For City Council Meeting April 9, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: David N. Carmany, City Manager
AUTHOR: Stephen Dopudja, P.E., Interim Utilities Manager
Jason Pivovaroff, P.E., Dopudja & Wells, Consulting
...Title
Consideration of award of contract to Tree of Life Nursery, a California Corporation, in the amount of $94,117, for plant propagation and procurement of the Rialto Habitat Nature Center, City Project No. 226.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council and Rialto Utility Authority Board:
1) Award a Construction Contract to Tree of Life Nursery in the amount of $94,117, for plant propagation and procurement of the Rialto Habitat Nature Center, City Project No. 226; and
2) Authorize the City Manager/Executive Director to Execute all Related Documents.
...Body
BACKGROUND:
The City of Rialto has secured $5.20 million to date in state and federal grant funds to construct the Rialto Habitat Nature Center (RHNC). The grant funds, secured by Senator Leyva in June 2022 under California's 20th State Senate District priorities $1,050,000 in funding must be utilized by May 1, 2024.
On January 23, 2024, the City Council/Rialto Utility Authority (RUA) Board authorized staff to release bids for several items in support of the design and construction of RHNC. One of these items was for plant propagation and procurement of approximately 18,000 plants to establish an engineered habitat and wetland for the RHNC.
Many of the plant species for the RHNC are not commercially available and the majority of the plants will be grown from seeds or propagated from seedlings. Therefore, the plants must be grown in advance of the actual construction. This will ensure the entire plant pallet for the RHNC will reach the necessary maturity for transplantation and coincide with the planting phase during final construction. Lastly, this approach provides the additional benefits of ensuring the RHNC has a more mature look upon opening to the public.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
On January 25, 2024, RUA released Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 24-015, statement of qualifications from local nurseries for the Rialto Habitat and Nature Center plant propagation and procurement on the PlanetBids website. Due to the very specialized plant pallet and growing requirements, several commercial nurseries that can handle the scope and size of the required plantings were notified via email and telephone that RUA was requesting proposals to provide plant propagation and procurement services for the RHNC project.
The bid was scheduled to close on February 22, 2024; however, staff extended the closing of the bid to Thursday, March 7, 2024, to allow additional time for prospective bidders to prepare a proposal package.
On March 7, 2024, the RUA received three (3) proposals. The proposals were rated by a committee familiar with plant propagation and comprised of the following representatives:
• Jason Pivovaroff, Dopudja & Wells, Consulting
• Michael Springer, Rialto Maintenance and Facilities Department
• Peter E. F. Buck, Buck & Associates Consultant, LLC
• Toyasha Sebbag, City Manager’s Office, Utilities Division
The scores of the proposals were averaged then ranked with the project bid amount later added, ATTACHMENT 1.
|
RANK |
COMPANY NAME |
BID AMOUNT |
|
1ST |
Tree of Life Nursery, San Juan Capistrano, CA |
$94,117 |
|
2ND |
Rana Nursery, Carmel, CA |
$175,062 |
|
3RD |
Precision Landscape & Turf, Inc., La Habra, CA |
$221,661 |
The lowest responsible and responsive bid was $94,117 submitted by Tree of Life Nursery. Staff reviewed the bid and found Tree of Life Nursery to be properly licensed and qualified. Therefore, Tree of Life Nursery is both the highest ranked and lowest responsive bidder for this project. ATTACHMENT 2 includes Tree of Life Nursery’s Disclosure Statement. Staff recommends that the City Council and Rialto Utility Authority Board accept the bid received from Tree of Life Nursery as the lowest responsible and responsive bid. A professional services agreement with Tree of Life Nursery for the project is included as ATTACHMENT 3.
Staff updated the Water Subcommittee on March 26, 2024, that the RHNC bid closed, and that staff was in the process of reviewing the proposal submittals. The feedback from the Water Subcommittee was to bringing this item to the April 9, 2024, City Council/Rialto Utility Authority Board Meeting to award a contract to one of the firms that bid on the project.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Pursuant to Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act, the proposed request is not a project. A ‘Project’ means the whole of an action, which has the potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. A project does not include the creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities that do not involve any commitment to any specific project, which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment or organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
This action is consistent with Guiding Principle 3A in the General Plan:
Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed the agreement and approved it as to form.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Operating Budget
Staff is ascertaining the precise operating budget for landscape maintenance, and is actively engaged in conversations with the Parks, Recreation & Community Services Department to assess the incremental operational costs required to sustain the landscape habitat and wetland and its potential impact to the General Fund.
Capital Improvement Budget
The proposed action will not impact the Capital Improvement Budget. The grant funds of $1,050,000 secured by Senator Leyva will be used to fund this portion of the Rialto Habitat Nature Center.