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REQUEST FOR <br />COUNCIL ACTION <br />CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: <br />JULY 7, 2008 <br />TITLE: <br />AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT WITH WEST <br />COAST ARBORIST, INC. <br />/'~' ! <br />/~ CITY NAGER <br />~2ECOMMENDED ACTION <br />~~, <br />CLERK OF COUNCIL USE ONLY: <br />APPROVED <br />^ As Recommended <br />^ As Amended <br />^ Ordinance on 1 S` Reading <br />^ Ordinance on 2"d Reading <br />^ Implementing Resolution <br />^ Set Public Hearing For_ <br />CONTINUED TO <br />FILE NUMBER <br />Authorize the City Manager and Clerk of the Council to execute the <br />attached amendment to the agreement with West Coast Arborist, Inc. <br />increasing the contract in an estimated amount of $70,000 for an amount <br />not to exceed $865,350 in FY2008/2009. <br />DISCUSSION <br />The City is responsible for the maintenance of approximately 65,000 <br />street trees. The Tree Section arranges for the pruning of a <br />predetermined number of these trees annually based on International <br />Society of Arborist standards. The work performed is a component of the <br />City's tree management program and is planned in advance based upon the <br />tree species pruning cycle. <br />Since 1997, the City has utilized the services of West Coast Arborist <br />(WCA) to provide street tree maintenance services. The City and the <br />contractor have had an excellent public/private partnership over the term <br />of the contract working together with neighborhoods and the community on <br />tree care issues. The cooperation of WCA with City staff to implement a <br />sound tree maintenance program was instrumental in the recognition of the <br />City by the National Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA. <br />West Coast Arborist advised staff in a letter that they were requesting <br />modification in their compensation due to the increase in insurance, <br />fuel, cost of living and Workers' Compensation costs. The proposal will <br />increase the tree pruning price from $43.00 a tree to $47.00 a tree and <br />palm tree pruning from $21.50 a tree to $24.00 a tree and other increases <br />in accordance with Exhibit B-1 of the attached amendment. <br />To check the reasonableness of WCAs' schedule of compensation, staff <br />researched bid results and contracts from other municipalities in <br />California. It was found that WCA has contracts with 158 municipalities, <br />including 30 in Southern California and the average prices of the recent <br />25R-1 <br />