100% Flood Control District Zone 7 Funds
In April 2007, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) notified the FC District of its effort to produce a countywide Flood Insurance Study and Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map. In that notification, FEMA advised that the San Pablo Creek levee and Wildcat Creek levee, both located in the North Richmond area, would need to meet federal regulatory criteria pertaining to the design, operation, and maintenance of the levees in order to retain their accredited status. When a levee system is accredited by FEMA, the area behind that levee is shown on a Flood Insurance Rate Map as being in a moderate risk area. The purchase of flood insurance is not mandatory in such areas. In contrast, the area behind a levee that is not accredited by FEMA is mapped as a Special Flood Hazard Area. Federal agency lenders will not make loans secured by improved real property or mobile homes in such areas unless the structures are covered by flood insurance.
In response, the FC District entered into agreements with FEMA, providing the levees with provisionally accredited status for 24 months as FC District staff worked to acquire funding to repair the levees. The FC District was unable, however, to obtain that funding and complete the repairs before expiration of the levees’ provisionally accredited status in 2009. In turn, FEMA began the process of remapping the area. However, the maps have not yet been finalized. FEMA instead has released an interim map, which notes the levees’ noncompliance with federal regulatory requirements but does not designate the areas behind the levees as being in Special Flood Hazard Areas. Only after repairs are completed will the FC District be in a position to provide FEMA with the documents and data it needs in order to accredit the levees, including certification that the levees comply with structural requirements and certified as-built plans.
In December 2011, the FC District applied for a Local Levee Critical Repair Grant from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) under its Local Levee Assistance Program, which assists local public agencies with the evaluation and repair of levees. The grant was conditionally awarded in 2013. Under the FC District’s grant agreement with DWR, up to $1,515,000 will be made available to the FC District to pay for the bulk of the total project cost of $1,684,198. Funding will be used for permitting, design, and construction of repairs to the two levees.
Public Resources Code section 75075 requires the body awarding any contract for a public works project financed in any part from funds made available under the Act to either adopt and enforce a labor compliance program or contract with a third party to do so, under Labor Code section 1771.5, subdivision (b). The FC District must also demonstrate that it has a labor compliance program in place as a condition of disbursement of monies under the grant agreement with DWR. This condition has resulted in delay in commencing repairs to the levees.
A labor compliance program consists of the enforcement of labor compliance standards required by state and federal laws, regulations and directives, as well as policies and contract provisions, which include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Contractors’ payment of applicable general prevailing wage rates.
2. Contractors’ employment of properly registered apprentices.
3. Contractors’ provision of certified payroll records to the FC District.
4. FC District’s monitoring of its construction sites for the verification of proper payments of prevailing wage rates and work classification.
5. FC District’s presentation at preconstruction conferences with contractors and subcontractors.
6. FC District’s withholding of contract payments and imposition of penalties for noncompliance.
7. FC District’s preparation and submittal of annual reports.
The FC District’s proposed labor compliance program is outlined in the attached LCP Manual. The FC District intends to utilize this LCP for contracts awarded under the Wildcat and San Pablo Creeks Levee Remediation Project as well as other pending FC District projects for which grants are received under the Act.
If the Board Order and Resolution are not approved and adopted, the FC District will not receive funding under the grant agreement for construction of the Wildcat and San Pablo Creek’s Levee Remediation Project.