REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL March 5, 2020 FROM: DOUGLAS T. SLOAN, Director City Attorney's Office, Code Enforcement BY: ERICA M. CAMARENA, Chief Assistant City Attorney SUBJECT ..Title Reject all bids for a Services Agreement for weeds and public nuisance abatement. (Bid File 9522) ..Body RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends Council reject all bids received November 12, 2019, for weeds and public nuisance abatement services. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On November 12, 2019, a single bid was received in response to the City's Request for Proposal (RFP) for Weeds and Public Nuisance Abatement Services. The RFP sought one or more contractors able to furnish to the City Attorney's Office, Code Enforcement Division (Code) all labor, equipment, and materials necessary to abate weeds, trash, rubbish, junk and debris upon streets, curbs, gutters, unimproved easements, sidewalks, parkways, park strips, alleys, and or private property within the City of Fresno, as well as boarding up and securing open and vacant buildings (Abatement Services). Since the release of this bid, Code has considered the difficulties associated with awarding and implementing this agreement, as well as the issues it has encountered with contractors' responsiveness, and the difficulty administering prevailing wage. Code has explored the option of bringing Abatement Services in-house, and believes it will be cost-beneficial to the City to pursue this option rather than award this contract. BACKGROUND Code enforces various ordinances of the Fresno Municipal Code, including but not limited to, ordinances which address vacant buildings, vacant lots, general blight and dilapidated structures. Specifically, abatement services will address weeds and vacant structures which present a public safety threat, as well as properties that constitute blight or attractive nuisance when the responsible property owner has demonstrated they are either unwilling or unable to bring the property into compliance. Staff works to ensure cost recovery of funds through various means, including liens on the property and coordination with the County of Fresno tax roll collection process. In prior years, the City has utilized multiple contractors for the proposed Abatement Services. To improve timeliness and efficiency, and to streamline the abatement request process, Code worked through the Purchasing Division to produce a second public bid on October 25, 2019, with a filing deadline of November 12, 2019, seeking multiple contractors with the capacity and experience to perform Abatement Services. Only one bid was submitted within the published deadline. However, in light of the need for the City to pay prevailing wage and thereby increasing the budget for outsourcing Abatement Services, combined with the proven need to expand the City's Abatement Services, on February 13, 2020, Council directed staff to create an in-house Abatement Services team. Code evaluated and determined an in-house abatement services program may be more cost beneficial for the City as opposed to contracting this work out to private companies, with the exception of the initial start-up costs associated with purchasing new equipment in the first year. All vehicles and heavy operating equipment is procured, maintained, and repaired by the Department of Transportation, Fleet Management Division. Code is currently in the process of working with Fleet to obtain the accurate costs for all necessary equipment. This option will also require personnel costs associated with hiring new employees, who potentially include: Heavy Equipment Operator, Property Maintenance Lead Worker, and Laborers. In addition, there will be monthly fees for storage and maintenance. The in-house abatement team will negate the need for this Services Contract; and therefore, staff is seeking to reject the bid received. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDING This item is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act. LOCAL PREFERENCE Local preference was not considered as staff is recommending to reject all bids. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund from this request.