On July 14, 2015, the City Council approved Resolution 2015-191 that authorized consulting services with Whitney Environmental Consulting, Inc., dba Foothill Associates, to provide biological monitoring services for the City-owned open space. The contract was later assigned to HELIX Environmental Services, Inc. As part of the contract the City had the ability to extend the agreement every year for up to four (4) additional years, which the City has fully exercised thereby extending the contract until June 30, 2021. Also, three (3) amendments have been issued to extend the contract and increase the annual cost to an amount not to exceed $127,000.
Currently, the General Open Space Monitoring Plan (GOSMP) has been updated, reviewed by staff, and is awaiting federal approval which is expected in the Fall of 2021. Once federal approval is received, staff will bring the document to City Council for adoption and once adopted staff will go out to bid/Request For Proposal (RFP) for a new monitoring contract.
In the interim, monitoring services must continue and staff recommends that the existing contract with HELIX Environmental Services, Inc. be extended for an additional six months, until December 31, 2021. With most of the monitoring work conducted in the July-December timeframe, the cost increase would be an amount not to exceed $88,281.