Funds for Local Food Pantries on Monday’s Consent Calendar

As part of Monday’s consent calendar, the City Council will consider $589,164 in subrecipient agreements funded with federal CDBG-CV grant dollars, with food pantry program operators to address households experiencing food insecurity caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  

Under the agreements, $91,996 would go to the National Day Laborer Organization Network, $113,925 to First AME Church, $19,178 to First United Methodist Church, $85,010 to the Foothill Unity Center and $278,515 to the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.

In November 2020, the City Council approved a substantial amendment to the 2020- 21 Annual Action Plan allocating $1.1 million dollars in CDBG-CV Round 3 funds for food pantry services under the Parks, Recreation & Community Service Department. 

The funding was made available by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), and are restricted to activities that prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19. 

In May, 2021, the City Council approved funding for five organizations and a pre award administration for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department (PRCS) in connection with the Pasadena Food Pantry Program. The Program provides groceries to households experiencing food insecurity caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

In its first year of operation, the Program was administered by PRCS. During that time, the Pasadena Senior Center dropped out of the program due to staffing capacity. 

On January 31, the City Council approved the restructuring of the program to transfer the administration function from PRCS to the individual organizations. As a result, the total funds awarded to PRCS will be reduced to $278,515 to cover the first year of administration costs and program costs paid through PRCS to the food pantries. 

Here are the other items on Monday’s consent calendar:

• A $270,600 contract award to Mariposa Tree Management to provide brush clearance services for the water and power and department.  PWP is responsible for clearing the brushes on City-owned properties, adjacent to neighboring properties and structures. This contract will provide brush clearance services twice per year for PWP-owned properties adjacent to La Cañada Flintridge and Altadena. Brush clearance services includes the removal of overgrown vegetation and non-native plants, clearing of debris from trails and roads, and abatement of litter and debris within 100 feet of any structure. The work must be completed before May 1st of each year as a fire prevention measure and is vital to the safety of the public and private property.
• A $483,000 purchase order contract for the lease buyout of twenty Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles (EVs) with Enterprise Fleet Management, and a $109,636 purchase order with Enterprise Fleet Management to extend the lease of eighteen Chevrolet Bolt EVs. With increasing interest in the emerging market for EVs, the City also took this opportunity to concurrently implement leasing EVs by identifying vehicles from all City departments that can be transitioned to fully electrical powered vehicles, specifically for the ones that are utilized on short frequent trips and would not require hauling large tools or equipment. A total of thirty-eight vehicles were identified from the departments of Human Resources, Public Works, Fire, Information Technology, Planning, and Transportation. The current 36-month lease agreement for these thirty-eight EVs with Enterprise will expire at the end of this fiscal year. Each EV has been re-evaluated in collaboration with the participating departments to determine the actual replacement and operational necessity. 
• A five-year $467,500 purchase order contract with Vision Electric Wholesale Inc., to furnish and deliver electrical conduit and street light lamps ballasts, tools.  The Department of Public Works (PW), Street Lights and Traffic Signal Section (SLATS) requires a variety of parts and equipment to perform routine maintenance for the operation of traffic signals, street lights, and public park lighting. It is necessary to replenish the stock of such materials as they become depleted due to routine maintenance and necessary repairs. As such, a bid solicitation process was initiated to replenish these materials.
• A two-year, $141,226 purchase order contract with Waxie Sanitary Supply for restroom supplies at city buildings.  The Department of Public Works, Building Systems and Fleet Management Division (BSFMD) procures restroom supplies for 39 City-owned buildings for the purpose of maintaining a clean and safe environment for City employees and visitors. The purchase of restroom supplies includes the following items: roll towels, toilet tissue, hand soap, multifold hand towels, and toilet seat covers. Orders are typically placed once or twice per month in various quantities. Supplies are delivered to a central warehouse at the City Yard for distribution to sites as needed.
• A resolution and June 13 public hearing to consider granting non-exclusive solid waste franchise renewals. On November 3, 1992, the City Council adopted the Solid Waste Collection Franchise System. The purpose of the ordinance is to provide standards and procedures for granting nonexclusive franchises for solid waste collection of commercial, industrial and multi-family residential accounts and to generate revenue for municipal purposes including but not limited to the preparation and implementation of an Integrated Waste Management Plan and maintenance of public streets which are impacted by heavily laden vehicles. 
• A $111,434 contract with Constant Associates to provide evacuation planning services.  In 2021 , the City of Pasadena’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) was reviewed citywide. It was found that it would be in the City’s benefit to enhance the Plan to address those sections of the City that have close proximity to the wildland-urban interface. The neighborhoods found in these sections are often isolated, have limited and narrow roadways, and are at high-risk for wildfires and other hazards. While the current EOP provides strong evacuation guidelines for the City’s general landscape, it does not consider the unique challenges faced by the communities in these areas. After numerous discussions with Pasadena home owners associations in these high hazard areas, the Fire Chief has prioritized the development of an Evacuation Plan to assist in preventing loss of life in a disaster and will serve as an Addendum to the EOP. Pasadena Fire Department seeks to contract with a consultant to develop an effective Evacuation Plan for these high-risk neighborhoods that will address their unique terrain such as isolated locations, limited access by roads, and assess all high-hazard vegetation areas throughout the City. The Evacuation Plan will identify alternative routes and transportation methods, resources required for effective evacuation in small and large emergency scenarios, vulnerable population considerations, traffic points and key locations that should be included on evacuation maps. 
• A $285,697 contract with First Due to furnish and deliver a cloud/internet based records management software (RMS). For close to 20 years, the Pasadena Fire Department (PFD) has used FIREHOUSE software as its primary Records Management System (RMS) for many of its activities including managing, tracking, and updating of emergency response incident records, fire personnel records, fire prevention activity, public education activity, training, and certifications. This RMS also directly connects to the Verdugo Fire Communications Center’s (VFCC) computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to receive direct dispatched incident information. FIREHOUSE allows for standardized reporting to be submitted to National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS), a system used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to track national incident records. In 2020, the PFD received official notification that the FIREHOUSE software would be discontinued near the end of 2022, prompting the need to replace and find a new RMS software. 
• A  resolution establishing new classifications and salaries and updating salaries of existing classifications. The Human Resources Department’s Employment Services Division is responsible for managing classification and compensation work for the City. Periodically there is a need to update or add job classifications and salary rates as duties and the operational needs of the City change over time and the marketplace adjusts. The City’s Manual of Personnel & Administrative Rules establishes a comprehensive process for classification submission in which the Human Resources Department reviews, approves, and provides recommendations on classification requests. As part of a recent classification and compensation review, Human Resources recommends establishing three new classifications to meet the operational needs of three departments, Planning and Community Development, Public Works, and Water and Power. Additionally, Human Resources recommends updating the existing salary control rates of five classifications, one in the Fire Department, one in the Department of Information Technology and three in Water and Power