The Downtown Community Plan may be the headliner for the July 11 City Council Meeting but the opening act is also worth your attention.
The Consent Calendar includes items considered routine or administrative in nature. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past and Councilmembers have the ability to ask for discussion of a specific item on the calendar.
Consent Calendar items for the meeting include finalizing a contract with the new City Attorney and several items related to the city’s ongoing pursuit of water sustainability.
On July 11, Council will be asked to approve a contract with Helen Lane Dilg as the new City Attorney.
Former City Attorney Marsha Moutrie announced her intent to retire in 2016 and City Hall conducted a nationwide search before choosing Santa Monica resident Dilg.
Council announced Dilg as their choice to replace Moutrie last month and state law mandates her salary be discussed and approved publicly. Dilg will make $283,872 annually.
“The vote on the contract will establish her salary at $23,656 per month and fulfill that legal requirement,” said the staff report.
Water is a significant theme for the rest of the calendar.
Staff are recommending a $100,000 modification to the existing contract with ConserveTrack, LLC to update software used to process and track the city’s water neutrality ordinance. If approved, the modification will bring the total 12-year amended agreement to $279,635, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
“Since 2009, the City has used the ConserveTrack data management software system to track and report on the City’s water conservation projects and programs including rebates, audits, ordinance violations and citations,” said the staff report.
The contract is being extended while the Information System Division evaluates the software needs of the City at large for potential consolidation.
ConserveTrack software will be used to monitor the water neutrality ordinance but DNV GL Energy Services USA, Inc. is being put forward for a five-year $2,000,000 contract to implement the rules.
“Given the water supply challenges facing Southern California, the City of Santa Monica has one of the region’s most ambitious urban water management efforts” said the staff report. “The City has adopted a goal of achieving water self-sufficiency by 2020, ending our long-standing reliance on imported water for a portion of our supply. To reach this target, new development will need to be far more water efficient than existing buildings and older buildings and landscapes will need to be retrofitted to sustainably reduce water usage demand.”
To meet those goals, the city has required new development to offset water use onsite or pay a fee. The contract would cover services such as “develop and maintain the online water demand calculator, prescreen retrofit sites, purchase and install water-saving devices, track and report on new development compliance and retrofits, and plan check and inspection services as needed.”
A pair of items on the agenda reference existing groundwater.
Council will be asked to approve $779,022 (including a 10% contingency) to purchase 1,620 reverse osmosis membrane elements and associated parts for the Arcadia Water Plant and $76,494 to cover costs associated with replacing the high-tech water filters. The membranes should be replaced every five years and the last batch were installed in 2011. Filters remove potential contaminants from the local water supply to comply with state and federal rules.
Council’s final water item is a $4,197,842 (including a $547,545 contingency) contract with Yellow Jacket Drilling Services for well drilling. City Hall wants to drill three new exploratory wells (at the Colorado Maintenance Yard, the Santa Monica Airport, and on a City-owned parcel on 19th Street) and replace an old well along Olympic Blvd.
“The dual goals of this project are to obtain subsurface data in order to understand the hydrogeological conditions in the Coastal sub-basin, and to increase groundwater production from the City’s Olympic Wellfield by replacing an ineffectual existing well,” said the staff report.
Council meets at 5:30 p.m. on July 11 in City Hall, 1685 Main St. Visit www.smgov.net for more information.
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