March 6, 2013 -- The Santa Monica City Council will vote Tuesday to increase spending on oversight for the Charnock Well Field Restoration Project and on monitoring wages paid to construction workers building affordable housing for the City.

The total contract increases -- $88,000 to Comprehensive Housing Services, Inc. and $369,336 to WorleyParsons -- would bring the combined cost of the two contracts to $1,782,336 since 2008.

Comprehensive Housing Services, Inc. (CHS), which the City relies on “to monitor wages paid to construction workers on affordable housing developments,” could see its contract bumped up to $513,000 through June 30, 2014, the end of its five-year term, according to City officials.

“An increase of the existing contract with CHS is recommended to ensure continuity in the monitoring of current affordable housing developments,” staff said.

The City has worked with CHS since 2008 to monitor those construction workers hired by the City to build affordable housing projects.

Since the projects are funded with a combination of Federal, state and local money, the City is required to pay “prevailing wages” and provide opportunities for job training and employment to lower-income and minority residents.

It's CHS's job to make sure that happens.

If the City doesn't meet those standards, the projects could lose funding and the City would be forced to pay fines and wages it might have underpaid.

But the biggest expense on Tuesday's consent calendar is a one-year extension of a four-year contract with WorleyParsons that would bring the total cost of the contract to $1,269,336.

WorleyParsons has provided technical oversight in groundwater monitoring at the City's Charnock Well Field since 2008.

“The Charnock Well Field Restoration Project employs several technically complex water treatment processes to restore the City’s groundwater supply,” staff said.

WorleyParsons will “provide technical assistance and support to ensure compliance with all requirements in the water system operating permit issued by the (Department of Health).”

The company will also “review, prepare, and submit groundwater monitoring reports for the basin as required by current permit conditions,” according to City staff.

“Given the project-specific knowledge and experience obtained by WorleyParsons during the previous four years, staff recommends a third modification to the agreement with WorleyParsons for continued monitoring and support services,” staff said.