Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting - September 16, 2020
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Meeting - September 16, 2020
The Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the San Diego City Council met remotely on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. Due to Governor's Executive Order 29-20 suspending certain Brown Act requirements, councilmembers participated via teleconference, and no members of the public were present in the committee room. The meeting was televised and live-streamed, with public comment available by phone and electronically. The committee approved consent calendar items, heard public comment, and debated two major discussion items regarding consultant contracts for land surveying and transportation engineering.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Two speakers addressed the committee. Ron Marcus, a resident of an unspecified council district, requested assistance to clean up Miramar Road, which he described as an eyesore. He proposed sending a video of the area, personally picking up trash, and asked the city to collect large debris. He noted that his prior inquiry to Councilmember Kate's office indicated that such cleanup might conflict with union jobs, but argued that the area is not currently being maintained. Martha Welch (spelling unclear) complained that city road repairs are not thorough and that garbage collection practices are unfair; she also mentioned that storm drains are not properly connected.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: The committee unanimously approved the minutes from the July 29, 2020 meeting.
- Consent Agenda Item: The committee approved a single consent agenda item: council authorization to approve and execute various construction change orders to American Asphalt South Inc. for slurry seal groups (17-03, 18-03, 19-23, 19-24, 19-25) and to increase the total contract authorization for groups 19-23, 19-24, and 19-25. No public comments were received. Motion by Councilmember Moreno, seconded, passed unanimously.
Discussion Items
- Item 2: First Amendment to As-Needed Land Survey Agreements (H197042 through H197070)
- Staff from Engineering and Capital Projects (Myrna Dayton, Assistant Director; Alex Garcia, Deputy Director) presented a request to increase each of six existing consultant agreements by $1 million and extend them by one year (total of $2 million and two years per agreement). These contracts supplement city surveying staff during peak workloads and for specialized expertise such as aerial surveys. The original one-year approval was given in August 2019 due to concerns about unfilled city surveyor positions.
- Staff reported progress: five recruitment processes were conducted; 13 hires and promotions were made; salary increases (8% additional assignment pay for registered land surveyors in Jan 2020, plus a 10% special salary adjustment in April 2020) were implemented; and a new survey apprentice program with Cuyamaca College is being developed. In FY20, city staff (approx. 52 FTE) delivered 191 projects, while consultants delivered 108 projects. The aerial surveys are fully contracted since the city lacks aircraft. Staff noted ongoing recruitment challenges due to COVID.
- Councilmember Moreno expressed satisfaction with the department's recruitment efforts and moved to approve the amendment. Vice Chair Ward requested data on cost efficiency, noting that consultant costs appear higher than in-house; he suggested exploring partnerships with police helicopters for aerial imagery. James Nagelvoort (City Engineer) added that the department is investigating drone technology, inspired by the Port District's use. The motion passed unanimously.
- Item 3: As-Needed Transportation Engineering Consultant Agreements (Chen Ryan Associates, Fair Peers, Kimley Horn Associates, WSP USA Inc.)
- Staff from the Planning Department (Samir Hadgeri, Senior Traffic Engineer; Alyssa Muto, Deputy Director) presented a request to authorize up to $2 million per agreement (total $8 million) for four firms over 36 months, with an option to extend to 48 months. These consultants provide specialized modeling, technical analysis, and access to proprietary software for community plan updates and corridor studies. Similar contracts were used successfully in 2015 for projects like Mission Valley, Midway, and Balboa Avenue.
- Councilmember Moreno acknowledged the specialized nature of the work and supported the motion, but requested that the department try to hire in-house staff for modeling collaboration with SANDAG. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Approvals forwarded to full City Council:
- Consent calendar items (slurry seal change orders).
- First amendment to as-needed land survey agreements (increase to $2 million and two years per contract).
- As-needed transportation engineering consultant agreements (four firms, up to $2 million each, 36-48 months).
- Next Steps: Staff will continue recruitment for surveyor positions and develop the apprentice program. The transportation engineering contracts will support community plan updates. The next committee hearing is scheduled for October 14, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody. Per Governor's Executive Order 29 20, which suspends certain requirements of the Brown Act. Some of the council members will be participating via teleconference, and no members of the public will be in attendance today in the interest of public health and safety. In addition, this meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and our committee liaison has made arrangements for the public to comment by phone as well as electronically. We appreciate the public's cooperation. I will now call the active transportation and infrastructure committee meeting of Wednesday, September 16th to order. We have several members of the committee and staff calling in via teleconference. For the purpose of the roll call, those on the teleconference include Vice Chair Ward, Councilmember Kate. Oh, she's over there. Sorry about that. I was looking over here and I saw the empty chair and didn't realize Councilmember Moreno is in fact here in the can the committee room with us today. So we do have a quorum. Each council member will be watching uh the meeting from their remote location via City TV. Uh and they are live on the teleconference uh over the committee room where they'll be participating in this meeting remotely. As I mentioned, Councilman Moreno is in fact here in person. Uh in pr also present, we have our IBA representative Gillian Cassie, uh, our committee consultant Justin Garver, and also on the teleconference line we have Mayor Representative Conrad Ware and City Attorney Representative Tina Red. The public may call in following the instructions posted on the agenda by calling 619-541-6310, entering conference ID 877 861 pound, or hashtag if you prefer, to be placed in the queue for public comment. You should do this when the item you wish to speak on is introduced. Please do not call in prior to that time. Our committee consultant will announce when the public comment period is open for an item, and a slide will go up on City TV. When the phone queue is empty, the public comment period will be closed. The same process will be used for each each agendized item. When you're in the queue, you will be able to hear the meeting and all others that are providing comment. You will know that it is your turn to speak. When you hear the system prompt saying your phone has been unmuted. When you hear the prompt, immediately state your name and make your comment, then hang up. Each speaker will have one minute for agendized item and two minutes for non-agenda public comment. Also, please mute the volume on your TV or computer before you begin to speak. If you call in during a non-comment period, your call will not be taken. Please monitor the meeting and ensure that you are calling in at the appropriate time. The public may as always view the meeting on public television on City TV channel 24 for Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable Spectrum, or channel 99 for ATT, or view the meeting online by going to the City Council Committee's homepage at San Diego.gov and selecting the City TV Live Webcast blue button on the right hand side of the page. Quorum is now present. We will now dispense with the approval of the committee actions. The actions before you for approval are the meeting or for the meeting of July 29th, 2020. Do I have a motion to approve? We have a motion by Councilmember Morano, which I will second. Now we will call the roll, uh starting with uh Vice Chair Ward. Approved, yes. Mr. Kate. Yes. Ms. Morano. All right. And I'm a yes as well. That passes unanimously. Uh we'll now take up non-agenda public comment. Which uh do we have any non-agenda today? Yes, we do. We do.
openpublica.com