SR-510-003 (17)
EPWM:EP:CP:BJJ:RB:JFC:F:\epwm/adm/staffrpt/oilgrant
Council Meeting: July 22, 2003 Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Accept Used Oil Recycling Grant Funds in the amount of $246,400 from
the Integrated Waste Management Board, and Authorize the City
Manager to Negotiate and Execute a Contract with Lodestar
Management/Research, Inc. to Provide Social Survey Services for the
Used Oil Survey Project and Sustainable City Plan Indicators Project.
INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that the City Council accept used oil recycling grant funds in
the amount of $246,400 from the California Integrated Waste Management Board
(CIWMB) and authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional
services contract with Lodestar Management/Research, Inc. in the amount of $
$98,468.50.
The consultant will be responsible for development, administration, analysis and
reporting for two related but separate social survey projects, to gauge behaviors,
attitudes, and perceptions: the Used Oil Survey Project ($73,468.50) which is
comprised of a baseline survey and a follow-up survey, and the Sustainable City Plan
(SCP) Indicators Project ($25,000) which is comprised of a single survey.
BACKGROUND
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The CIWMB offers Opportunity Grants, on a competitive basis, to local governments to
establish and enhance existing programs that encourage the proper management of
used oil and other household hazardous wastes. The Opportunity Grant provides
funds in addition to those available through the noncompetitive Used Oil Recycling
Block Grant. Since 1990-2002, the City has applied for and received a combination of
ten CIWMB opportunity and block grants totaling over $562,641. The funds have been
used to establish used oil and filter collection sites at the Santa Monica Airport, conduct
comprehensive informational campaigns, purchase oil collection containers for
distribution free of charge to Santa Monica residents, support a curbside recycling
program, purchase and install new message signs for City trash trucks, host a Southern
California regional forum on used oil recycling, sponsor a fleet managers seminar on
the use of re-refined motor oil, develop outreach materials for Household Hazardous
Waste (HHW) management, and support the operation of the HHW collection facility.
DISCUSSION
The following sub-sections will provide detailed descriptions of the two projects. Both
projects will be designed to gather demographic information about each projects
specific target audience, to test attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors concerning their
programs, and to provide baseline data against which to evaluate future outreach
efforts. The Used Oil Survey Project baseline survey will target residents of the Pico
neighborhood with questions addressing their community cultural identity while
focusing on the disposal practices of Do-It-Yourself used oil and filter changers. The
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Sustainable City Plan Indicators Project baseline survey will test the behaviors,
attitudes, and perceptions of all Santa Monica residents as related to the indicators
established to measure the long-range economic, social and environmental goals of the
City.
USED OIL SURVEY PROJECT
Staff research has suggested that Spanish speaking residents in the Pico
neighborhood including automobile maintenance Do-It-Yourself motor oil changers
have, in general, had minimal participation in the numerous City sponsored
environmental and public health programs offered by the Environmental Programs
Division. Part of the problem is the lack of historic participation data with which to
assess the impact of past outreach efforts. The proposed Used Oil Survey Project
baseline survey will provide important cultural and demographic data specific to the
behaviors and identity of the Pico neighborhood community, with a focus on Spanish
speaking residents, and will serve to evaluate the challenges of developing effective
targeted outreach programs.
In February 2001, the City Council authorized the City Manager, or designee, to submit
and execute Used Oil Recycling and HHW Grant applications to the CIWMB. In
January 2002, the City applied for and received a Local Government Used Oil
Opportunity Grant in the amount of $246,400 to implement a ?Spanish Language Used
Oil and Filter Recycling Program?. This grant will entirely fund all Used Oil Survey
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Project activities proposed in this staff report.
The grant will be implemented in three phases and will focus on residents of the Pico
neighborhood. In the first phase of this project, a survey will be conducted to establish
baseline information about the Pico neighborhood and Do-It-Yourself motor oil
changing. The second phase will apply results from the baseline survey to develop
and administer an intervention that would assist Spanish language people who change
oil themselves to use environmentally preferable used-oil disposal practices. At the
conclusion of the two-year intervention, a follow-up survey will evaluate the
effectiveness of the intervention. Two separate consultants will be involved in the Used
Oil Survey Project. The first consultant recommended in this report is Lodestar
Management/Research, Inc. Lodestar will be responsible for providing both the
baseline and follow-up surveys. At the conclusion of the baseline survey, a Request
for Proposals (RFP) will be issued to select a consultant who will develop and
implement the intervention portion of the Used Oil Survey Project using the remaining
grant funds.
SUSTAINABLE CITY PLAN INDICATORS PROJECT
On February 11, 2003 City Council adopted the Santa Monica Sustainable City Plan
(SCP), which is a comprehensive update and expansion of the Sustainable City
Program adopted by Council in 1994. The SCP establishes long-range economic,
social and environmental goals for the City government and the community. Specific
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indicators are included in the SCP to measure progress toward meeting the goals.
Several of the SCP indicators require baseline information which will be gathered by a
statistically valid random telephone survey of Santa Monica residents regarding their
behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions, to be updated at two-year intervals following the
initial survey. The baseline survey conducted for the SCP Indicators Project will pose
questions regarding the specific measurement criteria used to evaluate the broader
indicators. The results of the baseline survey will later be used to evaluate the overall
progress of the City government and community with respect to the Sustainable City
Plan when compared to data collected from follow-up surveys in future years. The
same consultant recommended for the Used Oil Survey Project, Lodestar
Management/Research, Inc., will be responsible for providing both the Sustainable City
Plan Indicators Project baseline survey.
CONSULTANT SELECTION
In March 2003, a Request for Proposals was issued to ten qualified consulting firms for
survey services in support of the two projects. Four proposals were received and
reviewed by a selection committee comprised of staff from the EPD and the Division?s
independent outreach and marketing advisor, Stratagem. The selection criteria
included understanding of the project, experience with the Spanish speaking target
audience, knowledge and expertise of survey techniques, approach to achieving the
goals of the project; qualifications of the proposed staff, and cost of services. Based on
these factors, staff recommends that Lodestar Management/Research, Inc. be retained
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to implement the baseline and follow-up surveys for the Used Oil Survey Project and
the baseline survey for the Sustainable City Plan Indicators Project.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funds for the Used Oil Survey Project portion of the contract are included in the FY
2003-04 operating budget at expenditure account 31662.556040. Funds for the SCP
survey in the amount of $50,000 were included in the Environmental Programs Division
adopted budget for FY 2002-03. Staff opted to conduct one consultant selection
process to conduct surveys for the Used Oil Survey Project and the SCP survey to
reduce costs and save staff time. The combination of these two projects resulted in a
delay of the original timeline for the SCP survey, and the funds budgeted for the project
were not expended in FY 2002-03. To complete this project, funds in the amount of
$25,000 need to be appropriated in the FY 2003-04 operating budget expenditure at
account 31662.555060.
Funds for the consultant contract are available in the following accounts.
Project Expense Account Number Amount
Used Oil 31662.556040 $73,468.50
SCP 31662.555060 $25,000.00
Total: $98,468.50
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Accept Used Oil Opportunity Grant funds from the CIWMB to implement the
?Spanish Language Used Oil and Filter Recycling Program;?
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional services
contract with Lodestar Management/Research, Inc. to provide social survey
services for the Used Oil Survey Project and Sustainable City Plan Indicators
Project in the amount of $98,468.50.
3. Implement the budget recommendations identified above.
Prepared by: Craig Perkins, Director, Environmental & Public Works Management
Brian Johnson, Manager, Environmental Programs Division
Richard Berman, Senior Environmental Analyst
James Conway, Environmental Analyst
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