TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Steven Lederer, Public Works Director
REPORT BY: Steven Lederer, Public Works Director
SUBJECT: Receive a report on emergency projects currently under construction
RECOMMENDATION
title
Approve a report of emergency Public Works actions on projects as authorized by Resolution No. 2015-37, determine that the emergency does not permit the delay associated with competitive bidding procedures, and that the emergency actions are necessary to respond to the emergency pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 22050(c)(1) and affirm the need to continue this action. (No Fiscal Impact)
[4/5 vote required]
body
BACKGROUND
Per Public Contract Code section 22050(c)(1), when the Board orders expedited contracting procedures be used, the Board shall review the emergency action at its next regularly scheduled meeting and at every regularly scheduled meeting thereafter (but not more often than every 14 days) until the action is terminated, to determine, by a four-fifths vote, that there is a need to continue the action.
Project 1: Mt. St. Helena Communications Tower Emergency Generator Replacement ($145,313)
The County currently has a 40-foot-tall telecommunications tower atop the South Peak of Mt. St. Helena that was built in 1970. This site is critical for the operation of public safety communication throughout the county serving local government, law enforcement, and fire agencies.
In April of 2025, the emergency generator that previously provided power during outages ceased operation. To temporarily resolve this, Public Works borrowed one mobile generator from the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to operate on standby at the communications tower. While this temporary solution works in the short term, it limits resources that OES can deploy in emergency situations. Additionally, there is concern that the fuel capacity of the mobile generator may not meet the operational time required for emergency situations at the communications tower during a power outage. Because of the tower’s remote location, access to the tower during an emergency may be significantly hampered, making refilling the temporary generator’s fuel tank during an emergency challenging. If the communications tower is left without power, especially in an emergency, this has the potential to severely affect the response of emergency agencies to the public.
Public Works staff determined that it is necessary to replace the temporary generator with a permanent generator, equipped with a higher capacity fuel tank that will be suitable to power the communications tower in an emergency, as soon as possible. Staff went through Sourcewell to obtain a quote for a contractor with the ability to provide and install the replacement generator. Based on the Sourcewell quote received, Public Works executed a contract with Peterson Power Systems, Inc. for the replacement of the emergency generator.
Status: Peterson Power has ordered the generator and the custom fuel tank. Seismic calculations for anchoring the assembly are being completed. Based on known lead times, the materials are scheduled to arrive in May, 2026.
Project 2: Yountville Fire Department Bathroom Emergency Repairs ($373,620)
Severe leaks and water damage, which is potentially jeopardizing the normal use of the station, have been identified at the Napa County Fire Department Station 12, located at 7401 Solano Ave, Yountville, CA 94599. Public Works and the Fire Department Chiefs met to discuss the safety concerns of occupying a building with potential biological growth. In addition, the urinal became inoperable due to leaks and the building bathroom was insufficient to serve the staff at the fire station. The conditions of the building made the long design period and competitive bidding process, which would not start until October 2025, to be insufficient to keep the fire station operational. Without repairing the bathroom as an emergency, Fire could need to relocate staff to a temporary housing option, which would induce higher cost and a decrease in public safety due to the longer response time to travel back to the station.
Status: Shower room No. 1 is complete. Shower room No. 2 is underway and is scheduled to complete November 24. This is likely the final report on this project.
Project 3: Napa County Airport Runway 24 Lighting Repairs ($150,100)
On July 10, 2025, a transient Jet aircraft departed the Napa County Airport from Runway 24 at max power and caused several large pavement pieces of the blast pad and two of the eight Runway 24 end threshold lights to dislodge into the Runway Safety Area. This exposed sections of live high-voltage electrical cable, potentially fatal to people and wildlife near it. Airport Operations staff immediately secured the electrical circuit to the end threshold lighting system, issued proper notices to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and began to repair the blast pad area where feasible. The end threshold lighting of a runway identifies the edge of pavement for aircraft landing from both directions on the runway and is required for safe landing during nighttime and inclement weather operations. Inoperable lights require FAA notice of non-standard to pilots and results in limits to nighttime and inclement weather operations, leading to unsafe airfield conditions.
On or about July 11, 2025, the Airport’s airfield lighting contractor was called to assess the damage propose repairs. After assessment, the lighting contractor determined there was no way to repair the existing system as the end threshold lighting is original to the 1940’s era runway, with high voltage electrical cables directly buried in the ground without conduits or safety measures. It was determined that replacement of the damaged system would be required to bring it up to FAA safety standards. As we head into winter months, if Runway 24 end threshold lights are not operational, the Airport has to close this primary runway at night and during inclement weather due to poor visibility, leading to inconsistent and less safe airfield operations. In addition, under Advisory Circulars AC 150/5345-46E and 150/5340-26C, the FAA requires prompt attention by Napa County to repairs that cause runway closures.
Prior to moving forward with repairs, the Airport required electrical design to replace the lighting and bring the damaged end threshold lighting system up to current FAA safety standards. On August 19, 2025, the board approved Amendment No.1 to Agreement No. 250309B with Mead & Hunt to design the Runway 24 edge lighting system to meet current FAA standards. The design was completed on or around September 26, 2025. Airport staff requested informal bid proposals from Vellutini Corporation dba: Royal Electric Co (Royal Electric) and St. Francis Electric based on the Mead & Hunt design. Royal Electric provided a bid for $137,100 and could meet the emergent timeframes to make the system operational. St. Francis provided a quote significantly higher at $251,710. Due to the 12-week lead time on electrical components, Royal Electric was asked to move forward and order the required airfield lighting.
On October 24, 2025, Construction Contract 260208B with Royal Electric was executed by the Chief Executive Officer per Resolution No. 2015-37 with a maximum compensation of $137,100 to perform emergency threshold runway lighting repairs (Agreement attached for reference). On October 27, 2025, the Board received and reviewed a report of an emergency Public Works action in response to damaged runway lighting accomplished without competitive bidding as authorized by Resolution No. 2015-37 and determined that based on the report from Public Works, the emergency did not permit the delay associated with competitive bidding procedures, and that the actions were necessary to respond to the emergency pursuant to Public Contract Code section 22050.
A separate item on today’s Board agenda requested to establish a Capital project and approve a budget amendment to cover the emergency contract work and staff time that is required to replace the end threshold runway lighting on Runway 24.
Status: All equipment has been ordered. Precast concrete is due on December 15th and electrical lighting equipment is due by December 31st. Once materials are in hand construction work is estimated to take 30 working days.
No additional funds are being requested via this Agenda Item. Good progress is being made, and staff recommends continuing these projects to conclusion in order to expeditiously protect public safety and property.
Requested Action:
Approve the above report and affirm that these projects should continue under the expedited contracts.
[4/5 vote required]
FISCAL IMPACT
|
Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
|
Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
|
Discretionary Justification: |
Approval of this action will allow these important safety projects to proceed to completion in an expeditious manner. |
|
Is the general fund affected? |
No |
|
Consequences if not approved: |
If not approved, the projects underway will be stopped until formal bidding procedures can be conducted, resulting in month’s delays in restoring this important infrastructure. |
|
Additional Information: |
Strategic Initiative: Build Healthy, Connected Communities |
|
|
|
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: General Rule. It can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility the proposed action may have a significant effect on the environment and therefore CEQA is not applicable. [See Guidelines For the Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act, 14 CCR 15061(b)(3)].