REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
January 23, 2024
FROM
MARK WARDLAW, Director, Land Use Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to Contracts for Fire Hazard Abatement Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1 to the following contracts, for the provision of on-call fire hazard abatement services, increasing the contract aggregate not-to-exceed total by $1,500,000, from $1,050,000 to $2,550,000, with no change to the term of September 1, 2022, through August 31, 2025:
1. Alex Bohanek dba A.B. Landscape, Contract No. 22-744
2. Sustainable Mitigation, Contract No. 22-745
3. C & M Weed Abatement, Contract No. 22-746
4. AD Improvements, Inc., Contract No. 23-1294
(Presenter: Mark Wardlaw, Director, 387-4431)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health, and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of additional Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The amendments increase the contract aggregate not-to-exceed total by $1,500,000, from $1,050,000 to $2,550,000. Sufficient appropriation is included in the Land Use Services Department (LUS), Code Enforcement (CEN) Division 2023-24 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The LUS CEN Division provides fire hazard and weed abatement services in the Mountain, High Desert, and Valley regions. Fire hazard abatement is done as prescribed by Chapter 3 of Title 2 of the San Bernardino County Code. The fire hazard abatement process begins when CEN conducts proactive inspections of properties to determine if hazardous fire conditions exist. Mountain region parcels are inspected once per year during the summer season. Desert and Valley regions are inspected twice per year during spring and fall seasons.
When hazardous conditions are identified, the owner is notified and given 30 days to abate the hazard. After 30 days, the property is re-inspected, and if the property is not in compliance at that time, CEN brings the property into compliance by abating the hazard. These abatement services are performed by contractors, and the property owner is billed for labor and administrative costs related to the services performed to reduce costs to the County. The impact of these efforts is two-fold: it provides defensible space around properties and structures, and increases safety for the community members, firefighters, and other first-responders.
On August 9, 2022 (Item No. 22), the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved Contract No. 22-744 with Alex Bohanek dba A.B. Landscape; Contract No. 22-745 with Sustainable Mitigation; and Contract No. 22-746 with C & M Weed Abatement for the provision of on-call fire hazard abatement services, with an aggregate total not-to-exceed $1,050,000 for the period of September 1, 2022, through August 31, 2025.
On December 5, 2023 (Item No. 35), the Board approved the addition of Contract No. 23-1294 with AD Improvements, Inc., for the provision of on-call fire hazard abatement services with an aggregate total not-to-exceed $1,050,000 for the period of December 12, 2023, through August 31, 2025.
Approval of this Amendment will increase the contract aggregate not-to-exceed total by $1,500,000, from $1,050,000 to $2,550,000 for continued utilization of the on-call contractors for fire hazard abatement services. During the Request for Proposals submittal process, it was determined the contractor costs had significantly increased from previous years. Due to the increase in costs and increase in the number of properties requiring abatement services, this has resulted in the contracted amount to be depleted quicker than had been projected.
PROCUREMENT
The Purchasing Department continues to support this competitive procurement based on RFP No. LUSD22-LUS-4596.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Daniel Pasek, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on December 5, 2023; Purchasing (Ariel Gill, Supervising Buyer, 387-2070) on December 8, 2023; Finance (Penelope Chang, Administrative Analyst, 387-4886) on December 27, 2023; and County Finance and Administration (Robert Saldana, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on January 4, 2024.