HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 236-09TO:
FROM:
DATE:
POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
CITY MANAGER
JUNE 29, 2009
DEPARTMENTS: PUBLIC WORKS
UTILITIES
CMR:236:09
REPORT TYPE: RECOMMENDATION
SUBJECT: Policy and Services Committee Review and Request for
Recommendation on Prevailing Wage Issues Related to City Capital
Construction Projects
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council Policy and Services Committee recommend that City Council
retain its current prevailing wage policy, allowing City "public works" projects to be bid without
prevailing wage requirements unless prevailing wage is required for the project pursuant to state
law, in light of the City's economic difficulties and to avoid additional cost impacts to the City's
General and Enterprise Fund Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs). Staff also recommends a
pilot study of potential prevailing wage impacts be conducted on selected CIPs where prevailing
wage would be required, to determine whether the prevailing wage requirement impacts the
number of bids, project costs, change orders and other factors.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report responds to the December 9, 2008 and March 10, 2009 discussions by the Council
Policy and Services Committee and Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage regarding prevailing
wage issues related to City capital construction contracts. At the December 9 meeting, the
Policy and Services Committee (comprised at that time of Chairperson Kishimoto and Council
members Barton, Drekmeier and Espinosa) indicated a strong interest in requiring prevailing
wage on City capital construction contracts and directed staff to come back with additional
information on possible exemptions to the proposed Council policy. At the March 10th meeting
the Ad Hoc Policy and Services Committee (Chairperson Kishimoto and Council members
Barton, Drekmeier and Espinosa) reviewed staffs proposed exemptions to the prevailing wage
policy and recommended Council approve exemptions for projects involving volunteers and low
income housing projects. The Ad Hoc Committee also directed staff to come back to the full
Coun<;il with the proposed prevailing wage policy and with further information on possible
exemptions for maintenance projects and projects involving public-private partnerships.
On June 15th, the City Council adopted the 2010 budget which included several dramatic and
unavoidable cuts to the City's operating and capital budgets. The adopted budget reduced
spending in the Infrastructure Reserve by $2 million. In addition, the 2010 budget assumes
additional reductions in staffing costs which have not yet been identified. Due to on-going
budget challenges, staff recommends that Council retain the current prevailing wage policy, for
CMR:236:09 Page 1 of7
now and direct staff to perfonn a pilot study where prevailing wage would be required on
selected CIPs that are not subject to prevailing wage under the current policy. This will allow
staff to collect "real-time" data on Palo Alto construction to better assess potential costs and
quality impacts on projects where prevailing wage is a requirement.
Although staff is not recommending a change in the City's prevailing wage policy at this time,
this report provides additional infonnation as requested by the Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing
Wage regarding possible exemptions from a possible prevailing wage requirement for
maintenance projects and projects involving public-private partnerships.
BACKGROUND
As a charter city, Palo Alto is not required to pay prevailing wages on "public works" projects,
so long as the projects are within the realm of "municipal affairs", funded entirely by local funds,
and no other statutory exceptions apply. This "home rule" principle allows decisions on
expenditure of local funds to be made by locally elected officials. In 1981, Palo Alto passed a
resolution to pay prevailing wage "only when required by federal or state grants and on other
jobs considered to be of statewide concern." (see Attachment A, Resolution).
Recently, charter cities' power to opt out of state prevailing wage law was upheld by California's
Fourth District Court of Appeal in State Building and Construction Trades Council of California
v. City of Vista, (2009) D052181. In 2007, the City of Vista, a charter city like Palo Alto,
adopted an ordinance under which City contracts generally would not require payment of the
prevailing wage. The Court held that state prevailing wage laws were intended "to keep state
contracting from undermining what local markets have established." However, because an
ordinance like Vista's would not materially interfere with the stability of the area's labor market,
the effect of ordinances like Vista's were not a matter of statewide concern. Therefore, the court
held that charter cities, like Vista and Palo Alto, retain the power to opt out of the state's
prevailing wage law.
The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California intends to petition the
California Supreme Court to review this case. In the meantime, the Vista decision is still good
law, and it affinns the City of Palo Alto's right to opt out of paying prevailing wage.
Also relevant is SB 9EX, which the Governor signed on February 20, 2008, noting the (then)
ongoing litigation in Vista. SB 9EX narrowed potential prevailing wage obligations for charter
cities involving work on water, sewer, or stonn drain systems that have previously been extended
to disadvantaged communities.
Amid the recent debate over charter cities' prevailing wage requirements, on December 9,2008,
staff presented to the Council and the Policy and Services Committee a recommendation that
Council not change current prevailing wage policy, allowing City capital construction ("public
works") projects· to be bid without prevailing wage requirements unless prevailing wage is
required for the project pursuant to state or federal law, due to potential cost impacts to the City's
General and Enterprise Fund Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs) (CMR 443:08, Attachment
B). The Committee carefully reviewed this recommendation and decided it was in the best
interest of the City to recommend to the full Council that a resolution be adopted requiring
prevailing wage on all City capital construction contracts. The Committee also instructed staff to
recommend types of construction contracts that could be considered for exemption from a
CMR:236:09 Page 2 of7
prevailing wage requirement. Minutes of the December 9th meeting are attached (Attachment
C).
On March 10, 2009, staff presented to the Council Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage
proposed exemptions from the possible prevailing wage policy discussed at the December 9,
2008 Policy and Services Committee meeting. The possible exemptions reviewed with the Ad
Hoc Committee were:
1. Maintenance projects under $250,000 as defined by Section 22002 of the California
Public Contract Code;
2. Projects using public-private partnership funding;
3. Projects that construct/rehabilitate affordable housing for people with low or moderate
incomes; and
4. Projects where the work is performed either entirely or partially by volunteers.
A detailed discussion of the above staff recommended exemptions can be found in the attached
CMR:150:09 (Attachment D). At the March 10th meeting the Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing
Wage recommended that Council approve the staff recommended exemptions for projects where
the work is performed entirely by volunteers, and low and moderate income housing projects.
Minutes of the March 10th meeting are attached (Attachment E). The Ad Hoc Committee asked
staff to come back to the full Council with additional information on possible exemptions for
maintenance projects and projects involving public-private partnerships, as well· as clarification
that the proposed exemption for affordable housing would apply unless otherwise required by
law. Specifically, the Committee asked staff to present justification for the proposed $250,000
threshold for maintenance projects that is reflective of the dollar value of most maintenance
contracts and not tied solely to the $250,000 threshold cited in Section 2.30.210 of the City's
Municipal Code for Public Works projects requiring City Council approval. The Committee also
asked staff to develop criteria for exempting public-private partnership projects that reflects the
amount of City funding in these projects and addresses project administrative responsibilities.
This information is discussed below for consideration by the Council Policy and Services
Committee.
DISCUSSION
In its December 9, 2008 report (CMR 443:08, Attachment B) staff presented its research into the
possible impacts requiring prevailing wage on City General and Enterprise Fund construction
projects. This research indicated that prevailing wage could increase the cost of construction by
up to 10%. Staffs research was based on surveys of other California cities, contractors working
in the Palo Alto area, and review of the many studies conducted on this subject. This research
also showed that there are additional administrative costs associated with prevailing wage
contracts. Any further increase in contracting costs will limit the City's ability to address the
growing $400 million plus infrastructure backlog and increase the cost to rehabilitate existing
infrastructure, much of which is already well past its life expectancy and in a deteriorated
condition.
The 2010 budget adopted by the City Council includes several cuts in both the City's operating
and capital budgets. Included in these cuts was a funding reduction of $2 million to the city's
Infrastructure Reserve. Cost increases in Utility (Enterprise fund) projects could also result in
the need for user rate increases. Because of potential for cost impacts, the City's continued
CMR:236:09 Page 3 of7
overall budget challenges, and economic challenges in the region as a whole, staff believes that
this is an inopportune time to change the City's current prevailing wage policy.
To better assess the potential impact prevailing wage may have on construction cost and quality
staff proposes to conduct a pilot study. The pilot study will select a few Capital projects where
one of the bid requirements will be the payment of prevailing wage on the project. The bids
received on these projects will be analyzed to determine:
• If the imposition of a prevailing wage requirement had an impact on the number
of bids received
• If the prevailing wage requirement increased the project cost
• If the number of change orders were increased or decreased by the prevailing
wage requirement
• If quality of construction was impacted by the prevailing wage requirement
Staff proposes to return to the Council Policy and Services Committee next year with the results
of the pilot study and further recommendations on the prevailing wage issue.
Discussed below is the additional information on possible prevailing wage exemptions requested
by the Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage at their March 10th meeting.
Maintenance Proj ect Exemption
Attachment F is a table listing all of the maintenance CIPs included in the 2009 Adopted five
Year Capital Budget with their associated budgets and project category. The listed projects are
budgeted at a level of $222,000 or less and all meet the definition of a maintenance project under
Section 22002 ofthe California Public Contract Code (see page 3 of 6, CMR: 150:09, Attachment
D). Many of the maintenance CIPs listed in Attachment F are annual projects where the budget
is often carried from year to year. The construction contracts associated with annual CIPs are
. typically $250,000 or less. Staff recommends that if the Council were to require prevailing wage
on "public works" construction contracts they should also approve an exemption for City
maintenance CIP contracts valued at $250,000 or less to ensure the City of having the broadest
pool of bidders on these routine projects. This would keep bids competitive and will likely
reduce costs for these critical building, parks, and utility system maintenance activities.
Public-Private Partnership Exemption
Staff met with representatives of the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo on
March 30th and with representatives of the Friends of Lytton Plaza and the Palo Alto Art Center
Foundation on April 1, 2009. Each of these groups has an ongoing public-private partnership
with the City supporting their projects. At these meetings the proposed prevailing wage policy
was presented and the potential impacts of prevailing wage on their projects was discussed. The
upcoming planned projects at both the Junior Museum and Zoo (proposed 2009-10 CIP AC-
10000 New Bobcat Habitat) and Lytton Plaza Renovation (CIP PE-08004) will be managed by
the respective private entity while the Art Center Improvement project (CIP PF-07000) will be
managed by the City once design work is completed. The Friends of the Palo Alto Museum and
Zoo are funding all oftheir project with donations (totaling over $505,000) while the City will be
contributing $70,000 for resurfacing of zoo pathways. The Council approved letter of intent with
the Friends of Lytton Plaza provides for a maximum City contribution of $350,000 for Lytton
CMR:236:09 Page 4 of7
Plaza improvements with the Friends of Lytton Plaza responsible for 50 percent or more of the
additional funding that will be needed for this project. The City will be funding more than 50
percent of the Art Center project.
The private groups that will be funding the majority of their projects and also managing project
design and construction (Junior Museum and Zoo and Lytton Plaza) are very concerned about
the potential of prevailing wage requirements increasing the cost of their projects. They are also
concerned that the administrative requirements associated with ensuring contractor compliance
with prevailing wage requirements would likely impose a burden on private entity project
managers that they are not prepared to undertake. On the other hand, the Palo Alto Art Center
Foundation indicated that they would be in a better position to comply with the proposed
prevailing wage policy since the City will be contributing over 50 percent of project funding and
managing project construction. Attached is a letter from the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior
Museum and Zoo and two emails from the Friends of Lytton Plaza asking that their projects be
exempt from the proposed prevailing wage policy (Attachments G and H respectively).
Staff recommends that if the Council were to require prevailing wage on "public works"
construction contracts they should also approve a Public-Private Partnership exemption that
would exempt Public-Private Partnership projects where the private party is the lead entity
managing the project design and construction and the private entity funds at least 50 percent of
the project cost.
RESOURCE IMPACT
The Adopted FY 2010 Capital Budget includes an estimated $56.1 million in General Fund
construction and $32.1 million in Enterprise Fund construction that would require prevailing
wage in their construction contracts if Council were to change the City's prevailing wage policy.
These amounts can be seen in Attachments J and K and do not include total project costs such as
design services contracts which would not be subject to prevailing wage in most cases. The
construction costs of maintenance projects under $250,000 and Public-Private partnerships
where the private entity funds at least 50 percent of project cost and manages the project, are not
included in the above totals (see footnotes 1, 2, 3 and 5 of Attachment J). The FY 2010 General
Fund projects include $50.5 million for Mitchell Park and Downtown Measure N Library bond
projects and the FY 2010 Enterprise Fund projects include $22.5 million for the Utility
Department Emergency water supply project. The remaining four years (FY 2011 through FY
2014) of General and Enterprise Fund projects included in the Adopted Capital Budget are also
included in the attached tables. Both total project and construction costs for these projects are
shown in the attachments.
Attachments J and K also show the potential increased cost impacts on the City's ClP project if
the City's prevailing wage policy is changed. As discussed above, staffs research indicates that
prevailing wage may increase construction costs by up to 10 percent. While other studies have
been conducted which indicate no such impact on project costs, based on the study conducted by
staff, one can see that the FY 2010 General Fund construction costs may increase by $2.8 million
if prevailing wage caused a 5 percent increase and by as much as $5.6 million if prevailing wage
caused a 10 percent increase in construction costs. Similarly, the FY 2010 Enterprise Fund
construction costs may increase by $1.6 million at 5 percent and $3.2 million at 10 percent.
Attachments J and K also show the possible construction costs increases in the FY 2011 through
CMR:236:09 Page 5 of7
FY 2014 General and Enterprise Fund CIP's at both the 5 percent and 10 percent levels. Again
these data would be re-evaluated upon completion of the proposed prevailing wage pilot study.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
To require prevailing wage to be paid on City capital construction projects Council would need
to adopt a resolution rescinding resolution 5981 and codifying the new prevailing wage policy
and any exemptions Council chooses to include. A sample resolution is attached as Exhibit I.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The Council Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage review of the prevailing wage policy issues
presented in this report does not represent a project under the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA), pursuant to Section 21065 of the Public Resources Code, thus, no environmental
review is required.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Resolution 5981
Attachment B: CMR: 443:08
Attachment C: Minutes of December 9,2009 Policy and Services Committee meeting
Attachment D: CMR:150:09
Attachment E: Minutes of March 10, 2009 Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage meeting
Attachment F: Table of Maintenance Capital Improvement Projects
Attachment G: Letter for Friends of Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo
Attachment H emails from the Friends of Lytton Plaza
Attachment I: Draft Resolution -Requiring the Payment of Prevailing Wage on City Capital
Construction Contracts with Certain Exemptions
Attachment J: City of Palo Alto 2010-2014 CIP Plan General Fund
Attachment K: City of Palo Alto 2010-2014 CIP Plan Enterprise Fund
PREPARED BY:
MIK SARTOR
Assistant Public Works Director
~ ~Iwttf~
DEPARTMENT HEADS:
CMR:236:09
TOMM MARSHALL
Assistant Utilities Director
JLl11,J-J
GLENN ROBERTS .
Director of Public Works
Director of UtI ltles
Page 6 of7
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
CC: Neil Struthers, Santa Clara and San Benito Building and Construction Trades Council
Nicole Goehring, Associated Builders and Contractors, Golden Gate Chapter
Aletha Leong Coleman, Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo
Barbara Gross, Friends of Lytton Plaza
Leland D. Levy, Friends of Lytton Plaza
CMR:236:09 Page 7 00
• • ORIGINAL AT
RESOLUTION NO. 5981
RESOLL~ION OF THE COUNCIL OF THB CITY OF PALO ALTO
ESTABLISHING POLlcr REGARDING PRBVAILING WAGES FOR
PUBLIC PROJECTS
WHEREAS, in the recent case of Vial v. City of San Die';1o (175 Cal.Rtpr. 647, July, 1981), the California Court of Appeal determined
that the subject of ·prevailing wages" is a municipal affair and that
Charter cities are not subject to the prevailing wage requirements for
public works projects set forth in the California Labor Code; and
WHEREAS, it is in the Ci ty' s best interest to obtain the lowest
responsible bid for public projects;
NOW, THEREFORE. the Council of the City of Palo Alto does RESOLVE
as follows:
SECTION 1. It is approp~iate to use the Davis-Bacon Act or State
Department of Industrial Relations Wage Determinations only when re-
quired by federal or state grants and on other jobs considered to be of
statewide concern.
SECTION 2. The Council finds that this is not a project under the
California Environmental Quality Act and, therefore, no environmental
impact assessment is necessary.
INTRODUCED AND PASSED: December 14, 1981
AtES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fletcher, Henderson, Klein, Levy, Renzel.
Witherspoon
NOES: None
ABSTENTIONS: None
ABSENT; Fazzino
Ci~erk·i
APPROVED AVTO FORM:
~b,.~ ~Attorney
APPROVED:
v'i~or~
CHMENTA
TO:
ATTN:
FROM:
DATE:
ATTACHMENT B
CITY COUNCIL
POLICY AND SERVICES COMMiTTEE
CITY MANAGER
DECEMBER 9, 2008
DEPARTMENTS: PUBLIC WORIKS
UTILITIES
CMR: 4413:08
lREPORT TYPE: lRECOMMENIDATION
SlIJBJECT: Revnew and Requestt :!for Recommendation on PrevaHiDllg Wage Issues
ReRattedto City Capitan Construdnon Projects
lRECOMMEN])A TION
Staff recommends the Council Policy and Services Committee recommend that Council not
change current prevailing wage policy, allowing City "public works" projects be bid without
prevailing wage requirements unless prevailing wage is required for the project pursuant to state
law, due to potential cost impacts to the City's General and Enterprise Fund Capital
Improvement Programs (CIPs).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
At City Council's request, staff reviewed many of the issues surrounding prevailing wage rates
and summarized the findings below. Staff recommends, due to potential cost impacts to the
General and Enterprise Fund Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs), Council not change the
City's current prevailing wage policy. This recommendation is made primarily due to the costs
needed to address the current General and Enterprise Fund infrastructure program backlog and
the additional cost of funding 'a new Public Safety Building and a new Library and Community
Center at Mitchell Park and Library improvements at Main and Downtown Libraries as Ii result
of recent passage of Measure N. Any further increase in costs will impact the City's ability
rehabilitate existing infrastructure, much of which is already well past its life expectancy and in a
deteriorated condition. In addition, a prevailing wage requirement could also apply to the many
private/public partnerships the City is involved in such as Lytton Plaza, Art Center and possibly
the Junior Museum ~d Zoo. The California Court of Appeal is currently hearing an appeal in
the City of Vista case, where the City of Vista, a charter city like Palo Alto, is defending its'
choice not to pay prevailing wage on its locally funded "public works" projects.
BACKGROUND
On September 17, 2007; City Council approved a contract with Anderson Pacific for a Water
Quality Control Plant (WQCP) pump station upgrade related to the reclaimed water pipeline
project running from the WQCP to Mountain View (CMR:364:07). Council approved the
contract contingent on the contractor assuring the City they would pay their employees
prevailing wage on the project. In a related motion Council directed staff to bring the prevailing
CMR:443:08 Page 1 of8
wage discussion to the Council Policy and Services Committee (see Attachment B, minutes of
September.J 7,2007 Council meeting).
What are Prevailing Wage Rates?
The intended purpose of prevailing wage law is to ensure that public construction projects do not
lower local wages by allowing contractors to pay wages below the local standard. In 1931,
Congress passed the Davis-Bacon Act, which mandated the payment of prevailing wages on all
construction projects that receive more than $2,000 of Federal funds -an amount that has
remained unchanged today. In subsequent years, especially during the Great Depression, many
states and localities passed similar prevailing wage laws; Most states, including California, now
have such laws.
Prevailing wages are determined in many different ways across the country. The Federal and
California Prevailing Wage calculations are similar because if more than 50% of the workers
make the same wage this becomes the prevailing wage for the trade. They differ in the
calculation when less than 50% of the workers have the same wage. The Federal Law
determines the prevailing wage by averaging all the wages, whereas in California the most
common wage occurring becomes the prevailing wage. California's calculation method usually
results in a slightly higher wage than the Federal calculation method. .
California passed its prevailing wage law in 1931, the same year the federal Davis-Bacon Act
was passed. California Labor Code § 1771 requires that any "public works" project that receives
more than $1,000 in state funding pay prevailing wages. The Labor Code defines "public
works" to include construction, alteration, most demolition, installation or repair work done
under contract and paid for in whole or part out of public funds. All capital improvement
projects done by the City, including those managed by the Community Services, Utilities or the
Public Works Departments are considered "public works" under this law. Although California's
prevailing wage law applies to all of California's "general law" cities, charter cities are permitted
to elect whether to pay prevailing wage on locally funded public works projects that qualify as
municipal affairs.
DISCUSSION
Prevailing Wages in Charter Cities
The California Labor Code requires that public agencies pay prevailing wages, as determined by
the California Department of Industrial Relations, on most public works projects. As a charter
city, Palo Alto is not required to pay prevailing wage rates on "public works" projects, so long as
the projects are within the realm of "municipal affairs," are funded entirely by local funds, and
no other statutory exceptions apply. This "home rule" principle, grounded in the California
Constitution, allows decisions on expenditure of local funds to be made by locally elected
officials. Utilities Enterprise Fund projects are often deemed to be "public works" projects in
this context.
Since no precise definition of what constitutes a "municipal affair" has been judicially settled,
courts consider the issue on a case by case basis. The expenditure of city funds on local projects
and the rates of pay of the workers the City hires to carry out such projects has been held to be a
municipal affair. In 1981, Palo Also passed a resolution to pay prevailing wage "only when
required by federal or states grants and on other jobs considered to be of statewide concern."
(See Attachment A: Resolution 5981).
Page 2 8
Recently, courts have blurred the issue of whether a charter city may elect not to pay prevailing
wage. For example, in 2004, the California Supreme Court in City of Long Beach v. DIR,
declined to decide whether prevailing wage law is such a matter of statewide concern that it
should override the ability of charter cities to conduct their municipal affairs. Since then, labor
unions have mounted a statewide campaign to overturn existing law and declare prevailing wage
a matter of state concern. The charter city of Vista is currently defending its choice not to pay
prevailing wages in a lawsuit brought by the State Building and Construction Trades Council.
Although the trial court reluctantly ruled in favor of Vista in December 2007, the case is pending
on appeal. A detailed summary of the case is included in this report's discussion below.
These recent judicial developments led the City Attorney to recommend that Palo Alto pay
prevailing wages on regional projects that transcend the city's geographic boundaries, even if
these projects could be considered municipal affairs. Capital improvement projects related to the
City's Water Quality Control Plant (WQCP) fall into this category. Some Charter Cities have
created special categories where they do not pay prevailing wages on low-income housing and
maintenance type projects, but do pay prevailing wage on construction projects. To date, Palo
Alto has not made this distinction.
Summary of Staff Research
Staff found that there is considerable disagreement on the impacts of prevailing wage rates on
project quality found in studies cited by the union groups and builder trade groups. Studies by
government agencies, however, concluded that paying prevailing wage rates do not significantly
change the quality of construction on most projects.
In a survey of contractors, it was reported that requiring the payment of prevailing wage rates
could reduce the quantity of bidders on projects by about 20% percent. Most contractors that are
not paying prevailing wages, which make up about 50% of the contractors responding to the
survey, will bid prevailing wage contracts. In the majority of cases, the makeup of their
workforce does not change to accommodate prevailing wage requirements.
In its surveys of both contractors and other cities, staff found that implementing prevailing wage
rates in construction contracts may increase construction costs on City capital improvement
contracts by up to 10%. This increase would also affect projects involving private/public
partnerships.
The following sections present a summary of the studies related to prevailing wage reviewed by
staff and the results of surveys of other cities and contractors. The pending City of Vista case
related to the charter city exemption from prevailing wage is also discussed below.
Studies on the Effects of Prevailing Wage
A number of academic and government studies have examined the . costs and benefits of
prevailing wage. Generally, these studies fall into three different camps:
Pro-prevailing wages studies, issued by University-level academics, and construction
trade organizations.
Anti-prevailing wage studies, issued by University-level academics, and various policy
institutes.
Government studies, issued by the States of Ohio and Kentucky legislative commissions.
CMR:443:08 Page 3 of 8
Staff reviewed seventeen such studies, both pro-prevailing wage and anti-prevailing wage, and
studies prepared by government organizations. Summaries of these studies are included in the
attached memorandum dated February 15,2008 (Attachment C).
Studies by government organizations provide some of the most interesting insight into the issue
of prevailing wage. These studies should, in theory, have no agenda beyond uncovering what is
in the best interest of taxpayers. All of the studies examined indicated that prevailing wage laws
do not save money. Some studies did, however, equivocate about whether the benefits of
prevailing wage once other unquantifiable factors were taken into account .-may be higher
than the costs.
The two most-referenced government studies are both studies conducted by state legislative
research offices, in Kentucky and Ohio. In Ohio, its Legislative Service Commission issued a
study analyzing the effect of a 1997 bill that exempted school districts from being forced to
require prevailing wage. The study, which asked contractors for bids under and not under
prevailing wage conditions, found that repeal did save money -especially on smaller projects.
It asserts that the exemption yielded 1.2 percent in total cost savings in new construction, 10.7
percent savings on building alteration projects and 19.9 percent savings on building additions.
This conclusion seems to strongly support the notion that the smaller projects have greater
savings when prevailing wages are not required.
Furthermore, the study surveyed school districts to discover if they had noticed any decrease in
the quality of construction. Six percent of respondents said that they had noticed higher quality
construction since the exemption, 91 percent noted no change and 3 percent said quality had
decreased.
In one very unique case, the survey discovered that one school district had put a project out to
bid under prevailing wage conditions and then rebid the project without such requirements. The
winning bidder in the second case, without prevailing wage, was 5.8 percent lower, yielding a
cost savings of more than $500,000.
In Kentucky, the legislature also ordered its research arm to study the issue of prevailing wage.
The study made a notable number of findings, including learning that 60 percent of workers
surveyed were paid more on prevailing wage jobs than on market-rate jobs; the average increase
for prevailing wages was 24 percent over the workers' market rates. Among the 141-page
report's other findings were:
II 90.7 percent of non-union and 24.4 of union contractors said prevailing wage laws raise
construction costs.
II 55.4 percent of small firms (10 or fewer employees) said prevailing wage laws have a
negative effect on their business, compared to 73 percent of large firms.
II 95.7 percent of cities and 83.3 percent of municipal utilities that responded believe
prevailing wage laws increase construction costs, while, respectively, 7 and zero percent
believe laws increase quality.
II More cities believed prevailing wage legislation decreases -not increases -quality of
construction.
It is worth noting that the report did not call for the abolishment of prevailing wages in
Kentucky. The report did not take an opinion on the issue. Its main overall conclusion on the
effectiveness of the legislation, however, is as follows:
To the extent that quality is increased, prevailing wages are an inefficient method
to increase quality. The wage requirement results in contractors paying higher
wages with no guarantee that these additional wages will result in quality
improvements.
Aside from the Kentucky and Ohio reports, there are a number of smaller government reports on
the topic. The Federal Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and General Accounting Office
(GAO) have both issued reports on prevailing wage, with the GAO asserting that repealing the
Davis-Bacon Act would save $1.2 billion annually. The CBO study, written during the early
1980's, was likely the impetus that caused the Reagan Administration to change the definition of
prevailing wage to the wage earned by 50 as opposed to 30 -percent of local wage earners. It
found that repeal of Davis-Bacon would save $13 billion (2007 dollars) over five years and that
some 20 percent of open shop contractors have no interest in bidding on prevailing wage
contracts. It also recommended raising the threshold at which the prevailing law is triggered, as
the $2,000 trigger was set in 1931 and has never been increased.
The final government study of note is another state legislative study -Maryland in this case -
conducted in 1997. Maryland's Department of Fiscal Services, which issued the study, asserted
that repeal of the prevailing wage law then on Maryland's books would save the state between 5
and 15 percent on public works construction.
Survey of California Cities
To further examine the policies of other California municipalities regarding prevailing wage law,
staff surveyed dozens of other cities on the topic. The survey was sent out to all members of the
Association of Bay Area Governments, as well as to all Charter Cities that had email addresses
available. Forty-eight municipalities responded to the survey. Usually, the respondents were
public works officials, though a few city managers replied as well. A short summary of the
findings follows and the more detailed results are included in' Attachment C.
• 42 of 48 cities surveyed pay prevailing wage rates.
" 26 out of 32 Charter Cities pay prevailing wage rates.
It Based on the survey results, staff estimates that paying prevailing wages may increase
construction costs in the range of 5% to 10%.
• A large majority of the respondents believe that paying prevailing wages does not
increase quality of the work.
• Most believed that requiring prevailing wages decreases the number of bidders on
projects.
• Some cities have exceptions to paying prevailing wages for certain types of contracts.
The responding cities were also asked tq provide comments on the positive and negative effects
of paying prevailing wages. These are summarized below:
Positive Effects
•. Supportive of labor
• Evens the playing field
• Assures that workers are being treated and paid fairly
• Higher wages allow people to live closer to work
• More professional bidding pool
CMR:443:08 Page 5
o Higher-quality work
Negative Effects
<II Higher costs
i!I Fewer projects can be built
It Need for extra staffing and paperwork for compliance monitoring
(II Smaller pool of bidders
Survey of Contractors
The Staffs research on prevailing wage did provide a number of insights into the views of
construction contractors on the topic of prevailing wage legislation. In addition, staff conducted
a survey of contractors bidding work in Palo Alto to best judge the impact a change in Palo
Alto's prevailing wage policy would have on construction projects in Palo Alto.
A summary of the survey results follows:
• Approximately 50 % of the c;ontractors responding pay prevailing wages on all contracts.
.. Most contractors that do not typically pay prevailing wage rates will bid prevailing wage
contracts.
(t 70% of the contractors not paying prevailing wage rates use the same labor force when
bidding prevailing wage contracts.
It The average of the estimated increase to construction costs associated with paying
prevailing wage rates was approximately 8% according to the contractors responding to
the survey.
City of Vista Court Case
As discussed previously, the Charter City of Vista is currently defending its decision not
to pay prevailing wages in a lawsuit brought by the State, Building and Construction Trades
Council. The outcome of this case will be very important, as it could determine whether charter
cities can continue to exercise their ability to locally determine whether to pay prevailing wages
on local projects. Some background on the case is illustrative.
In June 2007, Vista became a Charter City. Before the election, the City prepared a fact
sheet discussing common questions regarding the Charter City proposition, including questions
and answers regarding the potential tax savings on local public works projects should the City
chose to forego prevailing wages on municipal projects. 67% of Vista voters approved the
decision to become a Charter City. Vista plans on completing about $100 million in public
improvements in the near future; projects which would traditionally be considered within the.
realm of "municipal affairs" and paid from local revenues.
The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, a labor union,
challenged Vista's assertion that it was exempt from prevailing wage law, arguing that the
prevailing wage statute is of statewide concern. Although the trial court reluctantly found in
favor of Vista, in issuing his ruling, the Superior Court judge stated that were he not bound by a
preceding case, Vial v. City of San Diego, he would have been inclined to grant the union's
petition. The Vial decision stated that prevailing wage law does not apply to public works
projects of a chartered city, "as long as the projects in question are within the realm of
'municipal affairs.'"
CMR:443:08 Page 6
The judge in Vista, however, contended that instead of focusing on the project, a more
appropriate analysis would involve whether the prevailing wage statute is a matter of statewide
concern. Had the court not been obligated to follow Vial, the court acknowledged that it would
have found that the prevailing wage law is a matter of statewide concern and that Vista was
therefore bound to follow the law in relation to its pending public works projects.
The petitioner's appeal is currently pending before the California COUli of Appeal and
oral argument was heard on Friday, November 14,2008. A decision is expected in the next two
months. Should the court frame the question as suggested by the superior court, and ask whether
the prevailing wage statute is a "statewide concern," it is possible that the Court will answer that
question affirmatively, thereby overruling or limiting the Vial decision. The California
Legislature has previously declared that the prevailing wage statute addresses two important
statewide concerns: (1) it prevents public projects from driving down area labor standards and
(2) it ensures training opportunities for apprentice construction workers. Even if Vista wins on
appeal, observers expect this case will eventually be appealed to the California Supreme Court.
A California Supreme Court decision would not be expected on this case for at least another
year. The City Attorney's Office will keep Council informed on the status of this case.
RESOURCEIMPAC1'
The Adopted 2009 Capital Budget includes about $11.5 million in General Fund projects and
about $28 million in Enterprise Fund projects that are not now or will not require prevailing
wage in their construction contracts. The Enterprise Fund projects include those under the
electric, water, gas, wastewater collection, storm drainage and refuse fund programs. Projects
constructed by the Wastewater Treatment Fund already require prevailing wage as discussed
above and would not be impacted by a change in Council policy. If staff research proves correct,
the costs of the 2009 General Fund projects could increase by as much as $1 million and the
2009 Enterprise Fund projects could increase by as much as $2.8 million if Council were to
adopt a policy requiring prevailing wage rates be paid on all capital construction projects
contracted by the City. It also should be noted that any private/public partnership agreements
entered into by the City for capital construction would also require payment of prevailing wage
rates on these construction projects (e.g. Art Center, Lytton Plaza, Junior Museum and Zoo).
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The recommendation does not change existing policy. If Council were to change policy and
require prevailing wage be paid on all City capital construction projects, Council would need to
adopt an ordinance codifying such a requirement.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Policy and Services Committee review of the prevailing wage policy issues presented in this
report does not represent a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA),
pursuant to Section 21065 of the Public Resources Code.
CMR:443:08 Page 7 of8
ATTACHMENTS
Attaclunent A: City of Palo Alto Resolution 5981
Attaclunent B: Minutes of September ·17, 2007 City Council meeting
Attaclunent C: Prevailing Wage Rate Issues Memorandum of February 15,2008
PREPARED BY:
DEPARTMENT HEADS:
CITY MANAGER APPROV AL:
CMR:443:08
Assistant Utilities Director
hL~,'
GLENN ROBERTS
Director of Public Works
Page 8 of8
ATTACHMENT C
POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
Regular Meeting
December 9, 2008
Chairperson Kishimoto called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. in the Council
Conference Room, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.
Present: Barton, Drekmeier, Kishimoto (chair), Espinosa
Absent: None
1. Oral Communications
None.
2. Review and Request for Recommendation on Prevailing Wage Issues
Related to City Capital Construction Projects
Assistant Public Works Director, Mike Sartor presented a staff research report
related to the prevailing wage issue and City Capital projects. He stated
prevailing wages pertain to Public Works contracts which include Utilities,
Capital Improvement Projects and Public Works General Fund and Enterprise
Fund Projects. He explained that as Palo Alto was a Charter City, it was not
required to pay prevailing wage unless the project involved Federal or State
Grant funding, Gas Tax Funds or other non-local funding sources.
Council Member Barton asked whether the potential' for cost increase was at the
bid process or the total at the end of a project. He stated there were bid
numbers and the true cost of a project. He stated he would not be supporting
the recommendation.
Mr. Sartor stated the study was based on the review of completed projects.
12/09/2008 P&S 1
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether the income levels of prevailing wage were
that of a medium income versus average income.
Mr. Sartor stated the State determined the prevailing wage based on individual
labor categories. For example carpenters in Santa Clara County, the State takes
a look at wages for carpenters throughout tl1e entire County then take fifty
percent of the highest wages being paid and establish that as the prevailing
wage.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier clarified the breakdown of wages was by county.
Mr. Sartor stated yes, by the Department of Industrial Relations.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether Palo Alto currently had policy on union
wages.
Mr. Sartor stated no.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether there was a forum to view municipality
rating systems for contractors.
Mr. Sartor stated the purpose of the survey was to verify any quality impact.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked how to determine whether a contractor had poor
quality of work.
Mr. Sartor stated reference checks and checking with other municipalities. The
bid process require statements of qualifications and experience of similar types
of projects.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked the impact of the economy on the timeline for
moving forward with the prevailing wage.
Mr. Sartor stated direct impact of quality in work were protected by
performance specifications and plans prepared. He stated when a contractors'
performance was not adequate the contract could be terminated or the
contractor could be given the opportunity to correct any performance issues.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked how frequently the prevailing wage was
reca Icu lated.
Mr. Sartor stated he had no actual data however, he anticipated an annual
review would be probable.
12/09/2008 P&S2
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether there was data on prevailing wage
contractor's not bidding in Palo Alto because of the possibility of low-balling by
non-prevailing wage entities.
Mr. Sartor stated in 11is research the non-prevailing wage contracts attracted
more bidders than prevailing wage contracts.
Council Member Espinosa asked how employees being treated or paid fairly was
factored in to the calculations of whether to recommend prevailing wage or not
to.
Mr. Sartor stated staff's primary consideration was fiscal. He stated an expected
increase in cost of up to ten percent would occur during smaller and or
maintenance type projects. Research revealed on major projects the contractor
usually paid prevailing wage already.
Mr. Keene stated if the adoption of prevailing wages did increase costs the
question to Council would be what the consequence would be in absorbing the
costs.
Council Member Espinosa stated his agreement. The City as a whole needed to
weigh the two challenges between increase in cost toa project versus ensuring
fairness and fair payment for employees working on projects.
lV1r. Keene stated the basis of the decision being requested was not quality
against cost but an overall combination of reaching a higher level of them
together.
Council Member Barton asked for a comparison of both prevailing wage and
non-prevailing wage bidders against projects in Palo Alto for 2007 and 2008.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the increase in cost of going with prevailing
wage was transferred to the worker or administrative fees.
Mr. Sartor stated the study being viewed was a study compiled by the State of
Kentucky of contractors in their region.
Chair Kishimoto stated it appeared the higher cost of the project went to more
administrative fees which was against the object of going forward with
prevailing wage. She stated her process was for the higher cost to translate to
better wages for the worker.
12/09/2008 P&S3
Mr. Sartor stated the administrative costs were incurred by the owner.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the employees' benefits and healthcare were
included in the cost.
Mr. Sartor stated no. He stated the benefits and healthcare costs were included
in the rates. For example a thirty dollar per hour job would cost forty-five
dollars.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the rates changed by skill level or category.
Mr. Sartor stated the rates tended to be geared towards the level of skill for the
person in a particular category.
Chair Kishimoto asked how flexible the categories were as in filling-in. If person
A from category one was outcould person A from category two fill-in or was it
job specific.
Mr. Sartor stated his understanding was there was no cross trading without
experience.
Council Member Espinosa asked how quality and safety played a role together.
Mr. Sartor stated there were standard quality controls and safety measures in
place and monitored by the contractor in charge of the project. The inspector's
checks ensure appropriate operators for the specific duties on each project.
Nicole Goehering, 4577 Las Rositas Rd, Unit C, Livermore, spoke of flexibility
under prevailing wage work. She stated within Palo Alto the flexibility of metal
roofing could be covered by sheet metal workers or roofers and underground
utility work could be covered by utilities or laborers.
Kevin Dayton, 4577 Las Rositas Rd, Unit C, Livermore, spoke of the increase in
cost not necessarily coming from the prevailing wage but the specifics of how
prevailing wage was determined by the state.
Neil Struthers, 2102 Almaden Road, San Jose, spoke of how qualification
implied quality. He stated the more experienced worker would turn out a better
and quicker product than one of less skill. The hourly wage does not determine
the quality. He noted statistical data on percentages of prevailing wage versus
non-prevailing wage bids in Palo Alto.
12/0912008 P&S4
Peter Philips, Economics Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, stated
the staff report data was built on impressions from first principles rather than
natural experiments or empirical observations. He stated there was' no
statistically significant difference in the number of bidders 011 Palo Alto jobs·
compared to the four surrounding cities. In the sample examined, there were
140 projects, 19 of which were in Palo Alto with 450 bidders. He continued to
spea k of the study he provided.
Council Member Barton stated one of the supporting factors for the prevailing
wage rule was the majority of the workers had come up though some sort of
union training program. The people would be well trained in their trade, have
quality standards and efficient. He stated Council had an obligation to be
morally efficient in the expenditure of public dollars.
MOTION: Council Member Barton moved, seconded by Council Member
Espinosa, that the Committee make a recommendation to the Council to impose
a prevailing wage requirement for all City Capital Projects.
Mr. Keen asked for clarification as to the relativity to City Capital Construction
Projects.
Council Member Barton stated yes.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the Motion covered all capital projects.
Council Member Barton stated in the beginning to incorporate them all and at a
later date discussions could be brought forward as to the necessity of each
project.
Council Member Espinosa stated the treatment of workers in any function or
capacity as workers for the City needed to be treated with fairness and
payment equality.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier stated the Water Treatment Plant project brought about
concern whether the City needed to provide prevailing wage or not. The lowest
bidder chosen was paying prevailing wage. He noted the importance of fairness
in treatment of employees' payment and benefits.
AMENDMENT: Chair Kishimoto moved, seconded by Council Member XXX to
incorporate parameters of exclusion for maintenance and smaller projects, and
to add a financial threshold where prevailing wage would not apply to a project
below $XXX.
12/09/2008 P&S5
Amendment failed for lack of second.
Mr. Sartor stated staff was prepared to return with exclusionary criteria for
maintenance projects from the prevailing wage requirements.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the matter should be moved forward without
adequate information or revisited at a later date.
l"1r. Keene stated the language could incorporate the exclusion of routine
maintenance contracts. He noted a more specific concern would be
public/private partnerships.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the exclusion of public/private partnerships
would cause any legal matters.
Deputy City Attorney, Amy Bartell stated the current statute reads if a project
was receiving public funds in whole or part it was subject to prevailing wage law
in General Law Cities. She noted currently, Palo Alto remained in the Charter
City category, pending the outcome of the City of Vista's court case.
Chair Kishimoto clarified General Law Cities were required to pay prevailing
wage when entering into a public/private partnership.
Ms. Bartell stated yes. She clarified the requirement for a Charter City to pay
prevailing wage included the receipt of public funds in any amount.
Mr. Keene stated not to overlook the possibility of a group or non-profit
organization offering to accomplish a capital project that the city may nor have
planned to move forward with and they request a contribution or matching
funds. The question would be how prevailing wage would affect that situation.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether there was a recommendation ready for
Councilor if the matter would go before Council with further information 'from
staff.
Chair Kishimoto stated staff would return to Policy and Services for further
review prior to going to Council.
Council Member Espinosa stated he would prefer staff return to Policy and
Services with information detailed to the concerns coming from this meeting.
He noted a set timeline should be outlined to avoid prolonging unresolved
matters.
12/0912008 P&S6
Council Member Barton noted the current committee panel would not meet
again.
IVlr. Keene stated with there being a general consensus on the concept of
prevailing wage in regards to capital projects, he suggested the Committee
recommend the full Council review what had been accomplished with the
understanding of staff's return in early February with suggestions for further
resolutions to minor, maintenance, and public/private partnership projects.
Chair Kishimoto asked to have a definition of resource impacts between small
and large projects.
IVlr. Sartor stated other Charter Cities have excluded smaller projects such as
roofing and painting contracts. He noted the report currently includes all
projects as part of the $11.5 million from the Capital General Fund projects.
Chair Kishimoto asked how the $28 million dollars was divided for projects.
IVlr. Sartor stated he was unfamiliar with the number of routine maintenance
contracts Utilities had, however the majority of contracts consisted of Capital
Improvement Projects which had prevailing wage impacts.
Chair Kishimoto clarified that most of the City contract work was on a larger
scale and therefore the contractor's paid prevailing wage.
IVlr. Sartor stated yes. For example, Anderson Pacific was a large non-union
underground construction contractor who pay prevailing wage. The
recommended exemptions from prevailing wage requirement would be
maintenance projects and public/private partnership such as Lytton Plaza and
the Art Center.
Chair Kishimoto stated her concern regarding the flexibility and calculation in
the process of prevailing wage.
Council Member Barton suggested forwarding the recommendation as it was
with a parallel recommendation that the Committee was unsure about the
thresholds and that staff would return to Council with recommendations.
Mr. Sartor mentioned living wage and prevailing wage were completely separate
topics. He stated he understood the Committees' concern for tl1e wellbeing of
workers, however a living wage was a local jurisdiction and a prevailing wage
requirement was a state mandate.
12/09/2008 P&S7
Chair Kishimoto suggested requesting the new Mayor extend the current
Committee panel for a one month term therefore allowing staff time to gather
the detailed information needed to complete a recommendation for Council.
Mr. Keene stated he concurred and stated staff would be prepared to return
with adequate information.
INCORPORATED INTO THE MOTION WITH THE CONSENT OF THE MAKER
AND SECONDER, to request the Mayor allow the current Committee panel to
meet an additional time in January to finalize a recommendation to the City
Council.
Council Member Barton withdrew the Motion.
The Committee recommended that the Mayor direct staff to return to the
current Committee panel in late January of 2009 with threshold discussions so
the current Committee could return a recommendation to Council on prevailing
wage requirement.
3. Discussion for Future Meeting Schedules and Agendas-Last meeting-
another in January
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.
12/09/2008 P&S8
TO: CITY COUNCIL
ATTACHMENT D
City of Palo Alto
City Manager's Report
ATTN: AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON PREVAILING WAGE
FROM: CITY MANAGER
DATE: MARCH 10,2009
REPORT TYPE: RECOMMENDATlON
DEPARTMENTS: PUBLIC WORKS
UTILITIES
CMR:150:09
SUBJECT: Review and Recommendation on Proposed Prevailing Wage Policy for
City Capital Construction Projects
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council Ad-Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage recommend that the
City Council adopt a Resolution Requiring the Payment of Prevailing Wage on City Capital
Improvement Project Construction Contracts with exemptions for maintenance projects under
$250,000 as defined under Section 220002 of the California Public Contract Code, projects
involving public-private partnerships, projects where the work is performed either entirely or
partially by volunteers, and low and moderate income housing projects.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report responds to the December 9, 2008 discussion by the Council Policy and Services
Committee on prevailing wage issues related to City capital construction contracts. Attachment
B contains minutes of that meeting. At the December 9 meeting, the then Policy and Services
Committee indicated a strong interest in requiring prevailing wage on City capital construction
contracts and directed staff to come back with additional information on possible exemptions to
the proposed Council policy. Discussed in this report are staff recommended exemptions for
maintenance, public/private partnership, volunteer and low and moderate income housing
projects.
BACKGROUND
As a charter city, Palo Alto is not required to pay prevailing wages on "public works" projects,
so long as the projects are within the realm of "municipal affairs", funded entirely by local funds,
and no other statutory exceptions apply. This "home rule" principle allows decisions on
expenditure oflocal funds to be made by locally elected officials. In 1981, Palo Alto passed a
resolution to pay prevailing wage "only when required by federal or state grants and on other
jobs considered to be of statewide concern." (See Attachment A Resolution 5981).
Recently, charter cities' authority to opt out of prevailing wage law has been subject to
challenge. The charter city of Vista, California is currently defending its decision not to pay
Page 1 6
prevailing wages in a lawsuit brought by the State Building and Construction Trades Council.
Further, on February 20, 2008, the Governor signed SB 9EX, noting the ongoing litigation in
Vista and narrowing potential prevailing wage obligations for charter cities involving work on
water, sewer, or storm drain systems that have previously been extended to disadvantaged
communities.
Amid the recent debate over charter cities' prevailing wage requirements, on December 9, 2008
staff presented to the Council Policy and Services Committee a recommendation that Council not
change current prevailing wage policy, allowing City capital construction ("public works")
projects to be bid without prevailing wage requirements unless prevailing wage is required for
the project pursuant to state or federal law, due to potential cost impacts to the City's General
and Enterprise Fund Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs) (CMR 443:08, Attachment B). The
Committee carefully reviewed this recommendation and decided it was in the best interest of the
City to recommend to the full Council that a resolution be adopted requiring prevailing wage on
all City capital construction contracts. They also instructed staff to recommend types of
construction contracts that could be considered for exemption from a prevailing wage
requirement.
DISCUSSION
Following the December 9, 2009 meeting, staff reviewed four areas that the Council Ad-Hoc
Committee on Prevailing Wage could consider for exemptions to the prevailing wage
requirement it may recommend to the full Council. The possible exemptions reviewed were:
1. Maintenance projects under $250,000 as defined by Section 22002 of the California
Public Contract Code
2. Projects using pUblic-private partnership funding
3. Projects that construct/rehabilitate affordable housing for people with low or moderate
incomes
4. Projects where the work is performed either entirely or partially by volunteers
In staff's research on the prevailing wage issue, 48 general law and charter cities responded to a
survey examining the policies of other California municipalities regarding prevailing wage law.
Of the 48 survey respondents, 25 were charter cities that have a prevailing wage policy in place.
As noted, charter cities have a policy choice of paying prevailing wage or not on "public works"
construction contracts, so long as the projects are municipal affairs and no federal or state funds
are involved. Half of the 25 charter cities responding, that already pay prevailing wage, have
prevailing wage exemptions for maintenance projects. This exemption is applied to smaller
projects where prevailing wage requirements may discourage many contractors from bidding due
to restrictions on the ability of contractors to move workers from one trade to another or simply
due to the additional administrative costs of producing Certified Payrolls as required by
prevailing wage law.
Exemption for Maintenance Projects
Although as a charter city, Palo Alto is free to craft its own definition of "maintenance" in a
proposed prevailing wage exemption policy, referring to a definition already present III
CMR: 150:09 Page 2
California law is a helpful starting point. Section 22002 of the California Public Contract Code
defines maintenance as shown:
• Routine, recurring work for the preservation or protection of any publicly owned or
publicly operated facility
• Minor repainting
• Resurfacing of streets at less than 1 inch
• Landscape maintenance including mowing, watering, trimming, pruning, planting,
replacement of plants, and servicing of irrigation and sprinkler systems
• Work performed to keep, operate, and maintain publicly owned water, power, or waste
disposal systems
Since the City's Street Maintenance program receives funding from State Gas Tax and other
State and Federal grant funding, prevailing wage is already required on these projects, and the
proposed maintenance exemption category of resurfacing streets at less than 1 inch would not
apply. For the other maintenance categories defined above, staff recommends that any projects
in these categories that fall under the City's Purchasing Ordinance threshold of $250,000 (the
City Manager has the authority to award "Public Works" construction contracts under $250,000
without Council approval, pursuant to Section 2.30.21O(a) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code) be
exempt from any Council adopted prevailing wage policy. This will ensure the City of having the
broadest pool of bidders on these routine maintenance projects, keeping bids competitive and
likely reducing costs for these critical building, parks, and utility system maintenance activities.
Staff has received suggestions that a lower threshold should be considered. The Committee may
wish to discuss that.
Exemption for Public-Private Partnerships
Staff also recommends that Council consider an exemption for City projects that are funded
through public-private partnerships. The purpose of offering this exemption is to maximize the
use of private funding in joint projects with the City. Because many public-private partnership
projects are administered by the private entity in the partnership, exempting prevailing wage
requirements from these contracts could make participating in such projects more attractive to
private funders by reducing restrictions on potential contractors and reducing administrative
work for the private entity.
Some background on public-private partnerships is helpful, as there are several types. A public-
private partnership is an agreement between the City and a nonprofit or private organization to
provide services or to assist in funding of public facilities and programs. Public-private
partnerships typically fall into one of three categories: co-sponsorship, alliances or joint ventures.
CMR:
Co-Sponsorships: In this common type of public-private partnership, an organization
furthers the mission of the City by supporting a City activity or program in conjunction
with pursuit of that organization's own mission or program. Some examples include the
Page 3 of6
Palo Alto Tennis Club use of City courts to provide a youth tennis program and
American Youth Soccer Organization's use of space in a City facility to train referees.
Co-sponsorships are entered into by staff and normally have no or minimal financial
impact.
• Alliances: This type of public/private partnership involves organizations that have been
created for the sole purpose of supporting a City program(s). The organization does not
expect to receive any direct financial benefit or to alter City policy and/or operations, but
undertakes to· work cooperatively with staff to implement City goals. Alliance
organizations include the Recreation Foundation, the Art Center Foundation (Project
Look or Cultural Kaleidoscope), the Library Foundation and the Friends of the Palo Alto
Library (financial assistance with the renovation and expansion of the Children's
Library). Alliances are approved by the Council if there are any staffing or budgetary
implications to the partnership.
• Joint Ventures: This type of public-private partnership involves organizations which have
programs or missions independent of the City and involve the City entering into a
contractual relationship with the public or nonprofit organization with both parties
contributing to the partnership for their mutual benefit. Each joint venture is uniquely
negotiated by the staff and approved by the City Council. Examples of Joint Ventures
include TheatreWorks, Palo Alto Players and West Bay Opera's use of the Community
Theatre and use of the former police station by older adult service provider, Avenidas.
The applicability of an exclusion to the requirement to pay prevailing wages on contracts which
arise out of a public-private partnership will depend on the details and goals each project, the
financial requirements, assets, and capabilities each the party brings to the partnership and how
each contract is structured.
Because the characteristics of each partnership will be unique, the proposed decision to exempt
pUblic-private partnerships from prevailing wage requirements may not be suitable for every
project. For example, if Palo Alto, as a charter city, is involved in a public works project which
would not normally require the payment of prevailing wages, and the City becomes involved in a
public-private partnership, the partnership could trigger prevailing wage requirements if the
funding sources are unclear or the partnership causes the project to become more regional in
nature.
Without fully knowing the details of a future relationship between partners, it will be difficult to
draft exclusionary prevailing wage language broad enough to cover all potential partnership
scenarios, and narrow enough to meet the key statutory elements of whether the contract is "paid
for in whole or in part out of public funds", and whether the project is a "municipal affair." The
application of these legal requirements to the unique facts in each case will be needed to
determine if the City'S Prevailing Wage Policy exclusions will apply.
Thus, it would be wise to avoid trying to establish a single all encompassing exclusion on this
point. Instead, staff recommends that the City'S proposed prevailing wage policy simply state
that the City'S intention is that prevailing wage law will not apply to public-private partnerships.
However, the applicability of the prevailing wage requirement to any public-private partnership
Page 4
project will be individually evaluated in light of the facts and the applicable legal requirements in
place at the time the partnership is established.
Of course, construction contracts administered by a private entity in any City approved public-
private partnership agreement would still need to comply with City public contract codes
including required bidding procedures, contractor bonding and insur,ance requirements.
Exemption for Work Performed by Volunteers
Although the California Labor Code Section 1720.4 already exempts the payment of prevailing
wages for work performed by volunteers, staff recommends that the City formally codify this
exemption in its own prevailing wage policy. Recent changes to Labor Code Section 1720.4
(AB 2537 -signed by the Governor in September 2008 and effective January 1, 2009) extended
the prevailing wage exemption for volunteers, volunteer coordinators, and conservation corps
members who work on public works contracts from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2012. In
short, the City need not pay prevailing wages for work performed by a volunteer, defined as "an
individual who performs work for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons for a public agency
or corporation qualified under Section 501(3)(c) of the Internal Revenue Code as a tax-exempt
organization, without promise, expectation, or receipt of any compensation for work performed."
This exemption applies only to volunteers as defined in the statute. It does not apply to wages
paid to any paid worker who may also be working along with volunteers on a public works
contract which requires the payment of prevailing wages by a charter city. In cases where the
work under a public works contract is performed by both volunteers and paid workers, the
prevailing wage exemption applies only to the volunteers and to any paid· volunteer
coordinator(s). The exemption does not apply to the paid workers on that same contract.
Exemption for Construction and Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing
Lastly, although the California Labor code already exempts some affordable housing
construction from prevailing wage requirements, staff recommends that Council consider
formally including an exemption for such construction in the proposed prevailing wage policy.
The State Labor Law on prevailing wage already exempts construction and rehabilitation of
affordable housing for low and moderate income residents provided that the projects:
• are paid for solely with money from a "Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund"
established pursuant to the Health and Safety Code, or
• are paid for by a combination of private funds and funds available from taxation of
redevelopment projects.
In addition, low-income housing projects that are allocated Federal or State low-income housing
tax credits pursuant to the I.R.S Code are not subject to prevailing wage law.
RESOURCE IMPACT
The Adopted 2009 Capital Budget includes about $11.5 million in General Fund projects and
about $28 million in Enterprise Fund projects that are not now or will not require prevailing
wage in their construction contracts. The Enterprise Fund projects include those under the
electric, water, gas, wastewater collection, storm drainage and refuse fund programs. Since the
City already pays prevailing wage on projects constructed by the Wastewater Treatment Fund
these would not be impacted by a change in Council policy.
CMR:150:09 Page 5 of6
Staff estimates that the costs of the 2009 General Fund projects could increase by as much as $1
million and the 2009 Enterprise Fund projects could increase by as much as $2.8 million. These
additional expenditures would be funded by reserves or by reducing the scope of the projects
under consideration and will be presented to Council in the capital budget approval process. The
upcoming Library Bond and Emergency Water Supply projects may see some cost impacts due
to prevailing wage requirements but staff does not believe they would be significant since
contractors bidding large complex projects such as these typically pay prevailing wage anyway.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
To require prevailing wage to be paid on City capital construction projects Council would need
to adopt a resolution rescinding resolution 5981 and codifying the new prevailing wage policy
and any exemptions Council chooses to include.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The Council Ad-Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage review of the prevailing wage policy issues
presented in this report does not represent a project under the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA), pursuant to Section 21065 of the Public Resources Code, thus, no environmental
review is required.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Resolution 5981 Establishing Policy Regarding Prevailing Wage for Public
Projects
Attachment B: Minutes of December 9, 2009 Policy and Services Committee meeting
Attachment C: CMR: 443 :08
PREPARED BY:
DEPARTMENT HEADS:
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
CMR:150:09
MIK
Assistant Public Works Director
Assistant Utilities Director
f ~f.LERIE O. ONG
\ .yirector of Utilities
Page 6 of6
Attachment A OlPdG~NA!L
RESOLUTION NO. 5981
RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO
ESTABLISH.ING POLICY REGARDING PREVAILING WAGES FOR
PUBLIC PROJECTS
WHEREAS, in the recent case of Vial v. City of San Die9o(175
Cal. Rtpr. 647, July. 1981). the California Court of Appeal determined
that the subject of Q~revailing wages» is a municipal affair and that
Charter: cities are not subject to the prevailing wage requirements for:
public works ;projects set forth in the California Labor Code: and
WHEREAS. it is in the City's best interest to obtain the lowest
responsible bid for public projectsl
NOW. THEREFORE. the Council of the City of Palo Alto does RESOLVE
as follOWS:
SECTION 1. It is approp't'iate to use the Davis-Bacon Act or State
Department or Industrial Relations Wage Determinations only when re-
quired by federal or state grants and on other jobs considered to be of
statewide concern.
SECTION 2. The Council finds that this is not a project under the
California Environmental Quality Act and, therefore. no environmental
impact assessment is necessary.
INTRODOCED AND PASSED; December 14, 1981
AxES: Bechtel. Eyerly, Fletcher, Henderson, Klein, Levy, Renzel.
Witherspoon
NOES: None
ABSTENTIONS: None
ABSENT: Fazzino
APPROVED A~TO FORM:
~h·?6ex Cl. ty Attorney
APPROVED:
~-~
Attachment B
POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
Regular Meeting
December 9, 2008
Chairperson Kishimoto called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. in the Council
Conference Room, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.
Present: Barton, Drekmeier, Kishimoto (chair), Espinosa
Absent: None
1. Oral Communications
None.
2. Review and Request for Recommendation on Prevailing Wage Issues
Related to City Capital Construction Projects
Assistant Public Works Director, Mike Sartor presented a staff research report
related to the prevailing wage issue and City Capital projects. He stated
prevailing wages pertain to Public Works contracts which include Utilities,
Capital Improvement Projects and Public Works General Fund and Enterprise
Fund Projects. He explained that as Palo Alto was a Charter City, it was not
required to pay prevailing wage unless the project involved Federal or State
Grant funding, Gas Tax Funds or other non-local funding sources.
Council Member Barton asked whether the potential for cost increase was at the
bid process or the total at the end of a project. He stated there were bid
numbers and the true cost of a project. He stated he would not be supporting
the recommendation.
Mr. Sartor stated the study was based on the review of completed projects.
12/09/2008 P&Sl
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether the income levels of prevailing wage were
that of a medium income versus average income.
Mr. Sartor stated the State determined the prevailing wage based on individual
labor categories. For example carpenters in Santa Clara County, the State takes
a look at wages for carpenters throughout the entire County then take fifty
percent of the highest wages being paid and establish that as the prevailing
wage.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier clarified the breakdown of wages was by county.
Mr. Sartor stated yes, by the Department of Industrial Relations.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether Palo Alto currently had policy on union
wages.
Mr. Sartor stated no.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether there was a forum to view municipality
rating systems for contractors.
Mr. Sartor stated the purpose of the survey was to verify any quality impact.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked how to determine whether a contractor had poor
quality of work.
Mr. Sartor stated reference checks and checking with other municipalities. The
bid process require statements of qualifications and experience of Similar types
of projects.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked the impact of the economy on the timeline for
moving forward with the prevailing wage.
Mr. Sartor stated direct impact of quality in work were protected by
performance specifications and plans prepared. He stated when a contractors'
performance was not adequate the contract could be terminated or the
contractor could be given the opportunity to correct any performance issues.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked how frequently the prevailing wage was
recalculated.
l"1r. Sartor stated he had no actual data however, he anticipated an annual
review would be probable.
12/09/2008 P&S2
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether there was data on prevailing wage
contractor's not bidding in Palo Alto because of the possibility of low-balling by
non-prevailing wage entities.
IVlr. Sartor stated in his research the non-prevailing wage contracts attracted
more bidders than prevailing wage contracts.
Council Member Espinosa asked how employees being treated or paid fairly was
factored in to the calculations of whether to recommend prevailing wage or not
to.
Mr. Sartor stated staff's primary consideration was fiscal. He stated an expected
increase in cost of up to ten percent would occur during smaller and or
maintenance type projects. Research revealed on major projects the contractor
usually paid prevailing wage already.
Mr. Keene stated if the adoption of prevailing wages did increase costs the
question to Council would be what the consequence would be in absorbing the
costs.
Council Member Espinosa stated his agreement. The City as a whole needed to
weigh the two challenges between increase in cost to a project versus ensuring
fairness and fair payment for employees working on projects.
Mr. Keene stated the basis of the decision being requested was not quality
against cost but an overall combination of reaching a higher level of them
together.
Council Member Barton asked for a comparison of both prevailing wage and
non-prevailing wage bidders against projects in Palo Alto for 2007 and 2008.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the increase in cost of going with prevailing
wage was transferred to the worker or administrative fees.
Mr. Sartor stated the study being viewed was a study compiled by the State of
Kentucky of contractors in their region.
Chair Kishimoto stated it appeared the higher cost of the project went to more
administrative fees which was against the object of going forward with
prevailing wage. She stated her process was for the higher cost to translate to
better wages for the worker.
12/0912008 P&S3
Mr. Sartor stated the administrative costs were incurred by the owner.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the employees' benefits and healthcare were
included in the cost.
Mr. Sartor stated no. He stated the benefits and healthcare costs were included
in the rates. For example a thirty dollar per hour job would cost forty-five
dollars.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the rates changed by skill level or category.
Mr. Sartor stated the rates tended to be geared towards the level of skill for the
person in a particular category.
Chair Kishimoto asked how flexible the categories were as in filling-in. If person
A from category one was out could person A from category two fill-in or was it
job specific.
Mr. Sartor stated his understanding was there was no cross trading without
experience.
Council Member Espinosa asked how quality and safety played a role together.
Mr. Sartor stated there were standard quality controls and safety measures in
place and monitored by the contractor in charge of the project. The inspector's
checks ensure appropriate operators for the specific duties on each project.
Nicole Goehering l 4577 Las Rositas Rdl Unit C, Livermore, spoke of flexibility
under prevailing wage work. She stated within Palo Alto the flexibility of metal
roofing could be covered by sheet metal workers or roofers and underground
utility work could be covered by utilities or laborers.
Kevin Day toni 4577 Las Rositas Rd l Unit C, Livermore, spoke of the increase in
cost not necessarily coming from the prevailing wage but the specifics of how
prevailing wage was determined by the state.
Neil Struthers, 2102 Almaden Road, San Jose, spoke of how qualification
implied quality. He stated the more experienced worker would turn out a better
and quicker product than one of less skill. The hourly wage does not determine
the quality. He noted statistical data on percentages of prevailing wage versus
non-prevailing wage bids in Palo Alto.
12/09/2008 P&S4
Peter Philips, Economies Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, stated
the staff report data was built on impressions from first principles rather than
natural experiments or empirical observations. He stated there was no
statistically significant difference in the number of bidders on Palo Alto jobs
compared to the four surrounding cities. In the sample examined, there were
140 projects, 19 of which were in Palo Alto with 450 bidders. He continued to
speak of the study he provided.
Council Member Barton stated one of the supporting factors for the prevailing
wage rule was the majority of the workers had come up though some sort of
union training program. The people would be well trained in their trade, have
quality standards and efficient. He stated Council had an obligation to be
morally efficient in the expenditure of public dollars.
MOTION: Council Member Barton moved, seconded by Council Member
Espinosa, that the Committee make a recommendation to the Council to impose
a prevailing wage requirement for all City Capital Projects.
Mr. Keen asked for clarification as to the relativity to City Capital Construction
Projects.
Council Member Barton stated yes.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the Motion covered all capital projects.
Council Member Barton stated in the beginning to incorporate them all and at a
later date discussions could be brought forward as to the necessity of each
project.
Council Member Espinosa stated the treatment of workers in any function or
capacity as workers for the City needed to be treated with fairness and
payment equality.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier stated the Water Treatment Plant project brought about
concern whether the City needed to provide prevailing wage or not. The lowest
bidder chosen was paying prevailing wage. He noted the importance of fairness
in treatment of employees' payment and benefits.
AMENDMENT: Chair Kishimoto moved, seconded by Council Member XXX to
incorporate parameters of exclusion for maintenance and smaller projects, and
to add a financial threshold where prevailing wage would not apply to a project
below $XXX.
12/0912008 P&S5
Amendment failed for lack of second.
Mr. Sartor stated staff was prepared to return with exclusionary criteria for
maintenance projects from the prevailing wage requirements.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the matter should be moved forward without
adequate information or revisited at a later date.
Mr. Keene stated the language could incorporate the exclusion of routine
maintenance contracts. He noted a more specific concern would be
public/private partnerships.
Chair Kishimoto asked whether the exclusion of public/private partnerships
would cause any legal matters.
Deputy City Attorney, Amy Bartell stated the current statute reads if a project
was receiving public funds in whole or part it was subject to prevailing wage law
in General Law Cities. She noted currently, Palo Alto remained in the Charter
City category, pending the outcome of the City of Vista's court case.
Chair Kishimoto clarified General Law Cities were required to pay prevailing
wage when entering into a public/private partnership.
Ms. Bartell stated yes. She clarified the requirement for a Charter City to pay
prevailing wage included the receipt of public funds in any amount.
Mr. Keene stated not to overlook the possibility of a group or non-profit
organization offering to accomplish a capital project that the city may nor have
planned to move forward with and they request a contribution or matching
funds. The question would be how prevailing wage would affect that situation.
Vice Mayor Drekmeier asked whether there was a recommendation ready for
Councilor if the matter would go before Council with further information from
staff.
Chair Kishimoto stated staff would return to Policy and Services for further
review prior to going to Council.
Council Member Espinosa stated he would prefer staff return to Policy and
Services with information detailed to the concerns coming from this meeting.
He noted a set timeline should be outlined to avoid prolonging unresolved
matters.
12/09/2008 P&S6
Council Member Barton noted the current committee panel would not meet
again.
Mr. Keene stated with there being a general consensus on the concept of
prevailing wage in regards to capital projects, he suggested the Committee
recommend the full Council review what had been accomplished with the
understanding of staff's return in early February with suggestions for further
resolutions to minor, maintenance, and public/private partnership projects.
Chair Kishimoto asked to have a definition of resource impacts between small
and large projects.
Mr. Sartor stated other Charter Cities have excluded smaller projects such as
roofing and painting contracts. He· noted the report currently includes all
projects as part of the $11.5 million from the Capital General Fund projects.
Chair Kishimoto asked how the $28 million dollars was divided for projects.
Mr. Sartor stated he was unfamiliar with the number of routine maintenance
contracts Utilities had, however the majority of contracts consisted of Capital
Improvement Projects which had prevailing wage impacts.
Chair Kishimoto clarified that most of the City contract work was on a larger
scale and therefore the contractor's paid prevailing wage.
Mr. Sartor stated yes. For example, Anderson Pacific was a large non-union
underground construction contractor who pay prevailing wage. The
recommended exemptions from prevailing wage requirement would be
maintenance projects and public/private partnership such as Lytton Plaza and
the Art Center.
Chair Kishimoto stated her concern regarding the flexibility and calculation in
the process of prevailing wage.
Council Member Barton suggested forwarding the recommendation as it was
with a parallel recommendation that the Committee was unsure about the
thresholds and that staff would return to Council with recommendations.
Mr. Sartor mentioned living wage and prevailing wage were completely separate
topiCS. He stated he understood the Committees' concern for the wellbeing of
workers, however a living wage was a local jurisdiction and a prevailing wage
requirement was a state mandate.
12/0912008 P&S7
Chair Kishimoto suggested requesting the new Mayor extend the current
Committee panel for a one month term therefore allowing staff time to gather
the detailed information needed to complete a recommendation for Council.
Mr. Keene stated he concurred and stated staff would be prepared to return
with adequate information.
INCORPORATED INTO THE MOTION WITH THE CONSENT OF THE MAKER
AND SECONDER, to request the Mayor allow the current Committee panel to
meet an additional time in January to finalize a recommendation to the City
Council.
Council Member Barton withdrew the Motion.
The Committee recommended that the Mayor direct staff to return to the
current Committee panel in late January of 2009 with threshold discussions so
the current Committee could return a recommendation to Council on prevailing
wage requirement.
3. Discussion for Future Meeting Schedules and Agendas-Last meeting-
another in January
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.
12/0912008 P&S8
TO:
ATTN:
FROM:
DATE:
CITY COUNCIL
ATTC"lI. '-"L.a..!.
City of Palo Alto
City Manager's Report
POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
CITY MANAGER
DECEMBER 9, 2008
DEPARTMENTS: PUBLIC WORKS
UTILITIES
CMR: 443:08
REPORT TYPE: RECOMMENDATION
SUBJECT: Review and Request for Recommendation on Prevailing Wage Issues
Related to City Capital Construction Projects
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Council Policy and Services Committee recommend that Council nbt
change current prevailing wage policy, allowing City "public works" projects be bid without
prevailing wage requirements unless prevailing wage is required for the project pursuant to state
law, due to potential cost impacts to the City's General and Enterprise Fund Capital
Improvement Programs (CIPs).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
At City Council's request, staff reviewed many of the issues surrounding prevailing wage rates
and summarized the findings below. Staff recommends, due to potential cost impacts to the
General and Enterprise Fund Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs), Council not change the
City's current prevailing wage policy. This recommendation is made primarily due to the costs
needed to address the current General and Enterprise Fund infrastructure program backlog and
the additional cost of funding 'a new Public Safety Building and a new Library and Commpnity
Center at Mitchell Park and Library improvements at Main and Downtown Libraries as a: result
of recent passage of Measure N. Any further increase in costs will impact the City's ability
rehabilitate existing infrastructure, much of which is already well past its life expectancy and in a
deteriorated condition. In addition, a prevailing wage requirement could also apply to the many
private/public partnerships the City is involved in such as Lytton Plaza, Art Center and possibly
the Junior Museum and Zoo. The California Court of Appeal is currently hearing an appeal in
the City of Vista case, where the City of Vista, a charter city like Palo Alto, is defending its'
choice not to pay prevailing wage on its locally funded "public works" projects.
BACKGROUND
On September 17,2007, City Council approved a contract with Anderson Pacific for a Water
Quality Control Plant (WQCP) pump station upgrade related to the reclaimed water pipeline
project running from the WQCP to Mountain View (CMR:364:07). Council approved the
contract contingent on the contractor assuring the City they would pay their employees
prevailing wage on the project. In a related motion Council directed staff to bring the prevailing
CMR:443:08 Page 1 of8
wage discussion to the Council Policy and Services Committee (see Attachment B, minutes of
September ·17, 2007 Council meeting).
What are Prevailing Wage Rates?
The intended purpose of prevailing wage law is to ensure that public construction projects do not
lower local wages by allowing contractors to pay wages below the local standard. In 1931,
Congress passed the Davis-Bacon Act, which mandated the payment of prevailing wages on all
construction projects that receive more than $2,000 of Federal funds -an amount that has
remained unchanged today. In subsequent years, especially during the Great Depression, many
states and localities passed similar prevailing wage laws·. Most states, including California, now
have such laws.
Prevailing wages are determined in many different ways across the country. The Federal and
California Prevailing Wage calculations are similar because if more than 50% of the workers
make the same wage this becomes the prevailing wage for the trade. They differ in the
calculation when less than 50% of the workers have the same wage. . The Federal Law
determines the prevailing wage by averaging all the wages, whereas in California the most
common wage occurring becomes the prevailing wage. California's calculation method usually
results in a slightly higher wage than the Federal calculation method. .
California passed its prevailing wage law in 1931, the same year the federal Davis-Bacon Act
was passed. California Labor Code § 1771 requires that any "public works" project that receives
more than $1,000 in state funding pay prevailing wages. The Labor Code defines "public
works" to include construction, alteration, most demolition, installation or repair work done
under contract and paid for in whole or part out of public funds. All capital improvement
projects done by the City, including those managed by the Community Services, Utilities or the
Public Works Departments are considered "public works" under this law. Although California's
prevailing wage law applies to all of California's "general law" cities, charter cities are permitted
to elect whether to pay prevailing wage on locally funded public works projects that qualify as
municipal affairs.
DISCUSSION
Prevailing Wages in Charter Cities
The California Labor Code requires that public agencies pay prevailing wages, as determined by
the California Department of Industrial Relations, on most public works projects. As a charter
city, Palo Alto is not required to pay prevailing wage rates on "public works" projects, so long as
the projects are within the reahn of "municipal affairs," are funded entirely by. local funds, and
no other statutory exceptions apply. This "home rule" principle, grounded in the California
Constitution, allows decisions on expenditure of local funds to be made by locally elected
officials. Utilities Enterprise Fund projects are often deemed to be "public works" projects in
this context.
Since no precise definition of what constitutes a "municipal affair" has been judicially settled,
courts consider the issue on a case by case basis. The expenditure of city funds on local projects
and the rates of pay of the workers the City hires to carry out such projects has been held to be a
municipal affair. In 1981, Palo Also passed a resolution to pay prevailing wage "only when
required by federal or states grants and on other jobs considered to be of statewide concern."
(See Attachment A: Resolution 5981).
CMR:443:08 Page 2 of8
Recently, courts have blurred the issue of whether a charter city may elect not to pay prevailing
wage. For example, in 2004, the California Supreme Court in City of Long Beach v. DIR,
declined to decide whether prevailing wage law is such a matter of statewide concern that it
should override the ability of charter cities to conduct their municipal affairs. Since then, labor
unions have mounted a statewide campaign to overturn existing law and declare prevailing wage
a matter of state concern. The charter city of Vista is currently defending its choice not to pay
prevailing wages in a lawsuit brought by the State Building and Construction Trades Council.
Although the trial court reluctantly ruled in favor of Vista in December 2007, the case is pending
on appeal. A detailed summary of the case is included in this report's discussion below.
These recent judicial. developments led the City Attorney to recommend that Palo Alto pay
prevailing wages on regional projects that transcend the city's geographic boundaries, even if
these projects could be considered municipal affairs. Capital improvement projects related to the
City's Water Quality Control Plant (WQCP) fall into this category. Some Charter Cities have
created special categories where they do not pay prevailing wages on low-income housing and
maintenance type projects, but do pay prevailing wage on construction projects. To date, Palo
Alto has not made this distinction.
Summary of Staff Research
Staff found that there is considerable disagreement on the impacts of prevailing wage rates on
project quality found in studies cited by the union groups and builder trade groups. Studies by
government agencies, however, concluded that paying prevailing wage rates do not significantly
change the quality of construction on most projects.
In a survey of contractors, it was reported that requiring the payment of prevailing wage rates
could reduce the quantity of bidders on projects by about 20% percent. Most contractors that are
not paying prevailing wages, which make up about 50% of the contractors responding to the
survey, will bid prevailing wage contracts. In the majority of cases, the makeup of their
workforce does not change to accommodate prevailing wage requirements.
In its surveys of both contractors and other cities, staff found that implementing prevailing wage
rates in construction contracts may increase construction costs on City capital improvement
contracts by up to 10%. This increase would also affect projects involving private/public
partnerships.
The following sections present a summary of the studies related to prevailing wage reviewed by
staff and the results of surveys of other cities and contractors. The pending City of Vista case
related to the charter city exemption from prevailing wage is also discussed below.
Studies on the Effects of Prevailing Wage
A number of academic and government studies have examined the. costs and benefits of
prevailing wage. Generally, these studies fall into three different camps:
Pro-prevailing wages studies, issued by University-level academics, and construction
trade organizations.
Anti-prevailing wage studies, issued by University-level academics, and various policy
institutes.
Government studies, issued by the States of Ohio and Kentucky legislative commissions.
CMR:443:08 Page 3 of8
Staff reviewed seventeen such studies, both pro-prevailing wage and anti-prevailing wage, and
studies prepared by government organizations. Summaries of these studies are included in the
attached memorandum dated r:ebruary 15,2008 (Attachment C).
Studies by government organizations provide some of the most interesting insight into the issue
. of prevailing wage. These studies should, in theory, have no agenda beyond uncovering what is
in the best interest of taxpayers. All of the studies examined indicated that prevailing wage laws
do not save money. Some studies did, however, equivocate about whether the benefits of
prevailing wage once other unquantifiable factors were taken into account -may be higher
than the costs.
The two most-referenced government studies are both studies conducted by state legislative
research offices, in Kentucky and Ohio. In Ohio, its Legislative Service Commission issued a
study analyzing the effect of a 1997 bill that exempted school districts from being forced to
require prevailing wage. The study, which asked contractors for bids under and not under
prevailing wage conditions, found that repeal did save money especially on smaller projects.
It asserts that the exemption yielded 1.2 percent in total cost savings in new construction, 10.7
percent savings on building alteration projects and 19.9 percent savings on building additions.
This conclusion seems to strongly support the notion that the smaller projects have greater
savings when prevailing wages are not required.
Furthermore, the study surveyed school districts to discover if they had noticed any decrease in
the quality of construction. Six percent of respondents said that they had noticed higher quality
construction since the exemption, 91 percent noted no change and 3 percent said quality had
decreased.
In one very unique case, the survey discovered that one school district had put a project out to
bid under prevailing wage conditions and then rebid the project without such requirements. The
winning bidder in the second case, without prevailing wage, was 5.8 percent lower, yielding a
cost savings of more than $500,000.
In Kentucky, the legislature also ordered its research arm to study the issue of prevailing wage.
The study made a notable number of findings, including learning that 60 percent of workers
surveyed were paid more on prevailing wage jobs than on market-rate jobs; the average increase
for prevailing wages was 24 percent over the workers' market rates. Among the 141-page
report's other findings were:
II 90.7 percent of non-union and 24.4 of union contractors said prevailing wage laws raise
construction costs.
II 55.4 percent of small firms (10 or fewer employees) said prevailing wage laws have a
negative effect on their business, compared to 73 percent of large firms.
• 95.7 percent of cities and 83.3 percent of municipal utilities that responded believe
prevailing wage laws increase construction costs, while, respectively, 7 and zero percent
believe laws increase quality.
II More cities believed prevailing wage legislation decreases not increases quality of
construction.
It is worth noting that the report did not call for the abolishment of prevailing wages in
Kentucky. The report did not take an opinion on the issue. Its main overall conclusion on the
effectiveness of the legislation, however, is as follows:
CMR:443:08 Page 4 of8
To the extent that quality is increased, prevailing wages are an inefficient method
to increase quality. The wage requirement results in contractors paying higher
wages with no guarantee that these additional wages will result in quality
improvements.
Aside from the Kentucky and Ohio reports, there are a number of smaller government reports on
the topic. The Federal Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and General Accounting Office
(GAO) have both issued reports on prevailing wage, with the GAO asserting that repealing the
Davis-Bacon Act would save $1.2 billion annually. The CBO study, written during the early
1980's, was likely the impetus that caused the Reagan Administration to change the definition of
prevailing wage to the wage earned by 50 -as opposed to 30 -percent of local wage earners. It
found that repeal of Davis-Bacon would save $13 billion (2007 dollars)over five years and that
some 20 percent of open shop contractors have no interest in bidding on prevailing wage
contracts. It also recommended raising the threshold at which the prev~i1ing law is triggered, as
the $2,000 trigger was set in 1931 and has never been increased.
The final government study of note is another state legislative study -Maryland in this case -
conducted in 1997. Maryland's Department of Fiscal Services, which issued the study, asserted
that repeal of the prevailing wage law then on Maryland's books would save the state between 5
and 15 percent on public works construction.
Survey of California Cities
To further examine the policies of other California municipalities regarding prevailing wage law,
staff surveyed dozens of other cities on the topic. The survey was sent out to all members of the
Association of Bay Area Governments, as well as to all Charter Cities that had email addresses
available. Forty-eight municipalities responded to the survey. Usually, the respondents were
public works officials, though a few city managers replied as well. A short summary of the
findings follows and the more detailed results are included in' Attachment C.
~ 42 of 48 cities surveyed pay prevailing wage rates.
@> 26 out of 32 Charter Cities pay prevailing wage rates.
• Based on the survey results, staff estimates that paying prevailing wages may increase
construction costs in the range of 5% to 10%.
• A large majority of the respondents believe that paying prevailing wages does not
increase quality of the work.
• Most believed that requiring prevailing wages decreases the number of bidders on
projects.
• Some cities have exceptions to paying prevailing wages for certain types of contracts.
The responding cities were also asked tq provide comments on the positive and negative effects
of paying prevailing wages. These are summarized below:
Positive Effects
•. Supportive of labor
• Evens the playing field
• Assures that workers are being treated and paid fairly
• Higher wages allow people to live closer to work
• More professional bidding pool
Page 5 8
1.1) Higher-quality work
Negative Effects
&> Higher costs
e Fewer projects can be built
It Need for extra staffing and paperwork for compliance monitoring
I'D Smaller pool of bidders
Survey of Contractors
The Staff's research on prevailing wage did provide a number of insights into the views of
construction contractors on the topic of prevailing wage legislation. In addition, staff conducted
a survey of contractors bidding work in Palo Alto to best judge the impact a change in Palo
Alto's prevailing wage policy would have on construction projects in Palo Alto.
A summary of the survey results follows:
• Approximately 50 % of the contractors responding pay prevailing wages on all contracts.
e Most contractors that do not typically pay prevailing wage rates will bid prevailing wage
contracts.
(\) 70% of the contractors not paying prevailing wage rates use the same labor force when
bidding prevailing wage contracts.
8) The average of the estimated increase to construction costs associated with paying
prevailing wage rates was approximately 8% according to the contractors responding to
the survey. '
City of Vista Court Case
As discussed previously, the Charter City of Vista is currently defending its decision not
to pay prevailing wages in a lawsuit brought by the State, Building and Construction Trades
Council. The outcome of this case will be very important, as it could determine whether charter
citie~ can continue to exercise their ability to locally determine whether to pay prevailing wages
on local projects. Some background on the case is illustrative.
In June 2007, Vista became a Charter City. Before the election, the City prepared a fact
sheet discussing common questions regarding the Charter City proposition, including questions
and answers regarding the potential tax savings on local public works projects should the. City
chose to forego prevailing wages on municipal projects. 67% of Vista voters approved the
decision to become a Charter City. Vista plans on completing about $100 million in public
improvements in the near future; projects which would traditionally be considered within the.
realm of "municipal affairs" and paid from local revenues.
The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, a labor union,
challenged Vista's assertion that it was exempt from prevailing wage law, arguing that the
prevailing wage statute is of statewide concern. Although the trial court reluctantly found in
favor of Vista, in issuing his ruling, the Superior Court judge stated that were he not bound by a
preceding case, Vial v. City of San Diego, he would have been inclined to grant the union's
petition. The Vial decision stated that prevailing wage law does not apply to public works
projects of a chartered city, "as long as the projects in question are within the realm of
'municipal affairs.'"
Page 6 8
The judge in Vista, however, contended that instead of focusing on the project, a more
appropriate analysis would involve whether the prevailing wage statute is a matter of statewide
concern. Had the court not been obligated to follow Vial, the court acknowledged that it would
have found that the prevailing wage law is a matter of statewide concern and that Vista was
therefore bound to follow the law in relation to its pending public works projects.
The petitioner's appeal is currently pending before the California Court of Appeal and
oral argument was heard on Friday, November 14,2008. A decision is expected in the next two
months. Should the court frame the question as suggested by the superior court, and ask whether
the prevailing wage statute is a "statewide concern," it is possible that the Court will answer that
question affirmatively, thereby overruling or limiting the Vial decision. The California
Legislature has previously declared that the prevailing wage statute addresses two important
statewide concerns: (1) it prevents public projects from driving down area labor standards and
(2) it ensures training opportunities for apprentice construction workers. Even if Vista wins on
appeal, observers expect this case will eventually be appealed to the California Supreme Court.
A California Supreme Court decision would not be expected on this case for at least another
year. The City Attorney's Office will keep Council informed on the status of this case.
RESOURCE IMPACT
The Adopted 2009 Capital Budget includes about $11.5 million in General Fund projects and
about $28 million in Enterprise Fund projects that are not now or will not require prevailing
wage in their construction contracts. The Enterprise Fund projects include those under the
electric, water, gas, wastewater collection, storm drainage and refuse fund programs. Projects
constructed by the Wastewater Treatment Fund already require prevailing wage as discussed
above and would not be impacted by a change in Council policy. If staff research proves correct,
the costs of the 2009 General Fund projects could increase by as much as $1 million and the
2009 Enterprise Fund projects could increase by as much as $2.8 million if Council were to
adopt a policy requiring prevailing wage rates be paid on all capital construction projects
contracted by the City. It also should be noted that any private/public partnership agreements
entered into by the City for capital construction would also require payment of prevailing wage
rates on these construction projects (e.g. Art Center, Lytton Plaza, Junior Museum and Zoo).
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The recommendation does not change existing policy. If Council were to change policy and
require prevailing wage be paid on all City capital construction projects, Council would need to
adopt an ordinance codifying such a requirement.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Policy and Services Committee review of the prevailing wage policy issues presented in this
report does not represent a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA),
pursuant to Section 21065 of the Public Resources Code.
CMR:443:08 Page 7 8
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: City of Palo Alto Resolution 5981
Attachment B: Minutes of September}7, 2007 City Council meeting
Attachment C: Prevailing Wage Rate Issues Memorandum of February 15,2008
PREPARED BY:
DEPARTMENT HEADS:
CITY MANAGER APPROV AL:
CMR:443:08
Assistant Utilities Director
hL1.
GLENN ROBERTS
Director of Public Works
VALERI
L-+-_/
Page 8 of8
ATTACHMENTE
CITY OF PALO ALTO
City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wages
Special Meeting
Tuesday, March 10,2009
The meeting ofthe City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wages was called to
order at 6:01 p.m.
Present: Barton, Drekmeier, Espinosa
Absent: Kishimoto
1. Oral Communications
None
2. Review and Recommendation on Proposed Prevailing Wage Policy for
City Capital Construction Projects.
City Attorney, Gary Baum reviewed the City's Prevailing Wage policy.
Assistant Public Works Director Mike Sartor reviewed the PowerPoint presentation in
follow-up of the December 9, 2008 meeting. His presentation included a summary of
that meeting, the Prevailing Wage exemptions and Staff s recommendations.
Neil Struthers, 2102 Almaden Road, San Jose, thanked Staff for incorporating
information from meetings held prior. He questioned why $250,000 was listed as a
threshold for the prevailing wage. He stressed more thought should be given to the
public-private partnership aspects of the policy. He spoke regarding affordable housing
and requested further research be completed on Staffs recommendation and how the
policy affected the General Fund.
Lindsay Byers, 4577 Las Positas Blvd., Livermore, Associated Builders and Contractors
Union, in representation of non-union members, stated they would continue to work in
the City of Palo Alto whether or not prevailing wage was opposed. She gave an
overview of prevailing wage calculations and the wide variety of areas that the wages
cover beyond employee compensation. She suggested raising maintenance project wage
thresholds to allow smaller community businesses to remain competitive with regional
and statewide contractors.
Aletha Coleman, 296 Bay Road, Atherton, from the Palo Alto Friends of the Junior
Museum and Zoo spoke in support of Staffs recommendations from a public-private
partnership viewpoint.
Molly McAuliffe, 1554 Cowper Street, from the Palo Alto Friends of the Junior Museum
and Zoo spoke in support of Staffs recommendations.
Council Member Barton stated it was his understanding that the $250,000 threshold was
consistent with what the City Manager brought forth to Council for authorization and
approval.
Mr. Sartor stated that was correct.
Council Member Barton asked how many projects fit within this $250,000 threshold per
year.
Mike Sartor stated the amount pertained to Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and
maintenance type projects, with several projects projected for the year within that
threshold. He gave the example of parks and maintenance type projects.
Council Member Barton stated maintenance was defined under California Code and State
Law exemptions.
Mr. Sartor stated many maintenance projects exceed the threshold. He gave the example
of the Utility Department's gas main replacement project, which was considered a
maintenance project and routine work and repair of an existing system. He stated Staff is
mindful that larger projects should be included, but they did not want to restrict the
smaller maintenance-type projects.
Council Member Espinosa stated Staffs current report was concise and covered all the
options available. He asked for further clarification on the different dollar points
($50,000, $100,000 to $250,000 and above). He asked for further information on the
scale and scope of projects within each threshold.
Mr. Sartor stated there were $10-12 million contracts each year in the CIP. Smaller
projects made up less than one million, or 10 percent, of the total for projects. Most of
the CIPs greater than $250,000 are major projects. The types of small range projects
included annual roofing, interior finishing and landscaping contracts for buildings and
parks. The total value of maintenance-type projects was likely less than one-tenth of the
overall CIP.
Assistant Director of Utilities, Tom Marshall stated there were not a lot of contracts in the
under $250,000 range. Projects that fell into this range included annual Roto-Rooter
service contracts for sewer maintenance, as one example.
City Manager, James Keene reviewed various projects from the 2008-09 Adopted Budget
for CIP. He listed projects that fit underneath the $250,000 threshold which included the
Bayland Athletic Center's fencing, dugout and trailhead park projects as one example.
He listed several other projects of the same caliber.
Council Member Espinosa asked how each specific project was cast as a recipient of
these budgeted amounts within the CIP budgeting. He stressed they were making the
effort to create a policy around what these projects were exactly.
Mr. Sartor gave an overview of what projects are considered as maintenance projects.
Maintenance projects specifically include such items as annual roofing projects or
interior projects such as carpeting and painting. Park trail projects were also included
within this realm. He stated many of these projects were already defined in the Public
Contract Code as Maintenance projects and separate from the Public Work projects. He
stated these types of contracts typically attract the smaller contractors.
Mr. Keene stated one of the goals is to spread the work around, from these smaller
projects, to smaller contractors that might not otherwise be considered. He stated this
brought with it social equity value. He asked what the results were in areas where there
were no prevailing wage policies.
Mr. Sartor stated when compared to what other cities are doing, a broader range of bids
come through with smaller contractors when prevailing wage policies did not exist.
Council Member Espinosa stated this was an area where he felt he did not have sufficient
data with which to form a decision.
Council Member Barton asked whether Staff might consider modification of the public-
private partnership funding exemptions to the point at which the private-partner became
the managing partner. He understood that there could be bookkeeping issues and
volunteers may not be able to do this. He stated that public funds should be spent in
ways that cover external costs associated with living in this area.
Mr. Keene stated the goal was to move projects forward and keeping costs to a minimum.
In some cases, when volunteers took the lead on a project, they were not considered
under the prevailing wage guidelines.
Council Member Barton stated the assumption was that prevailing wages drove up the
costs for a project. He was not of this mind. When you build in externalities it is better
all around. He doesn't want to go down the road of implied incentives.
Mr. Keene stressed taking a look at future emerging public-private partnerships where
there may be a situation wherein the City may want the lead on the project. He noted
civil liability issues came into play in this case.
Council Member Espinosa hoped for clarity around defining the public-private
partnership aspects of this proposed policy. He agreed with the policy in concept but was
worried about these pUblic-private partnerships working against the policy. He stated he
felt that clarity was needed on this policy as it pertains to public-private partnerships.
Mr. Baum stated there were different standards in the public-private partnership where
the private party is the majority contributor but is not the managing partner.
Council Member Espinosa stressed there were instances where further clarity was
necessary when private parties were donating money for these projects within the
confines of the proposed policy.
Mr. Keene pointed the Committee towards Page 4 of the Staff report on regarding
exemptions and exclusions. He gave examples and applications of what was proposed on
Page 4 ofthe proposed policy.
Council Member Espinosa stated this was a good start. He hoped for more clarity on the
criteria and an outline of this prior to taking it to Council.
Mr. Baum stated under the Committee's general direction this was adequate for them to
forward on to Council. The presumption of paying prevailing wage in public-private
partnerships and if not then under what circumstances.
Council Member Espinosa stressed the needs for more specifics.
Mr. Baum stated ironing out the specifics may require another meeting.
Council Member Barton suggested deleting the complicated language on Federal Tax
Credits on Page 5 of the proposed policy.
Council Member Espinosa asked for clarification on what he specifically wanted
excluded.
Council Member Barton wished to delete bullet point 3, on Page 2, which refers to
affordable housing projects.
Council Member Espinosa stated it was included at this point more for clarity than policy
based on information Mr. Sartor and Mr. Baum gave in address to this point.
Council Member Barton stated ifthe inclusion was for clarity's sake, it should be worded
to include affordable housing projects that would otherwise be exempt.
Mr. Sartor stated the extent of the exemption was an attempt to clarify and specifically
note the other two bulleted items.
Council Member Barton stated this did not matter in either direction and was merely
semantics.
Mayor Drekmeier asked for further clarification on the prevailing wage. He asked what
causes fluctuations in the prevailing wage.
Mr. Sartor stated fluctuations were tied to union bargaining agreements and labor rates.
He was not familiar with any recent bargaining agreements which cut these wages and
rates.
Mayor Drekmeier asked if they went with prevailing wage, would the prevailing wage go
up a notch with the addition of their City coming on board.
Mr. Sartor stated it would not go up. The wages are set by the County and State.
Council Member Espinosa asked if there was a way to move forward but also get clarity
on how decisions were made and what the different dollar amounts meant with regard to
the number of projects.
Mr. Sartor stated in projects less than $250,000, prior Council was comfortable in
providing the City Manager with the authority to award those types of contracts.
Council Member Espinosa stated the issue was not about the dollar amount of the
contracts but the kind of contracts we are setting up in terms of whether we would have
more bids, different kinds of companies, workers doing different levels of work. The
decision making would be based on the types of contracts, companies, skill levels of
employees and that would drive prevailing wage
Mr. Sartor stated the difference remained in what was considered a maintenance versus
construction project in that maintenance projects were of a recurring nature on existing
structures. He stressed these projects were typically significantly smaller in scope. He
stated they were not suggesting that a new building project under $250,000 would be
exempt. A new building project would still require prevailing wage parameters.
Mr. Keene stated moving forward meant getting something on the Consent Calendar and .
then they could return with more definitive data. '
Council Member Espinosa stated it was important to understand who these companies
are, and understand why the dollar amount is what it is for these smaller projects.
Mr. Keene stated the dollar amount was not at issue. They were not vetted to any
particular dollar amount at this point.
Council Member Espinosa agreed it was more important how they arrived at their final
conclusions rather than the actual fmal numbers.
Mayor Drekmeier stated recent Request for Proposals brought in lower bids. He asked if
wages were the same, how or where costs were rising within this bidding process.
Mr. Sartor stated product costs were the primary reason for any extra or higher costs
above and beyond what may have been seen in the past. Also material costs have gone
down.
Council Member Barton stated it was not labor rate, per se, of a project, but the number
of people working on that project that also played a role.
MOTION: Council Member Barton moved, seconded by Mayor Drekmeier to
recommend to the City Council to adopt: 1) Paying Prevailing wage for City Capital
Improvement Projects with exemptions for; a) maintenance projects between $100k~
$250k to be determined by the Council after further investigation by Staff, b) projects
worked entirely by volunteers, c) public-private partnerships unless otherwise exempted
by Council.
Mayor Drekmeier asked how many projects would be heard by Council.
Council Member Barton stated it would not be each and every project. It would be
prevailing wage, unless the private funding is greater than City funding.
Mayor Drekmeier stated it was suggested that the City is in a better position to manage
prevailing wages than a private group. He asked if they were suggesting that the City
would manage all or most of the projects.
Council Member Barton asked how many public-private partnership projects have been
done where the City has not been the hiring agent.
Mr. Sartor stated it was his experience that the private partners have managed more than
the City has managed in the past.
Council Member Barton asked by what percentage has the private partner provided more
than 50 percent of the funds for a project.
Mr. Sartor stated the Heritage Park project received more private partner funds.
Mayor Drekmeier stated he did not want his vote to be a recommendation at this point.
He remained neutral until more information was available. He agreed that if more than
50% of the funds came from private partner that it could fall into one category, but in
fairness it would make it easier to be the same across the board ..
Chair Espinosa clarified Staffs return at a later date with delineation of the decision-
making criteria for public-private partnerships.
Council Member Barton was comfortable with Staff making the decision to modify the
Motion.
Chair Espinosa asked for clarification of what exact information they would return with
for further discussion.
Mr. Baum stated what he heard was they should bring back more information on the
presumption and concerns over paying prevailing wage for public-private partnerships
unless specific exemptions are met.
INCORPORATED INTO THE MOTION WITH CONSENT OF THE MAKER
AND SECONDER to change the language to read "public-private partnerships needed to
meet specific exemptions in order to receive payment of prevailing wage."
Council Member Barton asked the number of yes votes required to take action.
Mr. Baum stated the in the absence of a member there would not be a unanimous vote
and the Chair had the discretion to provide their own Motion.
Chair Espinosa asked why there needed to be a specified dollar amount in order to
qualify for prevailing wage.
Council Member Barton stated the dollar amount was not necessary.
Chair Espinosa had a concern about the affordable housing aspect and he did not have a
concern how Staff had written it. He wanted the inclusion of the wording on page 2 and
page 5 ofthe Staff report.
Mr. Baum stated the language "unless otherwise required by law" would be added.
INCORPORATED INTO THE MOTION WITH CONSENT OF THE MAKER
AND SECONDER to add "unless otherwise required by law."
Mayor Drekmeier asked how the situation would be handled if both the affordable
housing and public-private partnership entities were vying for the same project.
Mr. Keene stated there would be qualifying factors of exemption and one entity would be
less qualified than the other.
Mr. Baum stated the public-private partnership was not designed to apply to affordable
housing projects.
MOTION PASSED : 3-0, Kishimoto absent
Meeting Adjourned at 7:14 p.m.
CIPNo.
PF-01003
PF-02022
PF-05003
PF-09002
PF-10001
PF-00006
PF-06006
OS-09002
PG-06003
PE-07004
PE-07001
OS-09001
OS-00002
OS-00001
PG-09002
PG-09003
PG-98001
PE-06011
PG-06001
CC-09001
AC-09002
AC-09001
GS-09000
GS-10000
GS-03009
WS-80014
Maintenance Capital Improvement Projects
Adopted 2008-09 Capital Budget
Description Budget
Building System Improvements $100,000
Facility Interior Finishes $80,000
Foothills Park Interpretive Center $210,000
Lucie Stern Community Center and Theatre Exterior Paint $80,000
Rinconada Pool Plaster $200,000
Roofing Replacement $150,000-$250,000
Alma Street Landscape Improvements $156,000
Baylands Emergency Access Levee Repair $175,000
Parks Benches, Sinage, Fencing, Walkways, and Perimeter Landscaping $50,000-$150,000
Cogswell Plaza Improvements $130,000
Hopkins Park Improvements $67,000
Off-Road Pathways Resurfacing and Repair $100,000
Open Space Lakes and Ponds Maintenance $50,000
Open Space Trails and Amenities $80,000-$150,000
Park and Open Space Emergency Repairs $75,000
Park Maintenance Shop Remodel $150,000
School Playing Field Irrigation $85,000-$125,000
Street Median Improvements -Landscape $156,000
Tennis and Basketball Court Resurtacing $55,000-$130,000
Dimmer Replacement and Lighting System Replacement -Cubberley $145,000
New Sound System for Lucy Stern Community Theatre $200,000
Replacement of Children's Theatre Audio and Visual Monitoring System $200,000
Gas Station #1 Rebuild $201,000
Gas Station #3 Rebuild $207,000
Gas System Extensions (replacements) $192,000-$215,000
Water Service Hydrant Replacement $206,000-$222,000
ATTACHMENT F
Category
Annual
Annual
One-time
One-time
One-time
Annual
One-time
One-time
Annual
One-time
One-time
Annual
Bi-annual
Annual
Annual
One-time
Annual
Annual
Annual
One-time
One-time
One-time
One-time
One-time
Annual
Annual
J. Michael Sartor
Assistant Director of Public Works
Engineering Division, 6th Floor
City of Palo Alto
250 Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Dear Mike:
ATTACHMENT G
..... Friends of the Palo Alto
...-.. Junior Museum & ZOO I. 1451 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto CA 94301
(650) 326-6338
iii www.friendsjmz.org
April 16, 2009
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo
(FPAJMZ), I am writing to support City Staffs recommendation that private funding raised from
public-private partnerships be exempt from proposed prevailing wage policy for City capital
construction projects.
As you know, the FPAJMZ was founded in 1962 as a non-profit volunteer organization
dedicated to supporting and enhancing the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo. Through
memberships, annual giving, special events, foundation and corporate grants, we are able to fund
new exhibits, provide free science classes to elementary students in East Palo Alto, and
implement capital improvements for the zoo and museum facilities. Our donors trust the
FP AJMZ with their precious donation dollars because we have proved to be a lean, efficient, and
highly effective charity.
As a non-profit 50 1 (c)(3) organization, the FPAJMZ is governed by a volunteer Board of
Directors. These community members donate significant time to serve and govern the
FPAJMZ. The Board has established policies and internal controls regarding our investments,
contracts, and cash disbursements. Currently, we hire only one employee who is responsible for
the day-to-day operations of the FPAJMZ and is supervised by the Board. Additionally, our last
fiscal year was reviewed by a CPA who commended our record-keeping and procedures for
handling donations and expenses.
As a public-private partnership approved by the City Council, the FP AJMZ complies with other
City policies regarding insurance requirements, indemnity, and liability. However, we are
concerned that the proposed prevailing wage statue will adversely affect our organization and
our ability to assist the Junior Museum and Zoo for several reasons.
First, we are concerned about the administrative burdens and cost implications of implementing a
prevailing wage policy. Since we only employ one staff member who is already over-worked
with fundraising, donor relations, and bookkeeping tasks, we are hesitant to add certified payroll
and City reporting requirements to her workload. We find these extra respons\bilities inefficient
Pg2/3
and not necessary to achieve our mission at best and at worst it will impede our ability to invest
in the new exhibits that are so critical to the mission of the Museum and Zoo. After all, small
projects are more at risk because they experience the largest percent increase in cost.
Second, we are concerned about donor reaction to this new policy and its effect on our ability to
fundraise and leverage private donations. The FP AJMZ is an unique position to solicit private
community funding to better serve the Palo Alto community. Our donors are willing to invest in
Palo Alto and trust us to leverage their dollars for the maximum benefit. One of the reasons the
FPAJMZ is so successful is our ability to recruit skilled labor for its capital projects at
discounted and/or volunteer rates because of our non-profit status. The contractors we hire
support our mission and have the flexibility to allocate a small labor pool for multiple tasks in
order to get the job done at a discounted rate. '
We are also concerned that the certified payroll requirement will interfere with our ability to
work with skilled specialty fabricators and artists that design and build the exhibits; the exhibits
that form the core of the public experience in the Museum and Zoo. The fabricators and artists
often work in several media or trades -and consequently the trade unions are confounded as to
which union or unions the artist or fabricator should represent and frequently conflicts can arise
that affect the quality, timeliness and cost of the work. These challenges have caused some
cities that require prevailing wage to pull exhibits from publicly bid contracts and fund them
privately. If this ordinance requires privately funded projects to certify payrolls, the option to
privately fund exhibit work specialty fabricators and artists will be constrained in Palo Alto.
We realize that the City has a right to set policy regarding its funding, but we ask that the City
not impose policies on private funds raised by non-profit organizations. We feel that if this new
policy is implemented there will be a chilling effect on our current donors and our ability to grow
and fund capital projects for the museum and zoo.
We are happy to discuss our concerns with you or any other City staff. We look forward to
working together to grow and better Palo Alto and implement necessary capital improvements to
the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo.
Sincerely,
-Attl.a celIO", eo!.1IUm
Aletha Leong Coleman
President, Board of Directors
cc: FPAJMZ Board of Directors
Annette Bialson, Secretary
Courtenay Corrigan, Vice President
Wendy Dransfield
Leonard Ely III
Lisa Buese Gani
Hilary Grant-Valdez
Ed Miller, Treasurer
Cynthia Neuwalder
RoxyRapp
David Wright, Vice President
cc: Palo Alto City Council
John Barton
Patrick Burt
Peter Drekmeier, Mayor
Sid Espinsoa
Y oriko Kishimoto
Larry Klein
Jack Morton
Greg Schmid
Yiaway Yeh
cc: Palo Alto City Staff
James Keene
John Aikin
Greg Betts
Linda Craighead
Pg 3/3
ATTACHMENT H
From: Levy, Leland [Ieland.levy@wachoviasec.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 7:16 PM
To: Sartor, Mike
Cc: BIJAN, Sherry (SherryBidManagement@Gmail.com); Chop KEENAN (chopkeenan@yahoo.com); Gary LAYMON
(glaymon@TGP-INC.com); GROSS, Barbara (Barbara@GardenCourt.com); RAPP, Roxy (Roxy@RoxyRapp.com);
Sunny Dykwel (sdykwel@aprcom)
Subject Proposed Prevailing Wage Policy City of Palo Alto
Mike,
As you know, the Friends of Lytton Plaza will shortly request Council authorization to proceed with the Plaza renovation.
Initial bids indicate that costs will run between $800,000 and $900,000, with the city share amounting to approximately 40%.
At this time we'd like to state our concern that overseeing a prevailing wage policy will impose difficulties on project
managers who are volunteers, and will discourage their involvement. Considerable effort will be required to learn and keep up
with the processes and records which an ordinance requires. The result will be to put a damper on the private sector's ability to
enlist community volunteers ...
We would be grateful, therefore, if an exemption can be available for Public-Private Partnerships where the private entity
manages the project and provides over fifty percent of the funding.
Sincerely,
Leland D. Levy
Friend of Lytton
Le~1illlnd D. Levy
Senior Vice President -Investment Officer
CA I nsurance License #OA45735
1950 University Avenue, Suite #300: East Palo Alto, CA 94303-2280
ph: (650) 330-3820 I fax: (650) 322-7381 I t-f: (800) 423-1736
leland .Ievy..@wachoviasec.com
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4/6/2009
", "\,.
From: Barbara Gross [Barbara@gardencourtcomJ
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 5:17 PM
To: Sartor, Mike
SlUIbject: Prevailing Wage Waiver
Dear Mike,
The 'Friends of Lytton Plaza' are urging the city to exclude our public private partnership from the prevailing
wage requirement.
The signed letter of intent from the city predates this requirement and should exempt us from this burden.
The 'Friends of Lytton Plaza' will be running this project. We do not have the expertise nor the additional
funding to manage this process.
We are quite concerned about how this may negatively affect future 'Friends' projects ...
Please confirm our exemption.
Thank you,
Barbara Gross
Friends of Lytton Plaza
411612009
ATTACHMENT I
NOT YET APPROVED
Resolution No.
Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Repealing
Resolution 5981 and Requiring the Payment of Prevailing
Wage on City Capital Construction Contracts with Certain
Exemptions
WHEREAS, on December 14, 1981, the City Council resolved, in Resolution 5981,
to use the Davis-Bacon Act or State Department of Industrial Relations Prevailing Wage
Determinations only when required by federal or state grants and on other jobs considered to be
of stare wide concern; and
WHEREAS, on December 9, 2008, the City of Palo Alto Policy and Services
Committee recommended that a resolution be adopred requiring prevailing wage on all City
capital construction contracts; and
WHEREAS, on December 9, 2008, the City of Palo Alto Policy and Services
Committee also recommended that staff present types of construction contracts that could be
considered for exemption from a prevailing wage requirement; and
WHEREAS, on March 10, 2009, staff presented a proposed prevailing wage policy
to the Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing Wage which proposed that the City pay prevailing wage
on City construction contracts, except in the following four situations: 1) Maintenance projects
under $250,000 as defined by Section 22002 of the California Public Contract Code, 2) Projects
using public-private partnership funding, 3) Projects that construct/rehabilitate affordable
housing for people with low or moderare incomes, unless otherwise required by law, and
4) Projects where the work is performed either entirely by volunteers, and
WHEREAS, at their March 10,2009, meeting, the Ad Hoc Committee on Prevailing
Wage recommended that Council approve the staff recommended policy in general, but proposed
minor modifications to three of the proposed exemptions.
WHEREAS, after the March 10, 2009 Ad Hoc Committee meeting, Mayor
Drekmeier referred this item back to the Council's current Policy and Services Committee for
further consideration.
The Council of the City of Palo Alto does RESOLVE as follows:
SECTION 1. Resolution 5981 is hereby repealed.
SECTION 2. The City will pay prevailing wage as determined by the
Department of Industrial Relations Wage Determinations when required by law, and on City
capital construction contracts with the following exemptions:
1
090624 syn 0111152
NOT YET APPROVED
1. Maintenance projects under $250,000 as defined by Section 22002 of the
California Public Contract Code
2. Projects using public-private partnership funding, where the private party:
a. is the lead entity managing the project's design and construction, and
b. funds at least 50 percent of the projectcost.
3. Projects that construct/rehabilitate affordable housing for people with moderate
incomes, unless otherwise required by law.
4. Projects where the work is performed entirely by volunteers.
SECTION 3. The Council finds that the adoption of this resolution does not
represent a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to Section
21065 of the Public Resources Code, thus, no environmental review is required.
INTRODUCED AND PASSED:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTENTIONS:
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Manager
Deputy City Attorney
Director of Public works
Director of Utilities
2
090624 syn 0111152
City of Palo Alto
2010-2014 CIP PLAN
Proj No. Proj Name
AC-09001 Children's Theatre R (Note 1)
AC-09002 Community Theatre So (Note 1)
AC-10000 JMZ New Bobcat Habit (Note 5)
AC-86017 Art in Public Places
A5-08000 Acquisition of Los A (Note 4)
AS-10000 Salaries and Benefit (Note 4)
AS-10001 Sustainability Conti (Note 4)
CC-09001 i Dimmer Replacement a (Note 1)
CC-10000 . Replacement of Cubbe
FD-09001 Fire Apparatus Equip (Note 4)
OS-OOOO1 Open Space Trails & Amenities (Note 2)
OS-00002 Open Space Lakes/Pon (Note 2)
OS-07000 Foothills Park Road
05-09001 Off-Road Pathway Res (Note 2)
OS-09002 Baylands Emergency A (Note 2)
PD-07000 Mobile Command Vehic (Note 4)
PE-00104 San Antonio Rd. Medi
PE-06006 Alma Street Landscap
PE-06007 ·Park Restroom Instal
PE-06010 City Parks and Open (Note 2)
PE-06011 Street Median Improv (Note 2)
PE-07001 Hopkins Park Improve (Note 1)
PE-07004 Cogswell Plaza Impro (Note 1)
PE-08001 Rinconada Park Impro
PE-09003 City Facility Parkin (Note 2
PE-09005 Downtown Library Imp
PE-09006 Mitchell Prk Library
PE-09010 . i Library & Com Center
PE-10002 Ventura Community Ce
PE-10006 Bridge Rail, Abutrnen (Note 3)
PE-11000 Main Library New Con
PE-11003 Monroe Park Improvem
PE-11004 Scott Park Improveme
PE-86070 Street Maintenance (Note 6)
PF-00006 Roofing Replacement (Note 2)
PF-01002 Civic Center Infrast
PF·01003 Building Systems 1m (Note 2)
PF-02022 Interior Finishes Co (Note 2)
PF-05002 Municipal Service Ce
PF-05003 Foothills Park Inter (Note 1)
PF-06001 ,Ted Thompson Garage (Note 1)
PF·06002 Ventura Buildings 1m
PF-06004 Cubberley Restroom R
PF-07000 Art Center Electrica
PF·07002 Baylands Interpretiv
Project Costs
2010 2011 2012
100,000 ---200,000 -
575,000 --
50,000 50,000 50,000
2,216,439 --
3,478,545 3,480,758 3,538,665
400,000 --
145,000 --
56,350 --
69,000 --
116,000 116,000 136,000
50,000 -50,000
-125,000 150,000
-100,000 100,000
175,000 --
300,000 --
40,000 630,000 ---316,000
-220,000 220,000
--I 330,000
--156,000
-95,000 --150,000 -
-7.15,000 --100,000 100,000
3,500,000 --
47,000,000 --
75,000 --
200,000 135,000 -
300,000 ---1,400,000 16,900,000 -250,000 --100,000 -
1,939,148 1,803,635 1,803,635
150,000 165,000 150,000
4,176,000 1,546,000 1,460,000
100,000 100,000 100,000
-80,000 80,000
-641,000 --210,000 -
67,000 ---90,000 600,000 -300,000 --2,600,000 --267,000 -
AlTACHMENT J
Construction Costs
2013 2014 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 ----------------.. i ----
50,000 50,000 50,000 i 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000
I -------
3,644,825 3,754,170 ---------- -----------56,350 - -- ---- - ---
150,000 164,000 ------60,000 -- ---_ i - -125,000 150,Q()0 --
100,000 100,000 --------- ----------- - -
630,000 -------316,000 i
220,000 220,000 -200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000
440,000 200,000 -----
156,000 156,000 ----------------------725,000 ---
100,000 100,000 -----
.. 1 -3,500,000 ' --1 ----47,000,000 ------75,000 ---i ------I -------------14,600,000 -----250,000 - -----100,000 ---
1,803,635 1,803,635 -----
150,000 150,000 ------ -
4,176,000 1,546,000 1,460,000 --
100,000 100,000 . -. --
80,000 80,000 -. -. -- - -641,000 ------. -. ---67,000 ----
--. -600,000
---300,000 ------2,600,000 ------267,000 -I --
Page 1 of2
City of Palo Alto
2010·2014 CIP PLAN
Proj No. Proj Name
PF-09000 Children's Theater I
PF-10000 Civic Center Chiller (Note 1)
PF-10001 Rinconada Pool Plast (Note 2)
PF-10002 Lot J Cowper Webster (Note 1)
PF-93009 Americans with Disab
PG-06001 Tennis and Basketbal (Note 2)
PG-06003 Benches,signage,fenc (Note 2)
PG-09002 ! Park and Open Space (Note 2)
PG-98001 School Site Irrigati (Note 2)
PL-00026 Safe Routes to Schoo
PL-04010 Bicycle Blvds. Imple
PL-05003 College Terrace Traf
PL-05030 Traffic Signal Upgra
PL-11000 Highway 101 Pedestri
PO-05054 Street Lights Improv (Note 2)
P0-10002 Downtown Tree Grates
P0-89003 Sidewalk Repairs
Total
Notes:
1. Maintenance project, one time
2. Maintenance project, recurring annually
2010
~ -'"--"--
125,000
200,000
75,000
75,000
55,000
100,000 !
75,000
100,000
-
50,000
50,000 -
100,000
120,000 ,
300,000 i
717,642
67,421,124
ATTACHMENT J
Project Costs
2011 2012 2013 2014
~O,OOO 500,000 ------
! --------
150,000 150,000 100:000 100,000
55,000 55,000 55,000 55,000
100,000 150,000 150,000 . 150,000
75,000 75,000 75,000 ! 75,000
85,000 100,000 100,000 125,000
100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000
50,000 50,000 ! 50,000 50,000
----
155,000 160,000 165,000 170,000 ----
125,000 130,000 135,000 1:40,000 --.. i -
716,781 695,278 674,419 654,187
17,441,174 28,405,578 8,598,879 8,556,992
Estimated Prevailing Wage at 5%
Estimated Prevailing Wageat10%
J:IJI1cl.in.!!lSources:(at 5%}
Development Impact Fees
Measure N Bonds !
General Fund I
Gas Tax I
Infrnstructure Reserve
Total I
£unding Sources:(at 10%)
Development Impact Fees .... ~ -Measure N Bonds
General Fund I
Gas Tax i -------
Infrnstructure Reserve
Total I 1
3, Maintenance project, one time and multiple contracts below $250K
4. Not a construction project
5. Public-private partnership
6. Project already includes prevailing wage
Page 2 of 2
Construction Costs
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 .
- -500,000---------
-------------------75,000 150,000 150,000 100,000 100,000
---i --------------------------.
-100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000
50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 . 50,000
50,000 -----155,000 160,000 165,000 170,000 --, -----_ i --
300,000 ----
717,642 716,781 695,278 674,419 654,187,
56,116,992 8,605,781 19,031,278 1,339,419 1,324,187 •
2,805,850 430,289 951,564 66,971 66,209 i
5,611,699 860,578 1,903,128 133,942 132,419 i
I
-10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000
2,525,000 ' -730,000 --
5,000 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500
-5,000 5,000 5,000 , 5,000
275,850 412,789 204,064 49,471 ' 48,709
2,805,850 430,289 951,564 66,971 66,209
-20,000 20,000 i 20,000 20,000
5,050,000 -1,460,000 --
10,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 . 10,000 10,000 10,000 _. 10,000
551,699 825,578 408,128 98,942 97,419
I 5,611,699 860,578 1,903,128 133,942 132,419
City of Palo Alto
2010-2014 CIP PLAN
Enterprise Funds
Proj No. Proj Name
EL·02010 SCADA System Upgrade (Note 1)
EL-02011 Electric Utility GIS (Note 1)
~~~
EL-06002 UG District 45
EL-08000 E. Charleston 4/12kV (Note 1)
EL-08001 UG District 42 Embar
EL-08002 E. Meadow/Alma!Loma
EL-09000 Middlefield Undergro (Note 1)
EL-09002 Middlefield / Colora
EL-09003 Rebuild UG Dist 17 (Note 1)
EL-10006 Rebuild UG Dist 24 (Note 1)
EL-10008 AMR/AMI -Feasibilit (Note 1)
EL-10009 Street Light System
EL-11000 SealelWaverley 4/12k
EL-11001 ITorreya Court Rebuil (Note 1)
EL-11002 1St. Francis Oregon 4
EL-11003 'Rebuild UG Dist 15 (Note 1)
EL-11004 Hewlett Subdivision (Note 1)
EL-11005 Rebuild UG Dist 22 (Note 1)
EL-11006 Rebuild UG Dist 18 (Note 1)
EL-11007 Rebuild Greenhouse C (Note 1)
EL-11008 Rebuild UG Dist 19 (Note 1)
EL-11009 UG District 43 Alma!
EL-12000 Rebuild UG Dist 12 (Note 1)
EL-12001 UG District 46 -Cha
EL-13000 EdgewoodlWildwood 4/
EL-13002 Relocate OR/HO 60kV
EL-14000 ColeridgelCowperlTen
EL-89028 Electric Customer Co (Note 1)
EL-89031 COmmunications Syste (Note 1)
EL-89038 Substation Protectio (Note 1)
EL-89044 Substation Facility (Note 1)
EL-98003 Electric System Imp (Note 1)
Total
F0-10000 Fiber Optic Customer (Note 1)
FO-10001 Fiber Optic Network (Note 1)
I--I Total
GS-02013 Directional BOring M (Note 1)
GS-03007 Directional Boring E (Note 1)
GS-03008 Polyethylene Fusion (Note 1)
GS-03009 Sys Ext Ops -Unreim (Note 2)
GS-09002 GMR -Project 19
GS-10000 Gas Station 3 Rebuil (Note 2)
GS-10001 GMR -Project 20
2010
25,0001
400,000 [
1,000,000
100,000
0
500,000
75,000
20,000
500,000
500,000
210,000
100,000
0
0
0
0
0
300,000
0
0
500,000
0
0
0
0
01
01
1,800,000
110,000
240,000
155,000
2,000,000
8,535,000
200,000
200,000
400,000
40,000
0
0
158,000
0
207,000
644,000
ATTACHMENT K
Project Costs
2011 2012 2013
30,000 250,000 40,000
0 0 0
150,000 0 0
450,000 0 0
0 0 150,000
500,000 0 0
550,000 0 0
150,000 250,000 0
0 0 0
750,000 0 0
0 0 0
800,000 800,000 800,000
35,000 350,000 0
100,000 0 0
450,000 0: 0,
350,0001 400,000 0
400,000 0 0
0 0 0
350,000 0 01
150,000 350,000 0
0 0 0
150,000 2,000,00Q' 500,000
0 80,000 1,000,000
0 150,000 2,000,000
0 0 50,000
0 0 100,000
0 01 0
1,900,000 2,000,000 2,100,000
115,000 120,000 125,000
250,000 250,000 260,000
160,000 165,000 170,000
2,100,000 2,200,000 2,300,000
9,890,000 ' 9,365,000 9,595,000
200,000 200,000 200,000
200,000 200,000 200,000
400,000 400,000 400,000
185,000 0 45,000
60,000 0 64,000
32,000 0 34,000
162,000 167,000 172,000
5,800,000j 0, 0
OJ 0 0
01 5,970,000 0
Page 1 of 3
Construction Costs
2014 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
45,000 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1,000,000 150,000 OJ 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 0
2,000,000 0 0 0 0 2,000,000
0 500,000 500,000 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 150,000 250,000 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
800,000 100,000 800,000 800,000 800,000 800,000
0 0 0 350,000 0 0
0 0 0 0 OJ 0
0 01 450,000' 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 2,000,000 500,0001 0
200,000 0 0 0 0 0
150,000 0 0 0 2,000,000 150,000
300,000 0 0 0 0 300,000
750,000 0 0 0 0 750,000
40,000 0 0 0 0 40,000
2,205,000 0 0 01 0 0
130,000 0 0 0 0 0
270,000 0 0 0 0 0
175,000 0 0, 0 0 0
2,400,000 OJ 0 0 0 0
9,465,000 1,600,000 ' 2,050,000 3,400,000 3,300,000 4,040,000
200,000 0 0 0 0 0
200,000 0 0 01 0 0
400,000 0 0 0 0 0
250,000 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
178,000 0 0 0 0' 0
0 0 5,800,000 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 ----0
0 0 0 5,970,000 0 0
City of Palo Alto
2010·2014 CIP PLAN
Enterprise Funds
Proj No. Proj Name
GS·10002 General Shop Equipme (Note 1)
GS-10003 Cathodic Current Int --------------------GS-11000 GMR -Project 21
GS·11001 Gas Station 4 Rebuil (Note 1)
GS-12001 GMR -Project 22
GS-13001 GMR -Project 23
GS·14000 GMR -Project 24
GS-80017 Gas System Extension (Note 1)
GS-80019 Gas Meters and Regul (Note 1)
Total
RF-10002 FLARE RELOCATION PRO
RF-10003 DRYING BEDS, MATl ST
RF·11001 landfill Closure
Total
SD-06101 Storm Drain System R
SD-11101 Channing Ave/Lincoln
SD-13002 Matadero Crk Strm Wt
Total
WC-09001 WC Reh/Aug. P~ 22
WC-09002 Root, Sediment, Dew (Note 1)
WC-10002 WC Reh/Aug. Prj 23
WC-11000 WC Reh/Aug. Prj 24
WC-12001 WC Reh/Aug. Prj 25
WC-13001 WC Reh/Aug. P~ 26
WC-14001 we Reh/Aug. P~ 27
WC-80020 Sewer System Extensi {Note 1)
WC-99013 Sewer Manhole Rehabl (Note 1)
Total
WQ..Q4011 Facility Condition A (Note 3)
WQ-10001 iPlant Master Plan (Note 3)
WQ-80021 Plant Equipment Repl (Note 3)
WQ-80022 System Flow Meter (Note 3)
Total
WS-02014 W-G-W Utility GIS Da (Note 1)
WS-07001 Water Recycling Faci
WS-08002 Emergency Water Supp
WS-09000 Seismic Water Tank V
WS-09001 WMR -Project 23
WS-10001 WMR-Project 24 (WS-1
WS-11000 WMR-Project 25 (WS-1
ATTACHMENT K
Project Costs
2010 2011 2012 2013
64,000 0 0 0
300,000 0 0 0
° 457,000 0 6,150,000
0 215,000 0 0
0 0 468,000' 0
0 0 0 482,000
0 0 0 0
690,000 700,000 710,000 720,000
286,000 297,000 306,000 315,000
2,389,000 7,908,000 i 7,621,000 7,982,000
0; 200,000 0 0
0 750,000 0 0
0 6,700,000 0 0
0 7,650,000 ° °
550,000 567,000 584,000 601,000
820,0(J(J 895,000 1,590,000 1,680,000
0 0 0 0
1,370,000 1,462,000 2,174,000 2,281,000
i
2,675,0()(Ji 0 0 0
30,000 30,000 30,000 33,000
280,000 2,750,000 0 0
0 290,000 2,829,500 0
0 0 300,000 2,912,000
0 0 0 310,000
0 0 0 0
;'21,000 330,000 340,000 350,000
640,000 560,000 565,000 570,000
3,946,000 3,960,000 4,064,500 4,175,000
0 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,050,000
"inn nnn 0 0 0
1,100,000 1 ,45(J,(J()0 1,550,000 1,550,000
100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000
1,700,000 2,550,000 2,650,000 2,700,000
100,000 100,000 100,000 0
265,000 500,000 750,000 2,000,000
22,500,000 3,500,000: 0 0
550,000 01 0 0
2,845,000 0: 0 0
292,000 2,950,000 0 0
0 292,0001 3,060,000 0
Construction Costs
2014 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 300,000 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 01 6,150,000 0
0 0 0 01 0 0
3,200,000 0 0 0 0 3,200,000
0 0 0 0 0 0
492,000 0 0 0 0 0
730,000 0 0 Q 0 0
325,000 0 0 0 0 0
5,175,000 300,000 5,800,000 5,970,000 6,150,000 3,200,000_
0 0 200,000 0 0 0
0 0 750,000 0 0 0
0 0 6,700,000 0 0 0
0 ° 7,650,000 0 0 0
619,000 550,000 567,000 584,000 601,000 ~~ 1,430,000 820,000 895,000 1,590,0001 1,680,000 1,430,000
315,000 0 0 0 0 0
2,364,000 1,370,000 1 ,46~!()1!0 2,174,000 2,281,000 2,049,000
0 2,675,000 0 0 0 0
33,000 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 2,750,000 0 0 0
0 0 0 2,829,500 0 ----0
0 0 0 01 2,912,000 0
3,000,000 0 0 0 0 3,000,000
320,000 0 0 0 0 0
361,000 0 0 0 0 0
617,000 0 0 0 0 0
4,331,000 2,675,000 2,750,000 2,829,500 2,912,000 3,000,000
1,100,000
0 0 0 0 0 0
1,550,000
100,000
2,750,000 -. • ! --,
0 0' 0 0 0 0
1,150,000 265,000 500,000 750,000 2,000,000, 1,150,000
0 22,500,000 3,500,000 0 0 0
0 550,000 0 0 0 0
0 2,845,00(J 0 0 0 0
0 0 2,950,000 0 0 0
0 0 0 3,060,000 0 0 -----
City of Palo Alto
2010*2014 CIP PLAN
Enterprise Funds
Proj No. Proj Name
WS-12001 WMR-Project 26
WS-13001 WMR-Project 27
WS-14001 WMR-Project 28 -add
WS-80013 Water System Extensi (Note 1)
WS-80014 Water Service Hydran (Note 1)
WS-80015 Water Meters (Not~ 1)
Total
Notes:
1. Project exempt from prevailing wage since
projects will be done by in-house staff (City staff)
2. Maintenance project
ATTACHMENT K
Project Costs
2010 2011 2012 2013
0 0 305,000 3,150,000
0 0 01 314,000
0 01 0 0
400,000 410,000 420,000 430,000
259,000; 212,000 217,0001 222,000'
203,000 209,00Q -::-11~00O 222,000
27,414,000 8,173,000 5,067,000 6,338,000
Total ~-
Estimated Prevailing Wage at 5%
Estimated Prevailing Wage at 10%
F~llding Sources: (at 5%)
Electric Fund Distribution Rate Stabilization Reserve
Gas Fund Distribution Rate Stabilization Reserve 1
Refuse Fund Rate Stabilization Reserve
Storm Drain FundRate Stabilization Reserve
WWC Fund Rate Stabilization Reserve
Water Fund Rate Stabilization Reserve
T()~I--1 --------
Funding Sources: (at 10%L
Electric Fund Distribution Rate Stabilization Reserve
Gas Fund Distribution Rate Stabilization Reserve
Refuse Fund Rate Stabilization Reserve
Storm Drain FundRate Stabilization Reserve
WWC Fund Rate Stabilization Reserve
Water Fund Rate Stabilization Reserve -----
Total I
3. Regional facility and implements prevailing wage
Page 3 of3
2014
0
3,245,000
324,00Q
41~ 229,000
229,000
5,617,000
-------
-----
Construction Costs
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0 01 0 3,150,000 0
0 0 0 0 3,245,000
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 01 0 ~ -------Or Oi 0 0 0 -----
0 0 0 0 0
26,160,000 6,950,000 3,810,000 5,150,000 4,395,000
32,1()~~_26,662,000 18,183,500 19,793,000 16,684,000
1,605,250 1,333,100 909,175 989,650 834,200
3,210,500 2,666,200 1,818,350 1,979,300 1,668,400
80,000 102,5001 170,000 185,0001 __ 202,000
15,000 290,000 298,500 160,000 307,500 --
0 363,750 0 0, 0
~ _ 7~ 108,700 114,050 102,450 ------
133,750 156,250 141,475 145,600 150,000
1,308,000 347,500; 190,500 257,500 219,750 ---------
989,650I_u .... I134,200
i
1,605,250 1,333,100 909,175
160,000 205,000 340,000 330,000 404,000
30,000 580,000 597,000 615,000 320,000
0 727,5001 0 0 0
137,000 146,200 217,400 228,100 204,900 ------
f-----_267,500; 312,500 282,950 291,2001 300,000
2,618,000 895,000 381,000 515,000 439,500
3,210,500 2,666,200 1,818,350 1,979,300 1,668,400