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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 - CC-5 - Professional Services Contract for Plann - 4/1/2014CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: APRIL 1, 2014 ITEM NUMBER: SUBJECT: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT FOR PLANNING CONSULTANTS DATE: MARCH 5, 2014 FROM: DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT PRESENTATION BY: GARY ARMSTRONG, ECONOMIC & DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR/DEPUTY CEO FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: SILVIA KENNERSON, MANAGEMENT ANALYST (714) 754-5023 RECOMMENDATION 1. Approve Amendment One, revise existing cap of $100,000 not to exceed $255,000, to the Professional Services Agreement with The Lilley Planning Group. 2. Authorize the City Chief Executive Officer to sign the amended Professional Services Agreement with Lilley Planning Group. BACKGROUND In June 2013, the City Council adopted a $4.8 million dollar operating and capital improvement budget for the Development Services Department. The Development Services Department is comprised of the following divisions: • Administration • Planning • Building Safety / Code Enforcement • Housing and Community Development (HCD) The Planning Division provides comprehensive planning services and assistance to the City's elected and appointed officials, residents, developers, business owners, and many other individuals. Advance planning functions involve General Plan amendments, rezones, Master Plans, Specific Plans, ordinances, and environmental analysis. Current planning functions relate also to interpretation of the State/Federal laws, City Council policies, and the Zoning Code. Vacancies were created in both the Planning and HCD Divisions, upon the unanticipated departures of staff members. ANALYSIS On November 19, 2013 Council approved $100,000 from salary savings in the General Fund to assist Development Services in meeting the needs of the public by contracting with The Lilley Planning Group. Responding to planning and zoning inquiries at the public counter is an essential service. With the recent rise in the economy, the Development Services Department has experienced increased service requests and expects to respond to many new project applications and development activities. Additionally, assistance is needed for HCD for consulting assistance in Housing Quality Standard (HQS) inspections and/or Housing Rehabilitation. On February 4, 2014 Council appropriated $150,000 from the General Fund balance to Development Services for general consulting assistance. Housing and Community Development is also requesting the allocation of $5,000 from HOME funds Development Services staff is requesting the approved funds be appropriated to The Lilley Planning Group for continued consulting services. This adjustment is needed because although Council authorized filling vacancies within Development Services, it will be several months before the positions can be filled due to Human Resources current workload. Based on current staffing needs, the workload, and increase in projects, staff believes that planning consultant assistance is essential to keep pace with the customer visits and requests as well as the required HQS inspections. Attached is Amendment One with Lilley Planning Group to provide planning and HCD services for a term of one year, one of four one year terms (May 19, 2014 through May 19, 2015) as referenced in the original Agreement approved by Council on November 19, 2013. The City Council can decide not to approve Amendment One to the Professional Services Agreement with Lilley Planning Group and maintain the cap not to exceed the current amount of $100,000. FISCAL ANALYSIS There is no fiscal impact because funding for the current agreement is already accommodated in the General Fund and HCD budgets. Consequently, any expenditures in excess of existing approvals will be required to be pre -authorized with total expenditures not to exceed the approved cap. LEGAL ANALYSIS There is no adverse legal impact anticipated by the Council's taking the recommended action(s), based upon the documents and information provided to this office. CONCLUSION Due to increased development activity and current vacancies (for an unspecified period of time), staff is seeking authorization to increase the existing cap. GARY ARMSTRONG Director of Economic & Development Services/Deputy CEO SILVIA KENNERSON Management Analyst Exhibit A: Scope of Services Exhibit B: Fee Schedule Exhibit C: Amendment One STEPHEN DUNIVENT Interim Finance and I.T. Director From: ARMSTRONG, GARY Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 10:02 AM To: HATCH, THOMAS; CITY COUNCIL Cc: SHELTON, KELLY; TOM DUARTE; GREEN, BRENDA; FRANCIS, RICK Subject: Question on Agenda; Consent Calendar Item 5; Lilley Planning Group Tom, I understand there was a question on the process we went through to obtain consulting assistance. Attached is an email to Lance Nakamoto dated 11 -1 - 13 that briefly describes this effort. Due to the urgency of the need I personally contacted several firms that I know provide interim staff services. Through the five firms listed in the attachment I interviewed twelve applicants in person and spoke to several others by telephone between mid-September, 2013 and early November 2013. 1 had second interviews with two candidates and chose the finalist, Jerry Guarracino, from that group. Mr. Guaracino is affiliated with the Lilley Planning Group. The five firms that provided the most candidates included: Civic Solutions MIG/ Hogle- Ireland Jennifer Lilley Planning RBF Consulting Diamond Star Consultants Prior to conducting final interviews I discussed my findings with Tom Hatch, Rick Francis and Lance Nakamoto. The contract for this effort was approved by City Council on November 19, 2013 in the amount of $100,000. This amount covers Mr. Guaracino's, (Jerry's); costs for approximately six months. Jerry's night meeting attendance, especially Planning Commission, makes it difficult to precisely define the number. It is important to note that we also lost Planner Aaron Hollister, and Management Analyst Hilda Veturis, during this time. Development Services was understaffed for the workload we were experiencing and senior staff was spending an inordinate amount of time at the Planning counter. We also requested that the Lilley group provide an Assistant Planner level person to provide help at the counter. After several interviews I chose Ms. Jessica Magana, (Jessica); also from the Lilley Group, for this position. We did not require a new contract at this time as she could use the previously approved Lilley Planning Contract, however this further reduced existing budget for Jerry. The reorganization of Development Services was approved by the City Council on February 2, 2014 and appropriated $150,000 to Development Services for General Consulting Assistance. The Consent Calendar item 5 proposes to raise the Contract cap for Lilley Planning contract using these approved funds for the continuing services of Jerry and Jessica. Also attached is a PowerPoint presentation on that item should it be pulled and an explanation requested. We have had the Lilley Group under contract previously for interim planning services. In June of 2012 the Lilley Group provided a Statement of Qualifications for Planning Consulting Services to Claire Flynn and was chosen to provide those services. The original contract amount in 2012 was $25,000 and this contract was amended subsequently. This contract had expired prior to the November 2013 contract approval. Please contact me if I may provide any additional information Gary Gary Armstrong, AICP Economic and Development Services Director / Deputy CEO City of Costa Mesa (714) 754-5182 /r--/- AT Lance, I am providing a brief overview of the process we have gone through to select a Consultant Planner to assist with the workload in Development Services. We put the word out to several consulting firms and associates in the planning profession and received the following resumes and leads: Civic Solutions; Contact: Tom Merrill • Jerry Hittleman • Darrell Gentry • Mary P. Wright • Brian Wallace MIG, Hogle Ireland, Contact: Rick Zimmer • Carmen Cave • Catherine Johnson • Mike Theile Jennifer Lilley Planning Group, Contact: Jennifer Lilley • Tamara Campbell • Jerry Guarracino RBF Consulting, Contact: Margit Alien • Margaret "Peggy" Schneble (Independent) • Duane Morita (independent) Diamond Star Associates, Contact: Don Lamm • Grant Taylor I also had informal discussions of our needs with various professionals in the industry. From that search and a round of first interviews we have chosen two candidates for second interviews and hope to choose at least one finalist for HR Screening. This email is provided as a record of our process to indicate that we have given several qualified firms the opportunity to provide qualified candidates to fill this consulting position. Please let me know if I may provide any additional information. Gary Development Services Dept. April 1, 2014 CITY COUNCIL MEETING Background Development Services Department is comprised of the following divisions: — Administration — Planning — Building Safety/Code Enforcement — Housing and Community Development (HCD) The Planning Division provides: — Assistance to the City's elected and appointed officials, residents, developers, business owners, and many other individuals — General Plan amendments, Master Plans, Specific Plans — Interpretation of State/Federal laws, City Council policies, and the Zoning Code Analysis • November 19, 2013 Council approved $100,000 from salary savings in the General Fund to contract The Lilley Planning Group. • February 4, 2014 Council appropriated $150,000 from the General Fund balance to Development Services for general consulting. • HCD is requesting to allocate $5,000 from HOME funds to be appropriated to The Lilley Consulting Group for consulting services. • Adjustment is needed because although Council authorized filling vacancies with the Department, it will be several months before the positions can be filled due to Human Resources' current workload. • Based on current staffing needs, workload, and increase in projects, staff believes that planning consultant assistance is essential to keep pace with customer visits and requests. Fiscal and Legal Impact • No fiscal impact because funding for the agreement Fund and budgets. is already accommodated in Housing and Community current the General Development • Any expenditures in excess of existing approvals will be required to be pre -authorized with total expenditures not to exceed the approved cap. • There is no adverse legal impact anticipated by the Council's taking the recommended action(s), based upon the documents and information provided to this office. Recommendation • Staff recommends approval of Amendment Three, revise the existing cap to the total compensation not to exceed $255,000 to the Professional Services Agreement.