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Home My WebLink AboutSS4 - Beach Restroom Cleaning��EW°Okr 0 0 u a C'� <ICOMM�' Council Agenda Item No. SS4 September 10, 2002 TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: General Services Director SUBJECT: Beach Restroom Cleaning Recommendation: None, informational purposes only. Background: At the August 27 Council meeting, Councilperson Adams requested information on increasing the level of beach restroom cleaning in the City. Over the past 15 years, restroom cleaning has changed from a service completely provided by City forces to a service which is primarily privatized, in order to be more cost - effective at meeting the service needs which vary over the seasons of the year and sometimes, over the time of day. During the early 1980s, the public restrooms at beaches and in parks were cleaned during off -peak times with a City staff of two permanent employees and two part-time weekend employees. During the summer months, four summer laborers were hired to assist City staff, which provided for extra staff and extra cleanings during the day. During the summer months, beach -area restrooms were cleaned between 7:00am and 8:30pm, and were typically cleaned up to five times per day. In addition, the City maintained a system of portable restrooms at several beachfrom locations, as well as at City Hall, through the summer season. An attachment lists the locations and number of fixtures at each beach restroom location. In the early 1990s, two additional beach restrooms were added, one at Channel Park and one at Orange Street for a total of 14. A third Building Maintenance Worker position was added to handle the additional workload, as the restroom routes became too large for two employees to handle and traffic congestion slowed operations. During the summer months, a staff of nine employees (including the year -round weekend personnel) were still able to clean the facilities seven days per week, working from 7:00am until 8:30pm. Beach Restroom Cleaning Page 2 In 1992, due to budget reductions, the number of student laborers were reduced from four to two, which consequently eliminated the late afternoon and early evening cleaning of the beach restrooms. Following these actions, the number of complaints regarding dirty restrooms began to escalate, particularly during the summer months. Following an ever - increasing number of restroom complaints during the summer of 1997, Department staff examined what could be done cost - effectively to reduce complaints. We proposed to hire a private contractor to supplement City staff in the cleaning of beach restrooms during the summer months for the 1998 summer season. Ed's Building Maintenance of Diamond Bar, who already provided custodial services at City Hall and the Corporation Yard, was hired to provide continuous restroom cleaning at the Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, and Washington Street facilities on the Peninsula, as well as the Corona del Mar State Beach facilities from 12 noon until 8:00pm. The company utilized a pair of two- person crews to provide the service, one stationed on the Peninsula and the other at Corona del Mar. Ed's Building Maintenance continues to provide this service each summer for a 10 -week period beginning July 1 when the beach crowds start to increase. The cost of this contract is $20,000 per year and has continued for five successful seasons without an increase in costs. This service has successfully kept restroom complaints to a minimum at the locations serviced. In the fall of 1999, a decision was made to eliminate the two part-time weekend employees who worked year- round, and turn weekend restroom cleaning over to a private contractor. At the same time, the two student laborer positions during the summer months were eliminated. This action was taken because we were unable to hire reliable college students who would spend a summer cleaning restrooms. With a strong economy, college students were able to find other more desirable positions. A contractor was hired in July 2000 to provide the weekend restroom cleaning service. The contractor reneged on the contract the first day of work when his employees refused to work in the difficult circumstances related to heavily soiled restrooms. City staff, in an overtime status, assumed the weekend cleaning until a new contractor could be found. Following a lengthy formal bid process with limited contractor interest, a contract was awarded in February 2001 to A -1 Spinelli Enterprises, and they began cleaning the restrooms on March 24, 2001. The cost of this contract is $34,000 per year. Thus far, the firm has performed at a barely satisfactory level. As a recap, during the summer months, the beach -area restroom cleaning schedule is as follows: Monday through Friday, two City employees clean restrooms on the Peninsula side, and one employee is assigned to Balboa Island and Corona del Mar restrooms between 5:00am and 1:30pm. Ed's Building Maintenance performs restroom cleaning from 12 noon until 8:00pm at the Balboa and Newport Piers, Washington Street, and Corona del Mar Main Beach restroom locations. During the weekends, A -1 Spinelli cleans all of the restroom sites during the early morning hours and Ed's Building Maintenance assumes the responsibility at 12 noon until 8:30pm. Staff proposed an additional restroom facility for the West Jetty Park/Wedge area in 1999, but this was met with heavy opposition from area residents. The closest restroom to Jetty Park is 11 blocks away at Peninsula Park. Beach Restroom Cleaning Page 3 Current Status of Restroom Cleanine: Last October, an additional Facilities Maintenance Worker II was hired which was authorized in the FY 01 -02 budget. This position was filled to perform general maintenance and carpentry tasks at all City facilities, and was assigned full -time to performing restroom maintenance tasks only during the peak summer months (Memorial Day through Labor Day). This person was one of two City staff assigned to the public restrooms and other inland City facilities in the Corona Del Mar and Balboa Island communities. In the FY 02 -03 Budget Proposal, the General Services Department requested $20,000 in funding to provide an additional aftemoon/evening contract restroom cleaning crew on the Peninsula, due to the continued level of complaints. The request was not funded. The past summer, staff received very few complaints, approximately one per month, regarding the cleanliness of beach restroom facilities. Considering the extremely high usage of the restrooms and the limited restroom facilities, we believe this is a positive sign. Staff feels that the key to reducing complaints is having attendants on site making sure the facilities are repeatedly cleaned and stocked with paper products during periods of high usage, and of course having an adequate number of restroom facilities. The renovation of the Balboa Pier and Washington Street restroom facilities did help to reduce the level of complaints this summer, although both facilities are inadequate in size for their respective locations. Historically, those two facilities had generated most of the complaints from residents and visitors. If Council wants to look at the next level of cleaning frequency, staff feels the addition of another two- person contract crew to the Peninsula for the summer months, as we submitted in the FY 02 -03 Budget proposal, would be appropriate. Currently, the afternoon/evening crew moves between the Newport Pier, Balboa Pier, and Washington Street facilities, and an additional crew could stay in the Balboa area while the Newport Pier crew could add service to the 15t' Street restrooms. This year, staff noted that the new Balboa Ferry restroom facility and the two small public restrooms at Park and Marine on Balboa Island do receive heavy usage and improvements should be made in the level of service next summer. Staff would propose to include these two facilities in a separate attendant route staffed by one contract person. This person would stay on the Island and move between the two facilities. Consideration of opening the Beek Community Center public restrooms during the summer months should also be strongly considered. Another potential improvement in service would be to add the afternoon cleaning hours on weekends starting the Memorial Day weekend, and then commence the daily service as we have traditionally done, on July 1. The improvements in the level of afternoon/evening coverage would amount to increasing the size of the existing private contract from two two- person crews (four individuals) to three two- person crews and one single - person crew (seven individuals). It is estimated that increasing the level of cleaning and starting the service earlier in the year could be accomplished for approximately $20,000430,000 additionally per summer, for a total seasonal cost of $40,000 to $50,000. It should be noted that Ed's Building Maintenance has not requested a price increase over the past five years. Beach Restroom Cleaning Page 4 With rises in the minimum wage and insurance costs, we expect an increase in the cost of next summer's service of at least 5 %. Should the Council so direct, staff could either prepare a budget amendment to increase the beach restroom cleaning during the current fiscal year or propose a higher level of beach restroom cleaning in the FY 03 -04 budget process. The former is recommended due to the start of heavy beach restroom usage in April. Very respectfully, David E. Niederhaus DEN /mp Attachment: Beach Restrooms Data Sheet 1 City of Newport Beach General Services Department List of Beach Restroom Facilities Location Number of Fixtures Men's Women's Balboa Pier 8 8 Washington Street 7 6 15th Street 5 10 19th Street 2 2 Newport Pier 10 10 38th Street 2 2 Channel Park 4 5 58th Street 4 5 Orange Street 4 5 Balboa Island (Park & Marine) 1 1 Balboa Ferry 1 1 Corona Del Mar Main Beach (West) 6 5 Corona Del Mar Main Beach (East) 6 5 Buck Gully 2 3 CD z LU v 2 O H N w a V Q w m O U) U) m �U O U a U AMP L CD N -F-. Q N cn [� d BUY O U) U) m �U O U a U AMP L CD N -F-. Q N cn Cu N ca w a� p U U O m Cll m ob C = Y C6 N cc ca U) '�--' rte^^ C+J U- a) a> >. 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