TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Derrick Abell, Chief of Police
Lisa Jenkins, Human Resources Director
Julie Dahlgren, Sr. Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Resolution Approving Amendment No. 2 with Laz Parking California LLC and Conditionally Authorizing the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute a One-Year Agreement with Laz Parking for Supplemental Parking Enforcement Services at a Total Cost Not-to-Exceed $350,000 (Police Chief Abell and Human Resources Director Jenkins).
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 21-0078
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 21-0078 approving Amendment No. 2 with Laz Parking California LLC (Laz) and conditionally authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute a one-year Agreement with Laz for supplemental parking enforcement services at a total cost not-to-exceed $350,000.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The original contract amount was for $49,500 and prepared in a time sensitive manner given the need for parking enforcement officers due to multiple vacancies. The additional services to be rendered under Amendment No. 2 will increase the contract amount by $49,500 to $99,000. Because the total contract amount exceeds the City Manager’s awarding authority per the City’s purchasing policy, City Council approval of Amendment No. 2 is required. The additional services will be offset by salary savings, given the four Community Services Officer vacancies.
The proposed one-year agreement is for a not-to-exceed amount of $350,000. This agreement is not budgeted in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-2022 adopted budget. However, expenditures will be offset by salary savings.
Parking enforcement costs are typically offset by parking citation revenues, estimated at $1.875 million in fiscal year (FY) 2021-2022. Staff will provide an updated revenue projection for parking citation revenue with the Mid-Year Budget Report in February based on the first six months of the fiscal year.
BACKGROUND:
The Police Department is responsible for enforcement of parking regulations. Parking enforcement has primarily been handled by Community Services Officers (CSOs), which are civilian employees within the Police Department. Over time, CSOs have been tasked with more duties to assist patrol officers, provide traffic control, and resolve quality of life issues (municipal code violations, neighborhood disputes, Strand/bike path enforcement, leaf blower violations, etc.) These duties remove them from the function of enforcing parking regulations.
The Police Department has had 15 full-time Community Services Officer positions budgeted since 2013. In April 2021, one full-time budgeted CSO position was eliminated following an employee accepting the City’s Early Retirement Incentive program. Two additional vacant positions were removed from the Police Department’s budget on July 1, 2021 and reallocated to Community Development to offset the cost of two new Code Enforcement Officer positions. Twelve full-time budgeted Community Services Officer positions remain and a recruitment is in process to fill the four full-time vacant positions within the unit.
The Police Department presently hires a cadre of part-time CSOs to supplement full-time CSO staffing when there are vacancies, assist with special events, augment staffing during the busy summer months, and related needs. There is a substantial amount of turnover in part-time staffing, as many of them leave to seek full-time employment.
In August 2021, the City entered into a short-term agreement with Laz Parking to provide 100 hours per week of enforcement at a cost of $16,500 per month. The short-term agreement expires on December 31, 2021, but the City will reach the not-to-exceed amount on November 15, 2021. The agreement was executed within the City Manager’s approval authority and served as a pilot program to evaluate the efficacy of a long-term agreement, and to address the immediate need to increase enforcement in the Downtown and North Manhattan Beach. Given the staffing shortage in PACs, staffing levels were insufficient to meet the growing and immediate need for parking enforcement to facilitate vehicle turnover. Laz provided the expertise and staffing levels to deploy qualified parking enforcement officers immediately upon execution of the short-term agreement.
Amendment No. 2 (Attachment 2) extends the term of the agreement through February 15, 2022 and increases the maximum compensation accordingly, increasing the contract amount by $49,500 to $99,000. Because the total contract amount exceeds the City Manager’s awarding authority per the City’s purchasing policy, City Council approval of Amendment No. 2 is required. The additional services will be offset by salary savings from the four Community Services Officer vacancies.
The Police Department desires to enter into a longer-term contract with this same vendor, that can provide ongoing supplemental parking enforcement services to aid in providing meter enforcement, and expand to street sweeping enforcement, where needed. This will allow CSOs to focus their time on more critical public safety and quality of life issues. Approving Amendment No. 2 to the short-term agreement allows sufficient time for the City Manager to negotiate and execute the terms of the one-year agreement.
DISCUSSION:
Section 2.36.130 of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code indicates that contracts for services of specially-trained and professional persons shall be exempt from bidding. All contracts exceeding fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) must be approved by the City Council.
As part of the current short-term agreement, Laz is currently enforcing parking violations in the Downtown and North Manhattan Beach, as well as in City-operated parking lots. Feedback from the community has been positive, and local businesses have expressed appreciation for focused and consistent enforcement, which ensures parking turnover.
Staff recommends that the Council approve a one-year agreement with Laz to provide supplemental parking enforcement services, pending final negotiation of the contract and discussions with the affected City labor association, Teamsters Local 911, which represents the full-time Community Services Officers. As part of this agreement, Laz will enforce parking restrictions in the metered areas of the City, timed zones, and street sweeping routes, as directed by the City, which will allow the full-time CSO’s to focus their time on more critical public safety and quality of life issues. General responsibilities of Laz will include enforcement of Municipal and State Vehicle Codes related to parking and registration violations, issuance of citations, reporting circumstances requiring police action, reporting safety hazards and damaged/missing parking and traffic signage, and reporting malfunctioning parking meters. Laz will furnish the necessary enforcement personnel, including one daytime working field supervisor, as well as necessary vehicles, equipment, and uniforms.
Utilizing Laz, in lieu of hiring additional part-time employees, will yield a cost savings (factoring in hiring, uniforms, training, background investigations, PARS benefits, sick time, etc.). Additionally, by forming this partnership with Laz, it will ultimately ensure that the Police Department always has access to as many parking enforcement officers as are needed for a particular event because Laz is able to backfill for any absences due to illness/vacation/etc.
Laz has a strong background in parking management and enforcement, currently serving many Los Angeles area municipalities, including the cities of West Hollywood, Santa Ana, and Inglewood. They also serve the cities of Palo Alto and San Mateo. They employ over 2,600 employees in Los Angeles County and 120 of those employees are trained parking enforcement officers. There are no comparable service providers who have the parking management expertise and staffing capacity to meet our scope of work.
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 21-0078 approving Amendment No. 2 with Laz and conditionally authorizing and directing the City Manager to negotiate and execute a one-year agreement with Laz Parking California, LLC, in a total cost not-to-exceed amount of $350,000 contingent upon an agreement with the affected labor association.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The subject request is not a “project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State California Environmental Quality Act (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. The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 21-0078
2. Amendment No. 2 - Laz Parking California, LLC
3. Agreement and Amendment No. 1 - Laz Parking California, LLC (2021)