title
CC - CONSENT ITEM: Approval of the Continuance of the City's Sustainable Business Certification Program in Fiscal Year 2023/2024 in the Amount of $110,000.
body
Meeting Date: June 12, 2023
Contact Person/Dept.: Joe Susca / Public Works-Administration
Phone Number: (310) 253-5636
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [ ] General Fund: Yes [X] No [ ]
Attachments: Yes [ ] No [X]
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (06/07/2023); Sustainable Works (05/30/2023)
Department Approval: Yanni Demitri, Public Works Director / City Engineer (05/31/2023)
______________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council approve the continuance of the City’s Sustainable Business Certification Program in Fiscal Year 2023/2024 in the amount of $110,000.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
The City is among 48 others in California who offer a Sustainable Business Certification Program to their business community (the “Program”). Since its inception in 2016, the Program has certified a total of 58 businesses and is poised to certify approximately 10 more this summer.
The Program operates on a recurring one-year cycle beginning in September with outreach and marketing, performing business audits, creating Action Plans as a result of those audits and verifying that they were implemented, and culminating in an annual awards ceremony in August to publicly recognize their success.
Staff released a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April 2022 to continue the Program; inviting six California-based firms who perform this work for other cities to respond in addition to publicly posting it on PlanetBids and the City’s website. On July 11, 2022, the City Council approved a five-year contract with Community Partners (d.b.a. Sustainable Works) to administer the Program. The term of the contract, however, allows the City to suspend the program in any given fiscal year if funding is not appropriated through the annual budget process.
Upon discovery that the Program was excluded from the list of budget enhancements for Fiscal Year 2023/2024, City Council Member Freddy Puza requested that Program funding be included in next year’s budget at the May 22, 2023 City Council meeting, and he subsequently received confirmation from a majority of City Council to do so.
The $110,000 in funding needed to continue the Program in Fiscal Year 2023/2024 has been included in the budget adjustment list included for consideration with the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2023/2024 budget on June 12, 2023.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
The $110,000 cost of the Program is broken down as follows:
• $ 5,500 California Green Business Network annual membership fee;
• $ 5,142 Office Supplies, Printing and Other Incidentals; and
• $99,358 Sustainable Works Contract (which includes all costs associated with production of the Program’s annual award ceremony).
If approved, Program funding will be included in the list of programs contained in Account No. 10160100.619800 -- Public Works Administration - Other Contractual Services.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTION
That the City Council:
Approve the continuance of the Sustainable Business Certification Program in Fiscal Year 2023/2024 in the amount of $110,000.