Riechel Reports...... Mills Park Street Light UPDATE -- Posted 1/21/17

Article Source: City of San Bruno CA

DATE: January 24, 2017

TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

FROM: Jimmy Tan, Public Services Director/City Engineer

SUBJECT: Adopt Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Contract with Zeiger Engineers, Inc. for the Design of the Mills Park Regulated Output Replacement Project in an Amount Not to Exceed $43,934 and Appropriating $43,934 from the General Fund Capital Reserve Fund

BACKGROUND:

In early September 2016, the City began experiencing streetlight outages in Mills Park 3, 5 and 6 neighborhoods that affected 50 streetlights on the following streets: Magnolia Avenue, Cypress Avenue, Olive Court, Kains Avenue, Sycamore Avenue, Chestnut Avenue, Williams Avenue, Park Avenue, Hazel Avenue, Cedar Avenue, Pepper Drive, Hawthorne Avenue, and Redwood Avenue The lights are on a Regulated Output (RO) circuit that is powered by a transformer, which sends a higher voltage to all the streetlights within the circuit. A failure in the power source or the electrical wires can cause an entire string of lights to malfunction, similar to holiday lights. The City currently has 356 streetlights on eight (8) RO circuits.

Immediately after the initial outage was reported, City staff began to investigate the cause of the power failure and instituted temporary measures to help alleviate the situation. Staff coordinated with PG&E to evaluate their RO transformer to determine whether it caused the streetlight outage. At the same time, the City and its streetlight contractor, Flowers Electric, commenced testing and evaluating the underground electrical wiring at specific locations and made numerous repairs. On September 29, 2016, PG&E crews successfully split the circuit in two, which allowed 26 of the lights to be functional. Similar to the Crestmoor RO outage in 2015, staff asked residents who were near a malfunctioning streetlight if they would be willing to plug the light into their property, with the City providing a monthly reimbursement. As of the end of 2016, thirteen (13) residents had accepted the offer.

While the City instituted the temporary measures, staff also investigated more permanent solutions to the outage issue. For the Crestmoor neighborhood RO outage in 2016, the City proceeded with replacing the underground wires and kept the RO circuit as it was the quickest solution to restoring power in the neighborhood. The Crestmoor neighborhood electrical circuit consists of electrical wire within a conduit which makes it easier replace the wires quickly. Unlike the Crestmoor RO outage, the portion of Mills Park neighborhood RO does not have any conduits. The electrical wires are directly buried underground either behind sidewalks or underneath sidewalks which makes it difficult to replace. Staff is recommending to replace the RO circuit with a more traditional parallel circuit. The City began working with PG&E in late September 2016 to evaluate and design three (3) new power service locations that would support the new parallel circuit. PG&E approved the design internally in December 2016 and is currently working with the City to finalize a contract to provide the new power sources.

DISCUSSION:

The City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for professional services to design the Mills Park RO Replacement on November 29, 2016 and received one (1) proposal from Zeiger Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $43,934. While staff reached out to electrical engineering design firms and forwarded the project to numerous RFP distribution sites, streetlight circuitry replacement is a specialized field which many firms do not have the proper experience to design. Zeiger Engineers demonstrated the knowledge, qualifications, and experience to perform the scope of work, having completed similar local projects for the Cities of Burlingame, San Carlos, and Redwood City.

The scope of work includes designing the replacement of the Mills Park 24 streetlight RO circuit to a parallel circuit (in coordination with PG&E's construction of new power sources), developing specifications for construction bidding, and providing support during the bidding and construction process. The design will also include the replacement of eleven (11) streetlight poles, which were found to be defective during the RO assessment process.

For the project schedule, staff estimates that it will take approximately three (3) months to complete the design scope of work and another three (3) months to go out for the project bid and contract award. The City website currently has a Mills Park Outage news item on its homepage that will be updated during this project.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Because the outage was unforeseen, there is currently no allocation for this project in the adopted 2016-21 CIP budget. Staff is requesting an allocation of $43,934 from the General Fund Capital Reserve Fund for the design phase of this project. Staff will work with the Finance Department to include the project in the upcoming 2017-22 CIP budget for City Council review and approval to fund the project's construction phase.

ALTERNATIVES:

• Direct staff to re-issue the RFP and seek more proposals.
• Do not authorize award of this contract and defer the project. A majority of the Mills Park neighborhood streetlights will continue to function with the temporary measures in place.
• Do not authorize award of this contract and investigate alternative solutions to parallel circuits.

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract with Zeiger Engineers, Inc. for the design of the Mills Park Regulated Output Replacement Project in an amount not to exceed $43,934 and appropriating $43,934 from the General Fund Capital Reserve Fund.

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Robert Riechel

E=Mail: SanBrunoPatch.Robert@Yahoo.com

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Photo Credit: San Bruno CA Patch Archives

Source Credit: City of San Bruno CA

Web Site: https://sanbruno.ca.gov/