The City of Brea has been sweeping City streets for over 50 years. The streets are swept once per week by in-house staff. In early 2016, City Council directed staff to explore the possibility of contracting out these services and compare contract costs to in-house costs and assess if long term ongoing savings could be achieved.
The current street sweeping program includes two full-time Street Sweeping Operators and are backed-up by Public Works Streets Division staff. The program also includes 3 street sweeping machines (two - 6 year old & one - 16 year old). The oldest machine is in need of replacement and was included in a previously approved budget. All 405 curb miles of streets are swept between Mondays and Thursdays. Arterial and commercial streets are swept between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. and residential streets are swept between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. This program collects about 550 tons of trash and debris per year.
On May 2, 2016, staff issued a Request-for-Proposal (RFP) to solicit proposals from qualified firms to perform street sweeping services. In summary, the scope in the RFP included, but is not limited to:
- Contractors to conform to highest maintenance standards as defined in the RFP. City to withhold payment if deficiencies are not corrected.
- Contractors to provide sweeping of up to 150 curb miles for special events at no cost.
- Contractors to provide sweeping for up to 250 curb miles due to inclement weather at no cost.
- Sweepers to meet AQMD Rule 1186.1 regarding use of clean fuel-burning vehicles (CNG).
- Weekly reports of activities to City
- Pay for the cost of water.
On May 24, 2016, City received proposals from Nationwide Environmental Services (NES) from City of Norwalk; Athens from City of Industry; CleanStreet from City of Gardena; and RF Dickson from City of Downey. Per the RFP, the bid proposals included costs to sweep once per week, twice per month, and sweeping on alternate sides (once per week & twice per month).
Bids received from the four contractors are summarized in Attachment 1. The numbers in red represent the low bid for the specific street sweeping option. Per the bid summary table, NES is the low bidder for sweeping weekly at $293,000, Athens is low bidder for sweeping twice per month at $201,690, and Cleanstreet is low bidder for sweeping on alternate sides of street for both weekly and twice per month at $379,080 and $232,794 respectively.
On August 16, 2016 and September 6, 2016, staff discussed this item at a City Council Study Session and City Council meeting respectively.
At the meetings, staff discussed the bids received, compared the costs of street sweeping between the low-bidder and in-house staff, presented options as to how incumbent street sweeping staff could be reassigned to other duties, and discussed the need for a back-up street sweeping machine. As a result, it was concluded that contracting for street sweeping would not offer any immediate savings since incumbent street sweeping staff would continue to work for the City of Brea. However, through attrition of the street sweeping or similar positions in the future, the contracting option is expected to save up to $50,800 per year as shown below:
The following side-by-side comparison was shared with the City Council for discussion purposes that compared total street sweeping program cost between contract services using NES’ low bid and City of Brea for sweeping once per week:
| Description |
Contract Work (NES) |
Brea |
Difference |
| Street Sweeping Costs- Direct Staff & Vehicle Costs |
$293,000 |
$336,235 |
($43,235) |
| Street Sweeping Costs- Indirect Staff Costs* |
$32,083 |
$38,523 |
($6,440) |
| Street Sweeping - Other Costs* |
$23,884 |
$25,048 |
($1,164) |
| Management & Administrative Services* |
$9,148 |
$9,148 |
$0 |
| Total: |
$358,115 |
$408,954 |
($50,839) |
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* Difference in Indirect and Other Cost between in-house and contract sweeping would be applied to other programs.
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As noted above, the City of Brea’s in-house street sweeping program has an annual cost of approximately $408,950. From this, $336,235 is the direct labor and vehicle cost ($173,025 + $163,210). Labor for 2 F/T employees is $173,025 and sweeper replacement plus operations and vehicle maintenance costs is $163,210. Other costs include indirect staff costs of $38,523 for a proportion of labor for Public Works' administrative staff who spend time overseeing the street sweeping program and handling/resolving issues, $25,048 for weed abatement materials and the program’s share of technology, retiree benefit, general liability, etc., and $9,148 for Management & Administrative Services Costs.
The contract street sweeping program is anticipated to cost approximately $358,115. From this, $293,000 is the total contract cost for NES, which includes NES’ labor, vehicle cost, etc. The remaining Indirect and Other cost of $32,083, $23,884, and $9,148 are “City” costs that would apply for the same reasons as the in-house option, but at a lower proportion. As mentioned, the difference in Indirect and Other Costs between in-house and contract would not be eliminated from the City’s operational budget, but would be transferred to other program accounts.
Hence, the contracting option as described above results in a potential annual savings of $50,839 ($408,954 - $358,115) after attrition of incumbent street sweeper operator (or similar) positions.
After discussion, City Council decided to continue considering the contract option and provided the following actions/direction:
- Preserve sweeping streets once per week
- Directed staff to negotiate with the low bidder (NES) in efforts to lower bid or obtain additional services for the price bid
- Investigate street sweeping options for challenging in the City
- Subsequent to the City Council discussion, there was also a request among some Council members to further address cost impacts relating to potential staffing options and to discuss street sweeping enforcement.
On October 18, 2016, staff presented a follow-up to the requested items to the City Council. After discussion, City Council decided to postpone any further contracting considerations since no immediate savings would be achieved, but directed staff to bring the item back when there were attrition options.
Since the October 18, 2016 meeting, Public Works has a full-time Maintenance Worker I/II position that has become vacant and the Environmental – Urban Runoff (P/T) position remains vacant. As a result, staff has developed a staffing scenario that would allow for the street sweeping contract option while having a minimal immediate impact to the General Fund and produce the expected annual savings after attrition of the incumbent street sweeper operators. The following is an overview of the proposal:
- Contract Street Sweeping Services (with City Council approval)
- Retain the Street Sweeper Operator incumbents (2). Transfer to other duties per items 3 and 4 below.
- Temporarily fill the vacant MSW I/II (F/T) with incumbent Street Sweeper Operator.
- Temporarily fill vacant MSW I/II Environmental – Urban Runoff (P/T) position with incumbent Street Sweeper Operator (29 hours to MSW P/T and 11 hours to Street Division for other duties).
- Eliminate Street Sweeper Operator positions from position classification list
Details of this proposal follow:
| Position |
Existing Adopted Budget |
Proposed Budget |
Savings
(+/-) |
| MSW I/II |
$82,919 |
$0 |
$82,919 |
| Street Sweeper Operator* |
$88,296 |
$88,296 |
$0 |
| Street Sweeper Operator* |
$88,857 |
$88,857 |
$0 |
| O&M / Replacement Street Sweeping Equip (w/ City indirect costs) |
$235,929 |
$0 |
$235,929 |
Contract Street Sweeping
(w/City indirect costs)** |
$0 |
$358,115 |
(-$358,115) |
| MSW I/II P/T (Urban Runoff)*** |
$34,006 |
$0 |
$34,006 |
| Total: |
$530,007 |
$535,268 |
($5,261) |
** $293,000 is direct contract cost for street sweeping services as of 2016. May increase for CPI.
*** Position currently funded by Urban Runoff (410), Water (420), and Sewer (430)
This proposal concludes that the immediate annual impact to the General Fund would be approximately $5,300. After attrition of incumbent Street Sweeper Operators and permanent filling of MW I/II and permanent filling of MW I/II P/T Urban Runoff, net annual savings of $54,967 per year (-$5,261 + $88,296 + $88,857 -$82,919 - $34,006) would be achieved based on the 2016 low bid from NEC, which may be subject to change.
In addition, after further consideration, staff is now recommending that we do not retain a full size street sweeper as a back-up for the following reasons:
- Contract street sweeper will be required to provide 150 curb miles per year at no additional charge that can be used to sweep after special events.
- Helps provide the expected annual savings since we will no longer need to appropriate fleet replacement funds to pay for replacement and operational cost for all 3 sweepers. Currently about $163,210 per year.
- Approximately $300,000 (Fund 480) designated for purchase of new street sweeper can be used for other purposes.
- Can recover some funds by selling 2 active sweepers and back-up sweeper.
- Smaller sweeping needs can be performed by smaller in-house parking lot sweeper. Current one is 15 years old. Would need to purchase a new one at about $75,000, of which $67,305 has already been set aside through annual fleet replacement fund contributions for this vehicle.
Other Contracting Options:
The City of Brea has been approached by a neighboring city on the possibility of issuing a joint RFP for contract street sweeping services. Due to economies of scale, it’s possible that the City of Brea may get a better bid, but only if multiple cities are part of a joint contract. Timing may be challenging since the process is essentially starting from step one with the amount of potential additional savings to be determined.
Another option, per recent City Council direction, is to have Republic take over street sweeping duties as part of an amendment to Republic’s contract. Timing is also a challenge since contract amendment negotiations are expected to take some time as well. However, this option has the highest potential savings.
City Council Possible Actions:
- Keep street sweeping in-house and authorize staff to initiate process to purchase new street sweeper
- Direct staff to negotiate a short term contract with NEC for street sweeping services
- Direct staff to pursue a joint RFP with neighboring city(ies)
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