MEMO TO: Members of the City Council
FROM: Mayor John Marchione
SUBJECT:
title
Approval of Four Full-Time Equivalent Staff in Support of Sound Transit Light Rail
a. ORDINANCE NO. 2909: An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 2866, as Amended by Ordinance Nos. 2868, 2880, 2885 and 2891 by Making Adjustments to the City’s 2017-2018 Biennial Budget
I. RECOMMENDED ACTION
recommendation
Approve ordinance to add four full-time equivalent positions to the current budget.
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II. DEPARTMENT CONTACTS
Karen Anderson, AICP, Director, Planning and Community Development, 425-556-2497
Don Cairns, PE, Manager, Transportation Planning and Engineering, 425-556-2834
Jeff Churchill, AICP, Transportation Strategic Advisor, 425-556-2492
III. DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND
Total request is for approval of 4 new FTE’s funded by the ST2 Link Light Rail to Overlake (E360) Expedited Permitting Agreement.
In April 2015 an Expedited Permitting Agreement (EPA) was fully executed to provide $2,751,309 to the City of Redmond to fund staffing needed to manage, review, inspect and process timely Design-Build Permits for the Sound Transit E360 Project to Overlake. The EPA anticipated a project timeline from 2015 through 2020 that included the Procurement, Designs and Permits and Construction Phases of the work (see also attached Link Light Rail Schedule). The EPA also identified a potential need for up to 7.5 additional FTE’s during various phases of the work.
Currently, there are 1.5 FTE’s previously approved specifically for E360 and charging to the project. There is an immediate need for 2.5 additional FTE’s for the E360 Project. These include: (1) Construction Inspector (water, sewer, storm and streets), (1) Building Inspector (plumbing, mechanical, electrical and building) and (0.5) Traffic Engineer (work zone traffic control, street lighting, traffic signals, signs and markings, ADA and street design).
In addition, to help keep Downtown Redmond Link Extension (DRLE ST3 Project) project on schedule for a 2024 opening the City is working in earnest on the Agreements and Preliminary Design Phase for that project without a staffing agreement in place. We anticipate an additional staffing agreement for DRLE to be completed early next year but there are immediate needs now for 1.5 additional FTE’s funded by the EPA agreement. These include: (1) Planning Project Manager (manage development of “project design guidelines,” coordinate Transit Oriented Development with Metro, perform all Sound Transit and Metro Policy work) and (0.5) Traffic Engineer (2035 traffic analysis and transportation mitigation; street, signals, lighting and traffic control preliminary design work).
The Sound Transit Light Rail projects are using the Design-Build delivery method which is highly staff intensive for the City to coordinate, review, permit and inspect. Sound Transit has selected this method for three primary reasons: 1) Allows the project to move fast toward a specific date of opening, 2) Project is only designed to a 10-3 percent level by the owner (Sound Transit) with “project requirements” to define the final design which is completed by the Design-Builder, and 3) Contains a fixed price to complete the work. The constrained schedule is the primary reason why Sound Transit is willing to pay the City for staffing to deliver expedited permits for the projects.
All of these reasons that make Design-Build attractive to Sound Transit require the City to be fully responsive whenever needed to review Design-Builder submittals during the project and carefully determine that all the City needs and interests are being met. For E360 there have been about 30 staff from different disciplines throughout the City regularly involved on the project with most part-time and some full-time. This includes staff from Development Services, Transportation Planning & Engineering, Public Works, Mayor’s Office, Fire and Police.
For the Downtown Redmond Link Extension (DRLE) project we expect about 33 staff needed including many of the same staff as E360. We will come back to Council with additional requests for DRLE when staff are needed and funding is identified.
IV. PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS HELD
A briefing was presented on November 28, 2017, at the Finance, Administration and Communications Committee.
V. IMPACT
A. Service/Delivery:
Without the increase in FTE’s staff will be unable to keep Sound Transit projects on schedule.
B. Fiscal Note:
The four positions are fully funded so there are no budget impacts.
VI. ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The Council could choose not to approve the attached ordinance and therefore the City staff would not be able to accommodate the Sound Transit workload.
VII. TIME CONSTRAINTS
Sound Transit E360 Project is currently under construction and the Sound Transit DRLE Project is in preliminary design. These positions are needed now to keep these projects on schedule.
VIII. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Proposed Ordinance
Attachment B: Map of Sound Transit Light Rail Projects
Attachment C: Current Schedule for Sound Transit Light Rail Projects