Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes a non-competitive agreement with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to install and manage rain gauge and flow monitoring stations as part of the City’s watershed and flood studies. It also authorizes the USGS to monitor select watersheds that install green infrastructure (GI) practices. The estimated contract cost is $284,000 for 5 years broken out as follows.
Fiscal Year City of Madison USGS
2020 $65,000 $22,000
2021 $53,500 $18,000
2022 $54,000 $18,500
2023 $55,000 $18,500
2024 $56,500 $19,000
TOTAL $284,000 $96,000
Funding is provided in the 2020 Adopted Stormwater Utility Operating Budget to support Flood Studies. No additional appropriation is required.
Title
Authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to enter into a non-competitive agreement with the USGS for Urban Flood Monitoring and Watershed Response to Reduced Impervious Cover through Implementation of Green Infrastructure in conjunction with the City’s watershed and flood studies. (Citywide)
Body
PREAMBLE
To support the watershed and flood studies, the City will need to provide rain gauge and flow monitoring in the watersheds in order to calibrate the models for accuracy based on known rain fall events. This contract will be a multi-year analysis (2020-2025) to assist in monitoring activities and analyze the implementation of green infrastructure (GI) practice to minimize stormwater runoff entering storm drains. Although much is known on the stormwater volume reduction benefits of individual GI practices, very little is known about the watershed response to a collection of practices.
WHEREAS, the Common Council has authorized funding for continued watershed study efforts as part of the adopted 2020 Stormwater Utility Operating Budget; and
WHEREAS, rain gauge and flow monitoring data are necessary for completion of the stormwater models and are needed to accurately calibrate the models to meet real life rainfall events; and
WHEREAS, the USGS has successfully completed similar types of data monitoring for other studies, including contract work for rain gauge and flow monitoring in 2019 for the City of Madison, and
WHEREAS, some existing monitoring locations that are no longer in use may be reinstated for use by the USGS to meet the City’s needs for the watershed and flood studies; and
WHEREAS, reuse of some of the existing data monitoring sites will be a cost savings to the City versus contracting for the installation of new locations; and
WHEREAS, the USGS will also manage the monitoring locations for the City for the duration of the agreement; and
WHEREAS, the USGS will monitor and collect data related to the implementation of Green Infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, the data collected by the USGS on GI will help to better understand the effectiveness of practices on a larger watershed, to determine if a waterbody impaired by urban land use could ever be able to revert to pre-settlement conditions through implementation of GI alone, what temporal scale municipalities should expect when developing plans for watershed and ecosystem restoration, and if hydrologic models that make use of GI simulations accurate or misleading towards long-term watershed health; and
WHEREAS, MGO 4.26 requires Common Council approval of service contracts exceeding $50,000 if the contractor was not selected through a competitive selection process, and the reasons for selecting this contractor are set forth above and in the attached Noncompetitive Selection Request Form.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and City Clerk are hereby authorized to enter into an agreement with USGS for Urban Flood Monitoring and Watershed Response to Reduced Impervious Cover through Implementation of Green Infrastructure in conjunction with the City’s watershed and flood studies for an amount not to exceed $284,000 over 5 years.