducted to develop a mapped inventory for incorporation into the City’s GIS system. This inventory will provide a foundation for organizing sidewalk information, documenting subsequent accessibility evaluations, tracking identified barriers, and tracking corrective improvements. City public works and code enforcement staff also already respond to reports of broken or damaged sidewalks. The mapped inventory will allow City to track these areas where City staff respond to complaints or have separately located damaged sidewalks and are taking enforcement actions.
In addition, the City has an existing inventory of curb ramp data that was collected in 2012 throughout the entire City, including residential areas, as part of the original development of the Pavement Management Plan. This inventory includes 8,911 ramps categorized by their condition and geometry. While curb ramp design requirements have become more stringent since the inventory was developed in 2012, ramps that were identified as noncompliant in 2012, and have not yet been addressed, are still noncompliant today. Staff will require that for residential local street curb ramps, SZS will incorporate the ramps identified in 2012 as noncompliant into the SETP. In addition, they are to conduct a desktop evaluation against current standards of residential local ramps either not in the 2012 inventory or identified as compliant in 2012. Based on this existing data, staff is recommending the proposed revisions to the consultant's scope of work.
Facilities SETP Scope Refinement
At the direction of the Finance Director, field assessments of City Hall West, Fire Station 51, the old Police HQ, and City Hall East were removed from the scope of work on the basis that the City intends to vacate the buildings in the near future. The City may decide to have the Building Safety Division’s in-house Certified Access Specialist (CASp) conduct a brief assessment of these locations for non-structural barriers as a separate review.
Project Timeline
The SETPs for the PROW and for Facilities will be developed concurrently, with a total estimated timeline of 16 months. In addition to soliciting public feedback via surveys and questionnaires, public outreach meetings will be held near the beginning and end of the SETP process.
Fiscal Impact:
The following tables depict the project budgets for the two SETP.
|
CP8350 PROW Self Evaluation & Transition Plan |
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|
Project Funding |
|
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131 - Measure R Local |
$ 625,000 |
|
Expenditures |
|
|
Staff Time (Estimated) |
$ 62,500 |
|
SZS Engineering PROW SETP + Optional Training |
$ 524,805 |
|
Consultant Contingency (10%) |
$ 52,500 |
|
Expenditures Subtotal: |
$ 639,805 |
|
Budget Shortfall: |
$ (14,805) |
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Appropriation Request: |
$ 15,000 |
|
CP0678 Facilities Self Evaluation & Transition Plan |
|
|
Project Funding |
|
|
001 - General Fund |
$ 400,000 |
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Expenditures |
|
|
Staff Time (Estimated) |
$ 60,000 |
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SZS Engineering Facilities SETP + Optional Training |
$ 445,785 |
|
Consultant Contingency (10%) |
$ 44,600 |
|
Expenditures Subtotal: |
$ 550,385 |
|
Budget Shortfall: |
$ (150,385) |
|
Appropriation Request: |
$ 151,000 |
Staff recommends the appropriation of $15,000 from Measure R Local (Fund 131) to CP8350 to address the anticipated PROW budget shortfall and the appropriation of $151,000 from the General Fund to CP0678 for the anticipated Facilities budget shortfall shown in the tables above.
The ADA SETPs developed by SZS Engineering will provide prioritized implementation plans with budgetary cost estimates and timelines to be incorporated into the City’s capital budget process.
Prior Council Action:
August 3, 1992 - City Council approved Resolution No. 92-116, adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Transition Plan.
Alternatives: None
Recommended Motion (and Alternative Motions if expected):
recommendation
I move to authorize the City Manager to award a professional services contract to SZS Engineering Access Inc. for the preparation of two (2) separate ADA Self-Evaluations and Transition Plans for the Public Right of Way and City Facilities in the amounts of $524,805 and $445,785 respectively, and appropriate $15,000 from Measure R Local and $151,000 from General Fund for the respective projects.
Environmental Assessment Status: N/A
CEQA Review: N/A
Deadline for Action: 11/16/2026
Attachments:
1. Project Location Maps
2. Consultant Disclosure Form
3. Negotiated Consultant Scope of Work
Strategic Goal: Indicates which City Strategic Goal(s) this item supports. Check all that apply.
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☐  Economic Vitality |
☒  Organizational Excellence |
☐  Fiscal Strength |
☒  Infrastructure & Growth |
☒  Quality of Life |