RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AGENCY -  J. GUERTIN

1.  Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Amendment No. 4 to the agreement with Benchmark Resources to provide regulatory compliance support for annual mine inspections of the County’s active surface mines, thereby modifying the scope of services, extending the termination date to December 31, 2018, and increasing the maximum compensation by $107,610.00, for a total amount not to exceed $1,046,640.00; and

2.  Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Amendment No. 2 to Robert Enz's Reimbursement Agreement for an additional amount of $27,812.00 for the Enz Quarry

SBC FILE NUMBER: 790

The County has an on-going contract with Benchmark Resources (formerly Resource Design Inc.) (“Benchmark”) to provide annual site inspections and State verifications of all mining facilities in the County. Benchmark is a planning and environmental firm that specializes in managing land use permitting and regulatory compliance. Benchmark was originally brought on in 2006 because the County did not have this level of expertise on staff. Benchmark’s contract has regularly been extended in three successive 3-year periods, from July 2009 - June 2012, July 2012 – June 2015, and July 2015 - June 2018.

Benchmark’s contract covers annual inspections/reporting/paperwork for all mines in the County. The contract was previously amended to acknowledge the additional quarry review and evaluation work that was not originally included in Benchmark’s annual contracts, and to allow the County to process reimbursement-agreement with the quarry operators in order to make payments to Benchmark for quarry-specific services. 

Extension: Through December 31, 2018

The current contract is valid until June 31, 2018. This amendment extends the contract with Benchmark Resources, through the end of December 31, 2018. This six month extension will allow the County sufficient time to prepare a new RFP for regulatory compliance support for annual mine inspections of the County’s active surface mines. The RFP process will be open and competitive. The July to December periods are generally intensive as annual mine inspections are performed, financial assurances for reclamation are reviewed and confirmed, and that appropriate filings are made with the state for each of the County’s active mines.

Additional Scope of Work – Annual Inspections: $33,633.00

In addition to the six month extension, there are supplemental duties and tasks as described in Amendment No. 4 Modified Scope of Services. The need for these additional tasks for the inspection process are a result of an amendment to SMARA inspection requirements in 2017 and generally include:

• Mine inspection scheduling and FACE requests (to be done within 30 days of inspection)

• Time extension from 30- to 90-days to complete inspection report.

  • This time extension is intended to provide time for the operator to address and correct any violations noted during the time of inspection.

• New Completion Compliance Form

  • This form is intended to be used to document coordination between the operator and lead agency if a violation is noted during the recent inspection and was resolved or is in the process of being resolved to notify DMR (see attached).

• New FACE Form/Review and Coordination/Documentation

  • Letters from Lead Agency to Operator on FACE adequacy

  • Letters of adequacy/inadequacy from Lead Agency to DMR for FACE submittal.

  • DMR FACE Review (45-days)

  • Letter to Operator from Leady Agency on FACE Approval/Rejection per DMR review

The additional inspection requirements under SMARA as amended in 2017 result in an average increase of 11% of the previous amount charged ($42,000 annually). However, due to the reduction in the number of mining sites in San Benito County, the net result is a reduction in the overall compensation to Benchmark, i.e., from $42,000 annually to approximately $33,633.00 annually. The proposed annual fixed fee (per site) for annual mine inspections are listed below:

Additional Scope of Work – General Communication and Coordination: $13,480.00.

The Department of Conservation, Division of Mine Reclamation (DMR), has a role in assisting lead agencies in ensuring that the requirements of SMARA are met. The SMARA statute and regulations specify DMR notification

and review related to:

• new and amended reclamation plans and responses to comments,

• approval of new mining operations,

• change of ownership

• interim management plans,

• financial assurances updates,

• annual requests for mine status data,

• mine site closure and release of financial assurance,

• site-specific compliance issues (e.g., disturbance outside reclamation plan boundaries), and

• public hearing notifications and intent to approve mining and reclamation plans.

Obtaining the data from the operators and coordinating compliance issues to the DMR is a necessary and important function of county SMARA compliance. Benchmark Resources understands the DMR’s requirements

and expectations and will coordinate with DMR and respond to their comments as necessary on an annual or project-specific basis.

Services provided pursuant to this scope of work will be billed on a time and materials pursuant to the previously adopted rate schedule (Attachment B-1). The initial budget estimate for SMARA Program Support – General Communications and Coordination Proposed Costs is $13,480.00.

Additional Quarry-Specific Services – Enz Quarry: $27,812.00.

Task 9 has been added to the Enz Quarry-specific Scope of Work in the amount of $27,812.00.

In addition, a separate amendment to the Enz Quarry reimbursement agreement is presented to the Board for consideration herewith.

Additional Quarry-Specific Services – Mine Closure: $21,635.00.

The following activities are specifically envisioned:

• Joe Pit Closure

  This site needs final closure, requiring coordination with the Bureau of Land Management and SMARA closure inspection and documentation

• Harris Quarry IMP

  This site needs extension of an Interim Management Plan, which expires June 30, 2018.

• Lomerias Muertas Closure

  The operator would like to close this site. This will involve county oversight and monitoring of the final reclamation tasks and final closure inspection and reporting.

These quarry-specific services total $21,635.00 and the operators would be invoiced by the County for these costs, i.e., expenses are recovered from each mine operator proportional to the services provided, resulting in a revenue neutral budget impact to the County. Services provided pursuant to this scope of work will be billed on a time and materials pursuant to the previously adopted rate schedule (Attachment B-1). Initial budget estimates for SMARA Program Support – Mine Closure Proposed Costs are listed below:

Additional Quarry-Specific Services – Annual Financial Assurance Cost Estimates (“FACE”) Report Preparation: $11,050.00.

Certain mine operators have historically relied on the County to prepare an annual update to the FACE, which they would then agree to and provide the financial assurance (this is similar to other counties we service where the agency prepares all of the FACE updates so it has an efficient process and better control over the financial assurances (this is similar to other counties we service where the agency prepares all of the FACE updates so it has an efficient process and better control over the financial assurances). Additional operators occasionally request if we could perform this task for the county. Other sites should be included where the operators are untimely in completing the updates.

These quarry-specific services total $11,050.00 and the operators would be invoiced by the County for these costs, i.e., expenses are recovered from each mine operator proportional to the services provided, resulting in a revenue neutral budget impact to the County. Services provided pursuant to this scope of work will be billed on a time and materials pursuant to the previously adopted rate schedule (Attachment B-1). Initial budget estimates for FACE Preparation Proposed Costs are listed below:

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AGENCY -  J. GUERTIN

1. Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Amendment No. 4 to the agreement with Benchmark Resources to provide regulatory compliance support for annual mine inspections of the County’s active surface mines, thereby modifying the scope of services, extending the termination date to December 31, 2018, and increasing the maximum compensation by $107,610.00, for a total amount not to exceed $1,046,640.00; and

2. Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Amendment No. 2 to Robert Enz's Reimbursement Agreement for an additional amount of $27,812.00 for the Enz Quarry