Approve first amendment to Emergency Response Roadside Hazardous Waste Agreement No. PO 3913 to include Oakdale Fire Right-of-Way Cleanup. (No general fund impact) (Fieseler/Juhler)

Approve first amendment to Emergency Response Roadside Hazardous Waste Agreement No. PO 3913 to include Oakdale Fire Right-of-Way Cleanup.

The Sanitation Enterprise Fund holds the contract for all Roadside Emergency Response (ER) cleanups in the County right-of-way with Republic Services, a US Ecology Company. (Att. A.) As such, the Division of Integrated Waste Management (DIWM) budgets $30,000 annually for these services. However, on July 1, 2025, an explosion occurred on County Road 86A and County Road 23 known as the Oakdale Fire, which necessitated an immediate cleanup of large amounts of debris and hazardous waste in the County right-of-way. As an unanticipated event, DIWM was called upon to deploy our ER contractor, who is a qualified hazardous waste removal and remediation company, to complete the work.   These expenses were not originally budgeted, and therefore an amendment (Att. B.) is needed to pay for the services rendered.  

Republic Services provided a crew of over 25 hazardous waste technicians, supervisors and managers who worked for 5 days straight in the week immediately following the incident. These crew members worked at the direction of DIWM staff and followed a specific Health and Site Safety Plan (Att. C.) which was approved by the Yolo County Environmental Health Division prior to the commencement of work.  Due to the extreme heat, night shifts were set up with the majority of the work being done from 6 pm-6 am.  Guzzler trucks, roll-off bins, tractors, personal protective gear and an incident command trailer were all brought in to assist with the clean-up and to keep personnel safe.  Upon completion, three roll-off bins of treated wood waste from burned power poles, chemical-laden ash and contaminated debris were set aside for analytical testing. The lab testing showed high traces of lead and arsenic and, therefore, the debris is being hauled to a Class II landfill for proper disposal as Designated Waste.  This is a waste classification that is too high in hazardous metals for the Yolo County Central Landfill, a Class III landfill to accept, but is not so hazardous that it requires a Class I Hazardous Waste designation.  Lastly, all equipment went through a proper decontamination process and the last waste that will be shipped offsite are totes/drums of waste water from the truck washouts. 

All of these steps and more led to a thorough and complete cleanup of the County right-of-way but at a cost that exceeded our normal budget. (Att. D.) In the best interest of public health and safety and for the immediate protection of the environment and surrounding agricultural land, these steps were necessary before we could open up the County right-of-way to the public.  As we have been doing with other expenses related to the Oakdale Fire, DIWM will pay Republic Services directly for their services, then work with Department of Financial Services to seek reimbursement during the midyear monitoring process. 

DIWM collaborated with the County Administrator's Office, County Counsel, Office of Emergency Services, Environmental Health, Financial Services, and General Service Department.

Request for Proposals (RFP) Service Requested: The original ER Roadside Hazardous Waste Contract went to RFP in March 2021 and is valid through 2026.  The following information is based upon the original proposals:

Evaluation Criteria Included in RFP

Vendor Performance

The Department confirms US Ecology/Republic Services has performed satisfactorily on the current agreement.