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Rau and Associates will be paid $316,634 to design the project, which the firm also has estimated could cost between $4.3 million and $4.7 million to build, according to city Redevelopment Manager Richard Knoll. The Rau bid is about 7.5 percent of the project cost, and Knoll said firms normally get around 10 percent.
The project – meant to improve and enhance the downtown shopping district – will run along four blocks of Main Street, include a block of Second Street between Park and Main, and two block of First Street from Main Street to the lakeshore, according to a project map.
The work will include street paving; new sidewalks, curbs and gutters; benches, trash receptacles, planters and newspaper racks; new landscaping; relocation of street lights and poles; removal and replacement of street trees; new signage; new crosswalks and bulbouts with stamped concrete; curb ramps and relocated electrical services, among numerous other items.
The project has gained the attention of local business people, who are concerned that such a sizable project is being given to an out-of-county firm, and during the meeting several community members urged the agency to “shop local.”
During the council and agency's Dec. 15 meeting, it was noted that the city's consultant selection process is based on Caltrans-approved procedures, and puts emphasis on qualifications, not cost.
Knoll told Lake County News last week that in a March 2009 staff report to the council, when staff was preparing to prepare and issue the request for proposals, he offered the council four options, including hiring a local firm or requiring use of local contractors and a subcontractor.
“They chose not to do that,” he said.
So Knoll said staff “just proceeded with our normal course of action,” including sending the request for proposals out to a list of engineers that included several local firms.
The city chose Rau and Associates to be the project consultant on Nov. 3. Knoll said the city sent out requests for proposals to 22 firms and 14 responded.
After the written proposals and interview with the consultant selection board, Rau ranked first, with Pavement Engineering Inc. of Petaluma coming in at No. 2. Coastland Engineering of Santa Rosa and DeLeon Engineering of Lakeport tied for third. Knoll told Lake County News that DeLeon was given the No. 3 spot because it's a local firm.
Knoll told the council and agency that Rau and Associates initially had submitted a much higher bid – $349,800 – for the work, but that number was reduced through negotiations.
City staff had given the agency a rough estimate of $2.5 million to build the full project. Agency board members returned to that number frequently during the discussion last Tuesday, concerned about Rau's estimate which Knoll admitted was “substantially higher.”
But he and city staff told council and agency members that the city estimate was a very rough one, and that the project's true cost wouldn't be known until it went out to bid.
Mayor Jim Irwin, in looking at the city's redevelopment budget and the estimated costs to do the improvements, told Knoll, “I don't think we have the money to do a $4.5 million project. Would you agree with that?”
“It's going to be very tight,” said Knoll, explaining that it will depend on what other projects the redevelopment agency might pursue.
Knoll said the Lakeport Redevelopment Agency annually brings in about $900,000 in tax increment revenue, which is based on an increase in property tax revenues due to property improvements in the redevelopment area.
After pass-through payments to other local agencies as well as other costs, the Lakeport Redevelopment Agency nets just under $600,000 of that tax increment revenue, Knoll said.
Councilman and Agency member Bob Rumfelt pointed out that, no matter how much money they'll have to spend on the project, they still have to have it engineered.
Knoll said they could reduce the project scope, but due to the bid price city staff encouraged them to move forward with the total project design as it was currently proposed.
Agency members question parts of plan
The agency's members pointed out some high-priced items in the plan that concerned them, such as a $100,000 archway over an alley and $28,000 for eight newspaper racks at a cost of $3,500 each. At one point Rumfelt wondered aloud how many newspapers would still be around in a few years.
City Engineer Scott Harter said during the meeting that many of these items were proposed during a series of community meetings several years ago. Council and Agency member Suzanne Lyons said she was at those meetings and didn't recall that arch.
Knoll said the project was similar to ones that have been done in other areas.
“It's been a very long time since any improvements have been made in downtown Lakeport,” said Knoll, estimating major improvements – other than the city's street lights – were last made about 30 years ago.
“We'll be living with these for a very long time,” he said.
George Rau, who was on hand to answer questions, said the items in the plan came from the request for proposals that the city sent out. He said they'll want to have public meetings to go over the final plan. Rau added that they looked at Bay Area prices on similar projects to come up with cost estimates.
During public input, Cliff Ruzicka, owner of Lakeport-based Ruzicka Engineering, said his firm had made a proposal to do all of the design work set forth in the request for proposals at a cost of $270,000. He said the city's request had estimated a project cost of $2.5 million with $250,000 for engineering.
Ruzicka said his firm just finished the Upper Lake Main Street Project, which he said is very similar to Lakeport's plan, and also completed the Kelseyville State Street Project, which included half a mile of total street reconstruction, plus drainage, curbs and sidewalk.
He said it was premature to approve engineering for a project that has an estimated cost that exceeds the city's budget.
Noting that he's watched several big contracts go out of the county, Ruzicka said, “I ask the city to shop locally.”
Lakeport resident Dennis Rollins agreed with Ruzicka about shopping locally. “The people in our community that support us, that give when we ask them to give, should certainly be given consideration for a project of this magnitude,” he said.
Lake County Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton said with Lake County's unemployment hovering close to 18 percent, the city should be shopping locally, and the cities and counties need to do everything they can to to give local vendors preference.
Local employees spend their money locally, which improves local sales tax revenues, and they also support local organizations, Fulton said.
With all due respect to Rau, “I don't believe that they will be contributing to our local schools, our local organizations and others who depend up n this community and are residents,” she said.
Fulton said last year the county worked to raise its local vendor preference to 10 percent, making it the county in the state with the highest local preference margin. She asked the city to put such an ordinance in place.
Speaking as a private citizen, Fulton said she also didn't recall the arch in the plan, and asked what kind of newspaper rack costs $3,500.
Cathy McKeon, Rau's lead civil engineer and the project manager, told the agency that they're a local firm in a regional sense, and have employed Lake County residents over the years. “We feel we are a good fit for this project,” she said.
McKeon added, “This is a longterm project and it's critical that you select the right design team” for the project.
Dave Meek Sr. also urged the council to select a local firm. “Shopping local is the most important thing you can do right now.”
Rumfelt said the selection process wasn't at issue. “We picked the firm and now we need to work on the contract.”
Knoll said that if the agency's members weren't comfortable with the contract, they can go to the second firm on the list, which also isn't local. The No. 3 firm is local, and was given preference over another out-of-area firm with which it tied.
“I think it was a legitimate selection process from my perspective,” said Knoll.
Both Rumfelt and fellow agency member Roy Parmentier said they had made a choice and needed to move forward with it, but wanted to see city policy altered in favor of local vendors.
“I don't know why we haven't had it,” Parmentier said.
City Attorney Steve Brookes said there is an argument that local vendors already get preference because they're familiar with the community. Parmentier said that didn't show in this selection process.
Brooke said they selected design professionals based on certain qualities, and none of the proposals were the same. The goal is to try to find out who would give the city the best project.
Lyons' questions about estimated project costs led city Public Works Director Doug Grider to step up to the podium and try to clarify some of the issues.
“I think we're starting to mix apples and oranges here,” he said.
When starting work on a project like this, staff tries to come up with the “best guess estimate” for project cost. Grider called that estimate “a real gamble for any of us on this side of the fence” who have to go to council and give them the estimates, because those numbers often are given more value than they actually have.
“That really was just our best guess at that point in time with just a concept in our mind about what that was going to cost,” he said.
The city's Caltrans-approved selection process has been the same way forever, said Grider, who added that he supports buying local “200 percent.”
But Grider said the city already has spent a “horrendous amount of time and money” going through the process that resulted in Rau's selection. He said as a department head he couldn't condone throwing the selection out the window because it already has gone through the process.
Rumfelt moved to accept the contract, which Parmentier seconded. The motion passed 3-1, with Lyons voting no. Councilman Ron Bertsch was absent from the meeting.
Parmentier asked when they would see a draft of the local vendor preference ordinance. Brookes said he would bring it to them at the Jan. 19 meeting.
In other redevelopment agency action, a request to build a sidewalk ramp compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at the corner of S. Forbes Street and Lakeport Boulevard was approved. The estimated cost is $5,000.
Harter suggested that they also needed to look at building a ramp on the other side of the street, but that area would have more complex design issues. Agency members gave Harter the go ahead to look more closely at what it would take to build that second ramp.
Grider reported to the council that his department is busy patching potholes, and already has 24 tons of patching material than they had used at this time last year.
They were also busily trying to repair City Hall's only men's bathroom, the ceiling of which collapsed on New Year's Day. The overhead transfer pump blew out and soaked the sheet rock in the ceiling, which collapsed.
Grider said they had put up new sheet rock and were hoping to be ready before city manager interviews begin this week.
“We're working very diligently to get that done,” he said.
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