TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Douglas J. Hewett, City Manager, ICMA-CM
FROM: Kristoff Bauer, Deputy City Manager
DATE: November 26, 2018
RE:
Title
Fort Bragg Army Community Partnership Program - Intergovernmental Service Agreements (IGSA’s)
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goals V & VI: Sustainable Organizational Capacity & Partnerships
Executive Summary:
Fort Bragg kicked off an Army Community Partnership (ACP) program with a conference held on 25 June 2018 (see letter attached). This event utilized a facilitator to explore opportunities to partner with governmental entities to enhance operational efficiency or other improve services on Fort Bragg. A number of opportunities for partnerships for a number of services were discussed including; environmental services, custodial services, landscape maintenance, and building maintenance. This report will update Council on the progress of these discussions.
Background:
The City of Fayetteville worked with Fort Bragg to develop a new contracting methodology for military bases allowing them to contract directly with local governments. Authorized by an act of congress, InterGovernmental Service Agreements (“IGSA’s”) can be directly negotiated and awarded without bid. They are a simplified contracting form exempt from most federal regulation. They were initially authorized for up to five years, but have been expanded to now support terms of up to ten years. The City has two current IGSA’s with Fort Bragg; custodial and building maintenance services at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum.
The Garrison requested that the City work with them to explore additional IGSA’s in 2016 relating to solid waste, road maintenance, and PSAP/E911 operations. Staff included some analysis related to this request into the contract with GBB Solid Waste Management Consultants who were already contracted to analyze solid waste operations and outsourcing in response to a Council Initiative. When this issue came to Council, however, the partnership on solid waste was not supported and the consensus of Council was that staff should not engage in any further discussions regarding IGSA’s with Fort Bragg without the prior authorization of Council.
Staff brought the ACP request to Council for discussion during the August 6th Work Session. The consensus of Council supported the City partnering with Ft. Bragg to accomplish its service needs. After meetings including diverse service providers from public safety to parks, four areas in which the City has some experience and significant resources were identified:
• Environmental Services (solid waste, yard waste, and recycling collection)
• Building Maintenance
• Custodial Services
• Landscape Maintenance
Two other ideas came out of these conversations. The first is an opportunity to exchange soils was identified and a no cost IGSA was developed. Once executed, this will allow the City and Ft. Bragg Department of Public Works (“DPW”) to exchange materials ton for ton without cost. Each party would cover their own loading and trucking costs. The second is the ability for the City to partner with Ft. Bragg to develop sports fields on acreage at the corner of McArthur Rd. and I-295.
Ft. Bragg had also initially identified an interest in partnering on public transit services, but they have not been able to clear administrative obstacles to their constructive participation in substantive conversations. This effort has been abandoned as a result.
Issues/Analysis:
Environmental Services:
Ft. Bragg had requested a proposal for providing environmental services by January, 2019, in order to align with their current contract termination and renewal options. The current uncertainty regarding the City’s environmental services operations as the Council considers outsourcing this service made developing such a proposal impossible. Staff has withdrawn from discussions regarding this service area.
Sports Field Project:
Initial discussions regarding the use of the property on McArthur Rd. focused on the City obtaining an easement which was described as a straight forward process involving decisions made at the level of the local garrison command. On following up, however, the process has shifted to the development of a lease agreement. This is a multistep process that will take longer. The most aggressive potential process and timing is described as follows:
Summary (of a fast track leasing method):
4 months - ECP and MOA/MOU (working concurrently)
1 month to prepare package
2 months to procure lease
Total about 7+ months
Building Maintenance:
The same City staff that is developing the proposals for custodial and landscape maintenance services will be heavily involved in developing this proposal. Staff has asked DPW to hold this issue until after the heavy lifting has been completed on the other two proposals.
Custodial Services:
Staff has worked with Ft. Bragg DPW to develop a proposal to meet their needs. It was developed based on the detailed service requirements provided by DPW and similar agreements executed with other cities. The proposal is summarized in the table below:
This is based on the addition of over 60 personnel, 14 vehicles, and other related costs. One area still under development is the plan for operational space on post from which to deliver these services. Staff will be touring the base with DPW staff to confirm assumptions made in development of this proposal and to explore alternatives to provide on post operational space.
Landscape Maintenance
A similar proposal has been developed for landscape maintenance. Based on the initial conversation, however, DPW has asked that the City consider and price additional scope. The City has not received the specifications for this additional work at the time of this report. Preliminary estimates include 19 positions and 15 vehicles and equipment for a total cost in excess of $1.4 million. These estimates will change based on the anticipated increase in the scope of the request.
Timing
DPW has asked that the City be ready to initiate service Oct. 1, 2019. We have communicated that the City will need at least six months advance notice to initiate service. That means that any IGSA would need to be finalized and approved by both the City and DOD by the end of March, 2019. I don’t think that this date is realistic based on the time it has taken for the DOD to finalize and approve prior agreements.
Management Structure
It will be important for the City to have a supporting structure in place to provide adequate supervision and management of these new obligations. The City Manager’s Office has developed a plan that includes the addition of a new director level position to manage key contracted services such as Fleet and these contracts should they come to fruition. The costs of adding this position would be easily covered by the administrative fee currently built into the proposals, but moving forward will depend upon if these IGSA’s are, in fact, entered into.
Budget Impact:
None of the revenues, expenditures, or positions included in these proposals are currently budgeted. Initiating service by Oct. 1, 2019, would require budget authorization in FY 19 in order to initiate filling positions, training, and acquiring equipment in advance of that service delivery date. Revenues, however, would occur in the FY20 budget. Staff will provide recommended strategies for managing this cash flow issue should the IGSA’s proceed.
Options:
This item is an update only
Recommended Action:
No Action.
Attachments:
Army Community Partnership Invitation