REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Receive a Report of an Emergency Procurement to provide Fuel for Emergency Bypass Pumping Operations at the Water Pollution Control Plant; Find that the Project is of Urgent Necessity for the Preservation of Life, Health, or Property; and Approve Budget Modification No. 5
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Staff is recommending Council receive a report of a completed emergency procurement for fuel to power bypass pumps at the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP). The pumps are being used to bypass a broken pipe that brings secondary effluent (treated sewage) from the WPCP Oxidation Ponds. Staff is also recommending that Council find that the project to respond to this emergency is of urgent necessity for the preservation of life, health or property in order to exempt construction work needed from competitive bidding under Sunnyvale Municipal Code section 2.09.070(b)(4). Budget Modification No. 5 to fund the purchase and emergency operations is also recommended. Staff will return to Council should additional budget appropriations be needed once final costs are identified.
EXISTING POLICY
Pursuant to Chapter 2.08 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, the City Manager, the Purchasing Officer or a department head, may make emergency procurements for goods and services (i.e., the purchase of fuel), regardless of the cost, if there is an urgent necessity to do so for the preservation of life, health or property. Emergency procurements shall be made with such competition as is practical and be limited to those goods and services necessary to satisfy the emergency need. For contracts greater than one hundred thousand dollars in any one transaction, the City Manager shall make a full and complete report to the City Council at its next regularly scheduled meeting. (Sunnyvale Municipal Code Section 2.08.190).
Pursuant to Chapter 2.09 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, competitive bidding can be exempted for public works projects if “deemed by the council to be of urgent necessity for the preservation of life, health or property.”
Pursuant to Sunnyvale Charter Section 1305, at any meeting after the adoption of the budget, the City Council may amend or supplement the budget by motion adopted by affirmative votes of at least four members so as to authorize the transfer of unused balances appropriated for one purpose to another, or to appropriate available revenue not included in the budget.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(a) as it has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
On July 29, WPCP operators discovered a leak in the pipe that runs between the Treatment Ponds and the Plant. The pipe carries sewage water (effluent) that has undergone two out of three stages of treatment and is substantially treated.
Effluent from the primary treatment process at the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) undergoes secondary treatment using two Oxidation Ponds that have a combined surface area of 440 acres. Following treatment in the Oxidation Ponds, secondary effluent is then pumped through a 36-inch welded steel pipeline (Secondary Effluent Return Pipeline) that runs approximately 8 feet below the water surface of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Channel (FWS) Channel.
After operations staff observed a disturbance in the FWS Channel, they determined this disturbance was the result of the Secondary Effluent Return Pipeline leaking into the channel. The pump station feeding the Secondary Effluent Return Pipeline was immediately shut down and the pipe isolated to prevent any further leakage into the FWS channel. However, with the Secondary Effluent Return Pipeline shut down, treated effluent from the ponds cannot be returned to the WPCP to complete treatment and discharge. The plant was effectively shut down.
As an immediate mitigation effort and to get the WPCP back in service, staff obtained several large diesel driven pumps from a neighboring agency and setup a temporary bypass pumping configuration to convey secondary effluent to the WPCP through another repurposed existing pond return line. The pond return line is a 48-inch pipe normally used to bring backwash flow and other tertiary Plant flow back to the Oxidation Ponds by gravity. These pumps utilize a significant volume of diesel fuel, approximately 312 gallons daily, while in operation.
Staff identified that the City could piggyback on the County of Santa Clara contract for diesel fuel and has issued two separate Blanket Orders, one to Diesel Direct and one to Valley Oil in an amount of $150,000 each. Diesel Direct has the lowest quoted price and staff will use them first, while Valley Oil, with the next lowest bid, will be utilized if needed.
Staff is in the process of identifying opportunities to procure the rental of electric driven bypass pumps in place of the diesel pumps, at which time the diesel pumps would be used only for backup. It is anticipated the rental and setup of two electric pumps will be in the range of $75,000 for a four-month period.
These bypass pumps (diesel or electric) are providing a short-term alternative as the bypass pumps have limited capacity and will not be able to meet the upcoming rainy season flows. Consequently, an intermediate solution will likely include the purchase (or rental) and installation of a large diameter plastic pipe(s) to create a temporary bypass pipeline from the Ponds to the Plant and will be needed before the rainy season begins. Staff has begun work on this intermediate solution and a long-term permanent solution.
In order to be responsive to this situation, staff is utilizing procurement authority for emergencies granted under Sunnyvale Municipal Code Chapters 2.08 (goods and services), and 2.09 (Public Works Contracts). As construction of the temporary bypass pipeline is a public works construction project, staff is requesting that the City Council make the finding required by Sunnyvale Municipal Code section 2.09.070 (Competitive Bidding Requirement - Exemptions) that this project is of urgent necessity for the preservation of life, health or property.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff is recommending approval of Budget Modification No. 5 to appropriate funding from the Wastewater Enterprise Fund to a new project for the emergency pumping currently underway. Staff is engaging a design firm already under contract with the City to design the temporary bypass pipeline and will exempt the construction from competitive bidding. Staff will still seek to obtain the best value for the City. Once the work is complete and the full costs are known staff will return with a budget modification to appropriate construction funding.
Budget Modification No. 5
FY 2020/21
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Current |
Increase/ (Decrease) |
Revised |
|
Wastewater Fund |
|
|
|
|
Expenditures |
|
|
|
|
New Project - Secondary Treatment Emergency Repairs |
$ 0 |
$150,000 |
$150,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reserves |
|
|
|
|
Rate Stabilization Reserve |
$43,744,331 |
($150,000) |
$43,594,331 |
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, Sunnyvale Public Library and Department of Public Safety. In addition, the agenda and report are available at the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Receive a Report of an Emergency Procurement to provide Fuel for Emergency Bypass Pumping Operations at the Water Pollution Control Plant; Find that the Project is of Urgent Necessity for the Preservation of Life, Health, or Property, and Approve Budget Modification No. 5
Staff
Prepared by: Tim Kirby, Director of Finance
Reviewed by: Ramana Chinnakotla, Director of Environmental Services
Reviewed by: Jaqui Guzmán, Deputy City Manager
Approved by: Kent Steffens, City Manager