We cite all four contracts with links below.

One of the contracts seeks $216,676 for "professional design review and entitlement consulting services related to the Civic Center master plan development."

[Scroll down for further]

[City management agendizing memo text for Civic Center item] On December 9, 2014, the City Council selected Plenary Edgemoor Civic Partners (PECP) as the City's preferred Project Team for the re-envisioning of the Civic Center...This [required] evaluation of technical proposals in response to City-defined guiding principles and project goals. HOK, Inc., a global design, engineering, and architecture firm, is a subconsultant to ARUP North America Limited (ARUP), and assisted staff in the technical evaluation of the design submittals...

Now that the City Council has selected a Project Team, staff requests the continued assistance of HOK, Inc., to serve as an advisor for planning, design and architectural review. Under the terms of the proposed contract, HOK, Inc., would assist Development Services staff in the formal review of PECP's master site plan, as well as the individual design review of separate buildings for City Hall, Main Library and the Harbor Department. HOK, Inc., would also perform design review on the proposed design of Lincoln Park...

FISCAL IMPACT

The consulting contract for design review and entitlement services in an amount not to exceed $216,676 is comprised of $187,888 for base services, a 10 percent contingency of $18,788, and up to $10,000 for reimbursable expenses. An appropriation increase is requested in the Development Services Fund (EF 337) in the Development Services Department (DV) for $216,676. The increase will be offset by existing fund balance in EF 337...

On December 3, 2013, the Council voted 7-1 (Schipske dissenting, Lowenthal absent) to authorize city management to retain the ARUP group for $1.086 million for its first year (with a renewable/optional second and third years) to assist in preparing the "Request for Proposals" (RFP) that would invite three (shrank to two) developer/operator groups to submit proposals for a "public private partnership transaction" for a new City Hall/Civic Center. At that time, Mike Conway, Director of Business and Property Development told the Council that the sum may increase: "Issues may arise in the development of the RFP or analysis of submittals that require additional financial or other consulting assistance. If so, staff will come back to City Council with an additional funding request."

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Three months earlier on Oct. 22, 2013 Council meeting, multiple speakers urged the Council to explore retrofitting LB's current City Hall and nearly no public speakers directly supported a new Civic Center. After public testimony, the Council voted 8-1 (Schipske dissenting) to authorize management to proceed with preparing the contract that came to the December 2013 vote. The motion was made by Councilwoman (now Vice Mayor) Suja Lowenthal, seconded by Vice Mayor (now Mayor) Robert Garcia. Lowenthal said building a new Civic Center was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. Garcia said the new Civic Center would be a bold use of public space for multiple purposes.

On the October 2013 vote, several Councilmembers cited seismic issues as their basis for seeking to proceed rapidly. However a little over a year later, on December 9, 2014 the new (current) Council (Mungo replacing exited Schipske) voted without dissent to approve the Civic Center transaction despite management's acknowledgment that a new City Hall isn't expected to be ready for occupancy (if all timeline benchmarks are met) until late 2019. As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, the City and its elected officials received reports dating back to 2005-07 indicating City Hall seismic issues but never invited bids to ascertain a marketplace cost to seismically retrofit City Hall.

City management offered the Council its estimate of retrofit costs, which it said was based on seismic studies. At the October 2013 Council meeting, architects from local firms subsequently testified at the Council podium that they could retrofit City Hall and make improvements to the Main Library for less than city management had estimated and wondered aloud why they hadn't been asked.

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In October-November 2014, member of LB's new City Council were sent copies of a Columbia University Master of Science graduate student's thesis recommending a seismic retrofit. Neither the new Council nor city management invited her to testify or present her findings, or invited representatives of any Long Beach firms -- or any outside firms -- to present their retrofit options at any public City Council meeting.

At a November 11, 2014 study session held in a NLB park social hall (the only Council meeting at which management provided financial details of the proposed Civic Center transaction prior to a Council decisional vote a month later), Councilwoman Suzie Price asked if management had evaluated the Columbia University student's retrofit graduate thesis. Mr. Conway replied that the thesis hadn't provided him with sufficient detailed information to evaluate. No Councilmember asked why the graduate student (a Long Beach native) wasn't invited to testify and present that information, or why no outside firms experienced in performing retrofits had been invited to publicly present their retrofit cost options in the same detailed manner as management's presentatons that dismissed a retrofit as not cost effective. (Multiple cities including Los Angeles, Pasadena and San Francisco retrofitted their older City Halls; LB's current City Hall is less than 40 years old.)

On December 9, 2014, the Council voted 8-0 (4th dist. vacant) to enter into a contract to pursue the Civic Center project. The $216,000+ contract cost being requested tonight (Jan. 20, 2015) is among the results.

Below is the full list of the $1.25+ million contracts.

[Text as agendized]

Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute a contract with HOK, Inc., a Culver City-based business, for professional design review and entitlement consulting services related to the Civic Center master plan development, in an amount not to exceed $216,676 for a period of one year, with the option to renew for another year at the discretion of the City Manager...To view the agendizing memo, click here.

Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP FM15-011 and award a contract to Chandler Asset Management, Inc., of San Diego, CA, to provide investment advisory and management services, in an annual amount not to exceed $300,000, for a period of two years, with the option to renew for three additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager. To view the agendizing memo, click here.

Recommendation to authorize City Manager to enter into an agreement with Tait Environmental Services, Inc., of Santa Ana, CA, to provide Underground Storage Tank (UST) consulting and project management services, in an annual amount not to exceed $240,000, for a period of one year starting January 1, 2015, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager. To view the agendizing memo, click here.

Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager to execute a Second Amendment to Contract No. 30976 with Innovative Interfaces Incorporated, to provide continued Library Management System services and staff training in the amount of $513,342, plus a 15 percent contingency in the amount of $77,001 for a total amount not to exceed $590,343 for a period of three years, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods at $189,411 for year four and $198,882 for year five, at the discretion of the City Manager. To view the agendizing memo, click here.