MEMORANDUM CITY MANAGER S OFFICE. DATE: December 16, Honorable Mayor & Council Members. David Biggs, City Manager

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1 MEMORANDUM CITY MANAGER S OFFICE DATE: December 16, 2014 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: Honorable Mayor & Council Members David Biggs, City Manager SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION ON PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS (Agenda Item XI.3) On Tuesday, December 16 th, the City Council will be conducting an informational session on Project Labor Agreements as part of the adjourned regular meeting. The staff report under that item indicated that Staff would be providing additional information beyond that shared from the City of Pinole. Staff has undertaken a scan of the Project Labor Agreement environment and researched some additional information. Based on these efforts, it is clear that there is much information available on the subject, both pro and con, with some pieces being exactly that, pro and con discussions. Materials of interest are listed below with copies attached: Sounding Off: PLAs, Project Labor Agreements: Good or Bad? Cal-Tax Digest, California Taxpayer s Association. Project Labor Agreements: What You Need to Know by Lan Wang. League of California Cities, Western Cities Magazine, February Project Labor Agreements, Gerald Mayer, Congressional Research Service, Pros and Cons of Using Project Labor Agreements, by John Moran, Principal Analyst, November 2, 2011, Office of Legislative Research, State of Connecticut General Assembly. Project Labor Agreements and Targeted Hiring Policies, presentation by Julian Gross at the City Attorney s Department Meeting, May Other select references and websites: Laborer's International Union of North America - PLAs Association of General Contractors - PLA's

2 Association of Building Contractors - PLAs Constructing California - A Review of Project Labor Agreements 2001 State Building and Construction Trades Council - PLAs Project Labor Agreements - Belman, Bodah & Phillips Study 2007 At the City Council s November 23 rd meeting, the Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council distributed a package of information on PLA s to each Council Member. This information is available through the link below: Trades Council Package -PLAs In addition, staff has been doing additional research as to waste water plants constructed in California in recent history and whether they proceeded under a PLA. Attached is a memorandum from Public Works Director Mike Roberts regarding what he has found in reaching out to variety of parties. Attachments: 1) PLA Materials 2) Memorandum from Public Works Director

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41 MEMORANDUM PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT DATE: December 15, 2014 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: David Biggs, City Manager Michael Roberts, Public Works Director WWTP Expansion - Project Labor Agreement Informational Update I was able to reach out to colleagues from a half dozen Bay Area public agencies (City of Martinez, Contra Costa County, City of Berkeley, Contra Costa Water District, City of Vacaville, and the City of Vallejo) that have either contemplated entering into a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) at one time, implemented a PLA program for capital projects exceeding a certain cost threshold, or constructed individual project(s) under a PLA. Additionally, I also spoke with the construction manager for Carollo Engineers, who previously managed 3 large projects with PLAs and will be overseeing the $42M Hercules-Pinole plant expansion. The feedback I received as of this time was consistent with prior research that has been completed by both agencies. In brief, there are advantages and disadvantages to proceeding with a PLA as outlined in separate documents in the December 16 City Council staff report. From a staff perspective one approach is not preferable over the other and projects can be successfully constructed under either arrangement. As such, whether or not to use a PLA on the Hercules-Pinole WWTP expansion project is primarily a policy decision. I also received some PLA-related data. Over a 5-year period from , approximately 90 PLA projects and programs were reported to the State, 4 of which were water and wastewater related. Data is not readily available on the total number of comparable water and wastewater projects that have been completed over this time period, but for rough comparison purposes a total of 4 projects received State revolving fund loans in the range of $10M - $100M in FY