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Public Works Agency www.santa-ana.org/public-works Item # 14 City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Staff Report August 1, 2023 TOPIC: Award Agreement to Conduct Cost of Service Study AGENDA TITLE Approve Agreement with Stearns, Conrad & Schmidt, Consulting Engineers, Inc. to Conduct a Cost of Service Study for the Sanitation Services User Charge, in an Amount Not to Exceed $82,875 (Specification No. 23-029) (Non -General Fund) RECOMMENDED ACTION Authorize the City Manager to execute a consultant agreement with Stearns, Conrad & Schmidt, Consulting Engineers, Inc. to conduct a cost of service study in an amount not to exceed $82,875, including a contingency of $16,575, for a three-year term beginning on August 1, 2023 and expiring July 31, 2026, with provision for one, two-year extension, subject to non -substantive changes approved by the City Manager and City Attorney. DISCUSSION The Public Works Agency maintains 400 miles of public right-of-way and provides maintenance services that include roadway maintenance, tree services, roadway cleaning, and sanitation services. Roadway cleaning and sanitation related services are funded through the Sanitation Services Users Charge (Sanitation Fee) and is collected on a bi-monthly basis along with other charges in the City's municipal utility services bill. The Sanitation Fee was established in 1991 by Ordinance NS-2129 and provides street cleaning services and environmental sanitation services that include street sweeping, street cleaning, removal of illegal deposits such as trash and bulky items, weed abatement, and inspections in the City's right-of-way. Over 35,000 public roadway cleaning and sanitation service requests are completed, and over 50,000 miles of streets are swept annually. As a best practice, the City periodically reviews enterprise operations; the last comprehensive evaluation of the Sanitation Fee was performed in 2019. At that time, the Tree Services Program expenses were transferred from the Sanitation Fee program to the General Fund. Correspondingly, the monthly Sanitation Fee was reduced from $6.47 monthly to $5.35 monthly (Resolution 2019-039). Due to increases in cost due to inflation, contractual increases, increasing prevailing wage requirements, and the need to keep pace with the increased demand in public service levels, it is City Council 14 — 1 8/1/2023