Award a construction contract to DL Falk Construction in the amount of $14,184,060 to construct a new library branch called the Walnut Park Branch Library, located in the City of Davis; authorize the Director of General Services to execute the construction contract and approve change orders up to a cumulative total of 10% of the contract price; adopt a resolution authorizing acquisition of the Walnut Park Library property from the City of Davis and further authorizing the execution of all implementing documents and related actions, including execution of a property transfer agreement, certificate of acceptance, grant deed and reciprocal easement agreement. (No general fund impact) (Pistochini) (Est. Time: 10 min)

The County has identified a long-standing need to provide additional library space to serve the Davis area community. The County received an $8,783,400 State Library Building Forward grant, which was accepted by the Board on February 21, 2023, to build a new library branch in South Davis. On January 9, 2024 the Board determined the Project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and approved a Notice of Exemption, which was recorded on January 18, 2024.

Construction Contract
Using a mix of funding from County funds, the State Library grant, and City of Davis funds, the County issued a solicitation for bids to construct a new library branch in September 2024. This new construction building will be approximately 12,400 square feet in size, located on the City's Walnut Park property at 2700 Lillard Boulevard. The library includes study rooms, a children's room, and a community room. The Board is requested to award a contract to the lowest bidder based on the base bid who responded to that public solicitation process. The County also asked for three bid add-alternates to accompany the base bid to add additional electric vehicle charging stations, additional solar arrays, and a more efficient HVAC system. Given that the base bid plus all three add alternates total less than the engineer's estimate for the building, County staff recommend approving this contract with all three add alternates to contribute to achieving the County's climate action and adaptation goals. DL Falk's base bid is $12,984,000 and the sum of the three alternates is $1,200,060 for a total construction contract cost of $14,184,060. Additionally, staff request authority to approve change orders up to a maximum amount allowed in the California Public Contract Code which may be needed due to undiscovered site conditions or another unanticipated issues that necessitate a change from the plans and specifications originally published by the County. County staff expect construction to be completed in the first half of 2026, with public opening in the summer or fall of 2026.

Library Property Transfer
The City of Davis currently owns the 1.7-acre parcel that the library will be built on in Walnut Park (APN 069-460-055). The City and County have worked extensively in the past, including entering in a Memorandum of Understanding in October 2012 (Yolo County Agreement No. 12-166), and more recently over the summer of 2024 to transfer the city-owned land to the County for the singular purpose of constructing and operating a public library. The Davis City Council is expected to approve this transfer at their next regular meeting on November 12, 2024. The proposed resolution (Attachment B) authorizes the County to acquire the property from the City and delegates authority to the County Administrator or his designee to take necessary actions to complete the acquisition and execute related documents. The anticipated documents include the items listed below, which are in near final form, but as of the time of publication have not yet been finalized. Accordingly, the proposed Resolution authorizes the County Administrator, with approval from County Counsel, to make revisions as final negotiations with the City are completed.

The General Services Department collaborated with the Library Department throughout project design, the Department of Financial Services on project budget, the County Administrator's Office, County Counsel's Office, the Board of Supervisors' ad hoc committee on South Davis Library, and the City of Davis. The architectural consultant for this project is WMB Architects and the construction management firm for this project is Kitchell CEM.

The County issued an invitation for bids on September 12, 2024.  A mandatory job walk was held on September 19, 2024. Four bids were received prior to the bid submittal deadline of 2:00PM on October 17, 2024. All four bids were determined to be responsive.