TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Talyn Mirzakhanian, City Manager
FROM:
Erick Lee, Public Works Director
Jeff Page, Utilities Manager
Anna Luke-Jones, Solid Waste Administrator
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of Resolutions Approving Two Professional Services Agreements with HF&H Consultants, LLC for the Following:
a) SB1383 Compliance Assistance (OWR4 Grant Funded)
b) SB1383 Compliance Assistance (City Paid)
(Budgeted) (Public Works Director Lee).
ADOPT RESOLUTION NOS. 25-0068 AND 25-0069
Body
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RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution Nos. 25-0068 and 25-0069, approving two professional service agreements with HF&H Consultants, LLC for SB1383 compliance assistance.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Sufficient funds of $97,000 are currently available for an agreement with HF&H Consultants, LLC to assist the City in reaching compliance with edible food recovery, record-keeping, and compliance monitoring. The budget for this agreement consists of $97,000 within the General Fund. These expenditures are anticipated to be partially offset by a $96,873 reimbursement from CalRecycle. When the grant was initially accepted, the City only adjusted revenues to include the estimated award of $75,893, however, staff has secured an additional award of $20,890 for this agreement. If approved, staff will include the additional revenues as part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Adopted Operating Budget.
Sufficient funds of $200,000 are currently available within the Public Works Department’s General Fund budget for an agreement with HF&H Consultants, LLC to provide consulting services and assist the City with enhanced contract compliance, enforcement and procurement analysis.
BACKGROUND:
SB 1383, the State of California’s Short-Term Climate Pollutants legislation, was adopted in 2016 and is the most significant waste reduction law to be adopted in California in the last 30 years. Its goal is to reduce organic waste landfill disposal by 75% (from 2014 levels) by 2025. This means diverting more than 20 million tons from landfills. The legislation aims to slow climate change by diverting organic materials from landfills and recovering 20% of edible food by redirecting it to food-insecure Californians. On the local level, it is also considered an “unfunded mandate.” Among other regulations, the law includes several areas where local agencies must adjust solid waste collection programs, outreach, procurement requirements, route, and material audits.
The City has been engaged with SB 1383 compliance efforts since the bill was first envisioned and prior to its adoption. For example, the City began providing citywide food waste recycling in 2015, years before the law’s 2022 implementation deadline. In 2018, Manhattan Beach was among only 15% of cities statewide that were preliminarily compliant with this part of SB 1383. In November 2021, the City Council also adopted a Mandatory Organic Waste Disposal Reduction ordinance for initial compliance with SB 1383.
The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (Cal Recycle), the State of California’s solid waste agency, created the SB 1383 Local Assistance Grant to begin helping agencies with the implementation of SB1383 requirements. Prior to the current grant award, the City applied for and was awarded $50,437 to hire HF&H Consultants, LLC to perform an SB1383 Gap Analysis and to purchase 500 food waste kitchen pails and labels that were distributed to the community, place multiple advertisements promoting the organics program, and purchase food waste recyclers for City facilities.
DISCUSSION:
This report covers the adoption of resolutions approving two Professional Service Agreements with HF&H Consultants, LLC. After the Gap Analysis was completed, staff began prioritizing the areas that needed the most assistance for full compliance. Those areas are addressed in these two professional service agreements (PSAs). The reason for separate PSAs is that 99.9% of one PSA is grant-funded, and tracking all grant programmatic expenditures will streamline grant administration responsibilities.
PSA related to Resolution No. 25-0068 ($97,000)
In spring 2024, the City applied for cycle 4 of the SB1383 Local Assistance Grant. The City was awarded $96,873 to the City of Manhattan Beach, covering nearly all project costs. HF&H Consultants, LLC will assist the City with reaching full compliance with SB 1383 by focusing on three areas identified in the Gap Analysis: edible food recovery, record-keeping, and compliance monitoring. This work will begin upon the adoption of the resolution and will conclude no later than April 30, 2026.
PSA related to Resolution No. 25-0069 ($200,000)
In spring 2024, during the FY2024 - 2025 budget season, the Council approved a budget request in the amount of $200,000 for consulting services to assist with providing SB1383 compliance in three areas of the Gap Analysis report. The three areas are enhanced contract compliance, enforcement and procurement analysis. This work will begin upon the adoption of the resolution and is estimated to conclude on December 31, 2026, though the City may choose to extend the term of the agreement.
HF&H Consultants, LLC is an industry leader in solid waste consulting. They have assisted the City of Manhattan Beach with the 2001 RFP process, 2010 Waste Management (WM) renegotiation discussions, the 2011 RFP Process, the 2020 RFP process, and most recently with WM’s diversion realignment and extraordinary rate adjustment requests. Manhattan Beach’s solid waste rates remain among the lowest in the South Bay.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City has reviewed the proposed activity for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that the activity is not a “Project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines; therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines
the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has approved the agreement as to form.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 25-0068
2. Agreement - HF&H Consultants, LLC. (OWR4 Grant Funded)
3. Resolution No. 25-0069
4. Agreement - HF&H Consultants, LLC. (City Paid)