Huntington Beach leaders are looking to make it easier for both themselves and residents to find out whether the city’s biggest contractors are delivering on their promises.
Tonight at 6 p.m., city council members are set to discuss requiring new reporting for any contracts that’re over half a million dollars, letting city staff review the contractor’s performance to determine if the city got their money’s worth.
To watch the meeting, click here.
The proposal comes after the city council approved 27 consulting contracts with engineering firms for public works projects at their last meeting, each of which allow city staff to bill for up to $2 million worth of work without coming back to the city council for approval.
That drew some concerns from Councilman Don Kennedy, who questioned why the city council was being asked to greenlight a potential $54 million expense in one vote given the 27 contracts.
Tom Herbel, the city’s deputy director of public works, said these contracts open the door for vendors to bid on projects and explained that the $2 million figure was not an estimate for how much each contractor would receive, just the ceiling for how much they could.
“The two million number is just a guesstimate,” Herbel said. “Truthfully, it should just be an open ended contract.”
Herbel noted that the contracts are restrained by the city budget, and that over the past two years city staff had spent around $8 million total on a similar bunch of consulting contracts.
Councilman Butch Twining, who said he had done work for the city before his election through his own consulting firm on a similar open ended contract, adding he’d only gotten around $40,000 over three years.
City council members are set to continue their review of those 27 contracts at tonight’s meeting, with a separate discussion around how the vendors were selected and what projects they’re expected to work on.
But Councilman Kennedy is also pitching a new review process for contracts, alongside Mayor Pat Burns and Councilman Chad Williams, which would require a public review of each of the city’s major contracts.
The review would “include project description, total cost, final budget summary (on/below/over budget), project schedule completion summary, and any other applicable information,” according to a letter they sent to fellow council members.
“End-of-project reporting can offer valuable insights into whether vendors fulfilled contract requirements, remained within budget, and delivered anticipated value,” they wrote. “Establishing a consistent and transparent reporting process will enable both the public and City leadership to evaluate project outcomes and the overall community benefit.”
In an interview with Voice of OC on Monday morning, Burns said the item was intended to help shed light on the work that’s done before city council members review an item.
“We don’t make these decisions just by reading an agenda and then discussing it on the dais,” Burns said. “I study the hell out of it, I contact staff, I ask questions and stuff, then I take into account what the discussion is that night.”
“There’s so much more that goes into these decision makings than only that night.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
