The City Council this week officially and unanimously accepted grant funds for San Gabriel River Trash Mitigation project. The council also approved a budget amendment to create an account for the $525,000 and appropriate that money for professional contracts. To get really technical, the council also authorized the city manager to execute the agreement with Orange County and use the money for the San Gabriel River project.
The council also awarded a contract for the project in a separate agenda item.
Supervisor Andrew Do’s office gave a presentation check for the grant money before the public comment segment of the meeting. According to Do, the money came from the County Supervisory First District discretionary fund.
Do said the trash initiative would probably take place over the next two years. Do said he had only nine more months in office. Do said he would define seeing the project start as one of the defining accomplishments of his time in office.
District One Council Member Joe Kalmick, like Supervisor Do, thanked the members of the San Gabriel River working group, which Kalmick called a coalition. “Over the first five years since I’ve been on the council, I’ve looked at that river and trash and I’ve tried to research solutions. And there wasn’t anything that seemed to work, until recently when I learned about an environmental group out of the Netherlands called Ocean Cleanup who has the very modest goal of cleaning up every ocean and every river in the world,” Kalmick said.
The audience laughed. Kalmick said some of their technologies could be used to clean up the San Gabriel River. He said this couldn’t happen if their was not a coalition that reached across the river. “With the generous donation, we’re not going backward, we’re going forward. So, again, thank you, supervisor,” Kalmick said.
Accepting the county grant was an item on the Consent Calendar. The Consent Calendar is approved collectively and unanimously, after public comment, without discussion by the council unless specific items are pulled for individual consideration. This item wasn’t pulled.
Background
Nearly 400 tons of trash a year wash up on the city’s beach, according to the staff report by Public Works Director Iris Lee.
According to Lee, Assembly members Diane Dixon and Josh Lowenthal, Supervisor Andrew Do, Seal Beach, Long Beach and two chapters of the Surfrider Foundation formed a working group to address the problem. Dixon’s office created the group, according to Lee’s report.
“The County of Orange, via Supervisor Andrew Do’s Office, has indicated a desire to contribute funds to kickstart this Initiative with a focus on the initial Study phase,” Lee wrote.
“While the entire initiative is estimated at roughly $6 million over the next three (3) to five (5) years for all phases, the initial Study and supporting resources to procure services, coordinate stakeholder engagement, and oversee execution of the Study is estimated at $494,000,” Lee wrote.
“Additionally, the County of Orange desires to act on more immediate efforts including beach clean-up of trash and beach raking operations during the 2024 calendar year. These near-term services are estimated to cost $31,000 and are included in this total request for funding,” Lee wrote.
“On February 27, 2024, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a grant to the City of Seal Beach in the amount of $525,000 for the Initiative, and authorized execution of a grant agreement with the City,” Lee wrote. (See “Supervisors OK $525,000 for river trash project,” at sunnews.org.)
Seal Beach will be the agency that receives the funds, according to the staff report.
“The City will be responsible for providing staffing resources to oversee the initial phase of the Initiative,” Lee wrote.
“These efforts may also include the oversight and funding of strategic or technical consultants to support unique elements of the initial phase,” Lee wrote.
“The level of effort for those external resources is variable at this point but expected to be minimal and within existing fiscal year budgetary appropriations,” Lee wrote.
Seal Beach awards contract for river trash project
Having received money for the San Gabriel River trash project, the council this week unanimously awarded a contract to Silsby Strategic Advisors, Inc., for the project. The contract is for a maximum $144,000 to provide support services for the river project. The council also authorized City Manager Jill Ingram to authorize more work requests up to $15,000, according to the staff report by Public Works Director Iris Lee.
In related news, the council also heard from Supervisor Andrew Do’s office about grant money for the project on Monday, March 25. The city also formally accepted a grant fund of more than half a million for the project.
This was a Consent Calendar item. Everything on the Consent Calendar is approved collectively and unanimously, after public comment, without discussion by the council unless specific items are pulled for individual consideration. This item wasn’t pulled.
The staff report put the project budget at $159,000.
“Staff requests approval for a not-to-exceed amount of $15,000 for contingency if additional analysis or support activities are required to enhance the Initiative beyond the initial Study area or to address comments received from stakeholders and community collaboration meetings not yet accommodated within the Study work product,” Lee wrote.
According to her report, the cost of the agreement will be paid by the San Gabriel River Trash Mitigation Initiative account that the city created with money from Orange County to cover the initial study for the river trash project.
