Okaloosa County BOCC — February 18, 2014 — Action Item Printout — reading text

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: February 18, 2014 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: John Hofstad SUBJECT: Proposed in house Beach Cleaning DEPARTMENT: Public Works BCC DISTRICT: District 2 and District 5 STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Based on Board direction, staff has prepared a cost estimate outlining the anticipated needs with associated costs for providing continuous in-house beach cleaning services for Destin and Okaloosa Island beaches. Over the past several years, this service has been provided by an outside contractor secured through the competitive bidding process. BACKGROUND: Due to a series of bid protests, the Parks Division was tasked with removing trash from both Okaloosa Island and Destin beaches. Staff began removing trash from the beaches last October and has continued this task utilizing existing equipment and manpower. The service initially included emptying and removing accumulated trash and not deep-cleaning or raking of the beach area that was provided by the previous contractor. However this past December, the Board directed staff to secure beach cleaning equipment in order to provide this service. Starting in January of this year, Parks Division personnel began raking both beaches. The attached analysis provides a breakdown of the cost to perform in-house beach cleaning services and compares the cost to the most recent contract for outsourcing this same service. This analysis outlines the need for additional manpower as well as equipment that would be required to maintain service consistent with that which was provided by an outside vendor. The impact to the care and maintenance of other county park facilities due to the additional workload, at this point, has had been minimal. As the height of the tourist season nears, the impact will become much greater unless provisions are made for additional manpower. Staff has consulted with legal counsel and TDD bed tax monies can be utilized to support this activity. In consideration of this, no impacts to the County Parks budget of the Parks Division are anticipated. The costs for this service will be managed through budget transfers from the TDD to the Public Works Department on an annual basis as approved by the Board during the annual budget process. OPTIONS: Approve/disapprove the continued in house beach cleaning services. RECOMMENDATIONS: Based on the anticipated annual cost savings, staff requests Board consideration to forego future outsourcing of beach cleaning operations on Okaloosa Island and the Destin beaches in favor of performing this work with in-house resources. If approved, staff further requests Board consideration to add the necessary personnel and equipment to perform this operation. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: Ernie Padgett, County Administrator