MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Lars Ewing, Public Services Director
DATE: May 14, 2019
SUBJECT: a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and b) Approve the contract for temporary heavy equipment rental between the County of Lake and Elms Equipment Rental, Inc. for an annual not-to-exceed amount of $150,000 and authorize the Chair to sign
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Eastlake Sanitary Landfill in Clearlake operates under a solid waste facilities permit with the State Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). One of the permit conditions is the requirement to place a cover over all solid waste at the end of each operating day (daily cover), and furthermore to place twelve inches of compacted earthen material on any solid waste that will be exposed for longer than 180 days (intermediate cover). Historically staff has used geosynthetic tarps for daily cover (soil placed at a depth of six inches is also an approved daily cover), and generated the intermediate cover material by excavating and hauling native soil from an area of the landfill property that has not yet been used for the permanent placement of solid waste located immediately southeast of the current fill area. This area is colloquially termed the “borrow area”. Excavating in the borrow area for cover material is doubly beneficial: 1) the material is readily available and free, and 2) the borrow area is envisioned as the future disposal area that will ultimately need to be excavated to a lower elevation to maximize waste disposal capacity, thereby minimizing construction excavation costs during the future landfill expansion process.
Excavations in the borrow area have now progressed to the point that rocks, not soil, are the primary material encountered. This makes excavation operations with existing County-owned equipment quite challenging and time consuming, if not impossible at times. Staff researched various options to address this issue, with consideration being given to sourcing soil from another location or using other material alternatives for intermediate cover. However, the benefit of continuing to excavate the borrow area for both current intermediate cover use and future landfilling far outweighs other alternatives.
I am requesting that the Board make a determination that competitive bidding is not in the public’s interest because of the unique nature of the equipment, and that competitive bidding is not likely to provide an economic benefit to the County, and furthermore that the Board approve the contract with Elms Equipment Rental, Inc. for an annual not-to-exceed amount of $150,000.
FISCAL IMPACT: __ None __Budgeted __Non-Budgeted
Estimated Cost: $150,000
Amount Budgeted: $150,000
Additional Requested:
Annual Cost (if planned for future years): $150,000
FISCAL IMPACT (Narrative): Adequate funding for the equipment rental is provided in the solid waste operations budget.
STAFFING IMPACT (if applicable): N/A
RECOMMENDED ACTION: a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and b) Approve the contract for temporary heavy equipment rental between the County of Lake and Elms Equipment Rental, Inc. for an annual not-to-exceed amount of $150,000 and authorize the Chair to sign.