By Daniel Larios
Staff Writer

June 11, 2014 – The City Council approved nearly $11 million in expenses Tuesday to purchase new buses and help clean up Santa Monica’s drinking water, among other items.

The biggest expenditure was $6,763,405 to Hayward-based Gillig LLC to furnish and deliver eleven 40-foot, low floor, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered buses for the City’s Big Blue Bus (BBB).

Currently, the transit agency operates roughly 99 Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) buses which were purchased between 2002 and 2006.  Out of the 99 buses, 37 of them have reached the end of their useful life under Federal Transit Administration (FTA) guidelines.

The typical useful life of a transit vehicle is 12 years or 500,000 miles, according to the FTA guidelines.  

The purchase “would ensure that buses that have reached their useful life cycle be replaced in a timely manner,” Transit Maintenance Officer Getty Modica said in the staff report

The new buses will lower “the cost of maintenance per mile, increasing efficiencies, further reducing exhaust emissions through improved emission technology, and providing our customers with increased comfort,” Modica added.

The Council also voted to allocate $1,732,500 to ICF International to implement the Olympic Well Field Management Plan, which would clean up the Olympic Well Field (OWF) drinking water aquifer.

The OWF is Santa Monica’s second largest drinking water aquifer. According to city staff, the field has been contaminated by several former manufacturing facilities in the area.

The OWF Management Plan would continue groundwater monitoring and modeling efforts to “ensure that polluters are identified and forced to compensate the City for damages,” said Water Resources Manager Gil Borboa.

According to Barboa, the Plan includes “quarterly groundwater monitoring, installation of five groundwater monitoring wells, groundwater modeling, and as-needed technical support.”

The Council Tuesday also voted to allocate $543,944 to All American Asphalt to resurface six alleys “prioritized for rehabilitation under the City’s alley inspection program,” according to staff

“The alleys were classified as being in poor condition under the 2011 inspection, and the planned repairs and resurfacing would restore the alleys to a functional condition for at least 10 years,” said Civil Engineering Associate Allan Sheth in the report.

The following six alleys have been identified for paving under this project:

• 1000 block of 5th Court (alley between 5th Street & 6th Street);
• 1800 block of 9th Court (alley between 9th Street & 10th Street);
• 2300-2400 block of Hill Place North (alley between Hill Street & Oak Street);
•  2100 block of Pearl Place South (alley south of Pearl Street);
• 3000-3200 block of Pico Place North (alley between Pico Blvd & Urban Ave), and
•  2300-2500 block of 21st Court (alley between 21st Street & 22nd Street).

The project will repair damaged pavement and asphalt paving, with the exception of the 2300-2500 block of 21st Court, which would be fully reconstructed because the existing pavement is in very poor condition.

The Council also voted to accept a grant of $400,000 from the 2013 State Homeland Security Grant Program Funds (SHSGP) to purchase equipment that “supports regional homeland security goals.”

The Council also renewed the “BruinGo!” unlimited ride transit program between the Big Blue Bus and UCLA with no financial impact to the city.