Tracking the homeless expected to cost $66K
(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures which appear on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past).
CITY HALL — Elected leaders here plan to spend nearly $3 million tonight, mostly on clean-up efforts in and around the city and the Santa Monica Bay.
The biggest ticket item for the City Council this evening is authorizing a contract for about $2 million to have a consultant assess environmental damage caused by activities at the city yards, the Big Blue Bus facility and Santa Monica Airport.
The city maintains fueling facilities and underground storage tanks at each of the three facilities. As a result, spills and leaks have occurred in the past, according to city staff. Work at the sites require clean-up of subsurface contamination, which will be under the oversight of the Los Angeles Regional Quality Control Board. An investigation will also be required at the bus yard for planned infrastructure improvements.
The bus yard work will require the most money, and the most time. It’s estimated to cost nearly $1.3 million and last until 2008.
Work at the city yards, estimated to cost $804,516, is expected to continue at least through 2007. The airport work will require $157,228 and should last until 2005.
HEALING THE BAY Another $260,000 will be spent to divert hundreds of tons of garbage from Santa Monica Bay. Two projects, which are funded by federal grants, will be undertaken by City Hall in collaboration with Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles.
The first project involves an $80,000 matching grant from City Hall to help pay for the installation and operation of 200 new catch basins to trap debris produced by urban runoff. The devices will be installed in county-owned catch basins located in various cities within LA County.
As part of a federally-funded program, the city of Santa Monica participated by selecting locations within the city for the devices and will provide a 25-percent match in grants. Santa Monica’s grant was to pay for monitoring the devices during storms and replace them when necessary, until the city’s match of $80,000 is expended. City staff expects those funds to be depleted within five years.
The city will be responsible for inspecting, monitoring, replacing and cleaning out the catch basins, city staff said. Once the city’s $80,000 is spent, LA County will be responsible for the catch basins.
The city of Santa Monica has installed numerous urban runoff treatment devices, including 485 basin inserts and screens, and three large in-line litter and pollutant units. Each year, city crews remove pollutant-laden debris from about 650 city-owned catch basins. Last year, 30 tons of debris were removed, city staff said.
The second project is a partnership between City Hall and the city of LA to install an urban runoff treatment system at Mar Vista Park. The city of Santa Monica will pay $180,000 for a diversion pipeline for the system.
The grant-funded project is designed to reduce and prevent urban runoff pollution for the Centinela basin watershed, which includes Ballona Creek and the Pacific Ocean — areas that are listed on a national list of impaired water bodies that require remediation.
The city of LA is constructing new soccer fields at Mar Vista Park and the storm drain must be tapped into to divert runoff in the proposed system, city staff said. However, that won’t be possible after the park improvements are installed. So to expedite the project in a cost-effective manner, Santa Monica officials have requested that the diversion pipeline be installed prior to construction, staff said.
Santa Monica will operate and maintain the system for its expected lifespan of 30 years, at an estimated $5,000 annually.
HAULING IT OUT Two truck tractors used by the solid waste management division will cost City Hall $224,030. The diesel-powered truck tractors will be used to pull 45-foot semitrailers to various landfills. They will replace models from 1992 and a 1994, which are no longer cost effective to maintain, according to city staff.
TRACKING THE HOMELESS City officials are expected to spend $66,000 on a computerized network designed to track homeless individuals who use Santa Monica’s social service programs.
City Hall installed a computerized network in 1995 for homeless services agencies to track unduplicated clients, their demographics and their outcomes. The network links 12 programs and 85 work stations in 11 agencies. The computer services contract with Chris Fonner, who has worked on the system since its inception, expired on Nov. 1. The new contract is for $5,500 per month, or $50 an hour, and would last through Oct. 31, 2005.
The services are funded entirely through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 9, 2004. Read the original PDF.