Last fall, as fatalities piled up and criticism mounted over Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s handling of the hepatitis A outbreak, San Diego officials approved a no-bid contract worth up to $1.3 million to pressure-wash downtown sidewalks.

The job was awarded to Massachusetts-based Clean Harbors, one of the largest environmental cleanup shops in North America.

According to documents obtained under the California Public Records Act, the city paid for more than spraying sidewalks soiled by human waste and other debris. On most days, it paid thousands of dollars in overtime to shuttle work crews to and from Los Angeles.

The city also paid $179 “per diems” for each worker, also called a “subsistence” charge, added to cover the cost of bringing in out-of-town cleaning crews, records show.


The agreement, which was approved on an emergency basis for up to one year, also included daily fees for equipment like utility trucks, passenger vans and pressure washers. Other vendors said that line-item billing practice was unusual.

Clean Harbors also was permitted to charge the city by the hour for setting up and breaking down equipment each day, another billing item local providers said they do not typically charge.

Kevin Reynolds, owner of a San Diego commercial power-washing company called JetClean USA, said it was unusual for a vendor to charge customers for employee travel to and from job sites.


“Why are they paying six men to drive back and forth from Los Angeles at time and half?” asked Reynolds, whose firm was never approached about providing the power-washing service. “Why aren’t local people given an opportunity to compete for these jobs?”

Reynolds also questioned the city’s decision to sanitize the sidewalks with a 15 percent bleach solution. He said his company regularly employs other antimicrobial agents that could be more effective, or he could even use an electrostatic chemical spray application.

“Guys like us, we just want the opportunity to present ideas and proposals that stand on their own legs,” Reynolds said. “If they’re not compatible, they can be rejected. If they’re a good idea, then contracts could be issued.”

City spokeswoman Katie Keach said San Diego cast a wide net before selecting the Massachusetts-based firm.


The city posted an electronic “request for information” at 8:44 p.m. on Sept. 6, one week after county health officials directed San Diego to take steps to respond to the hepatitis A outbreak. Responses were due by 2 p.m. on Sept. 8.

The city said 144 pre-registered vendors received the notification, but only five companies responded to the request.

“Consistent with city regulations related to emergency conditions, the city executed an emergency contract with Clean Harbors Environmental Services Inc. for sanitation services for public rights-of-way located within the city,” Keach wrote.

City officials said the agreement was cost-effective and necessary to help control the deadly outbreak, reducing the spread of the virus by sanitizing downtown streets.


“The County Health Officer declared a public health emergency and the city acted appropriately to address the situation via an emergency procurement,” Keach said by email.

Clean Harbors said it was contractually prohibited from discussing client matters.

“We refer all billing and selection questions pertaining to our power-washing work to the city of San Diego,” spokesman Keith Ferguson said in a statement.

Records show Clean Harbors started work on Sept. 11, when a two-man crew disinfected various streets on a shift that stretched 15 hours.


The City Council ratified the agreement Oct. 9, three weeks after Clean Harbors submitted its initial invoice for $19,180.

City officials say the power-washing plan is working.

“Sidewalks are visually cleaner and the odor issues have significantly improved,” Mario Sierra, the Environmental Services director, said in a statement. “The sidewalk sanitizing happens weekly in select areas based on need.”

According to a blanket purchase order approved by the city, Clean Harbors was expected to dispatch six-member cleaning teams for 130 days at $81 an hour per worker, for total costs of $505,000.


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The purchase order also provides for 2,340 hours of set-up and demobilizing time at a cost of $42.50 per hour, or $99,000. It also includes 4,680 hours of overtime for an additional $298,000.

At $329 per day, the pressure-washer budget was almost $43,000. The utility truck charge came to $22,555 over 130 days and the pickup truck or passenger van cost was $142 a day, for a total of $18,460. The purchase order also included $20,000 for gloves and boots.

“Note here that the city was not obligated to spend that amount, and that the duration of the outbreak emergency was unknown at the time,” Keach said in her statement.


Trevor Saunders owns Clarion Commercial, which cleans windows and pressure-washes sidewalks and other spaces across San Diego County. He reviewed the city’s billing records and said the costs paid to Clean Harbors seem high.

“We would have appreciated a chance to bid on this project,” Saunders said. “There are plenty of local companies that could handle this work.”

The Clarion Commercial owner, who has run his own shop since 2009, said he does not bill clients for the time his crews spend getting to and from work sites and he also does not charge separate fees for the equipment they use.

“We don’t charge for travel time,” he said. “The customer can always find someone closer.”


Pressure-washing downtown San Diego sidewalks is a years-old practice that merchants have paid for as a way of maintaining a vibrant and attractive business climate.

The nonprofit Downtown San Diego Partnership, for example, operates a Clean & Safe program that includes regular sanitizing of sidewalks in neighborhoods stretching from Little Italy and the marina to Cortez Hill and East Village.

Clean & Safe pays its contractor about $50 for each block that is cleaned, or about $845,000 a year. The schedule calls Green Clean Water & Waste Services to power-wash 1,426 blocks a month, or almost 18,000 city blocks of sidewalk annually.

In September, as the hepatitis A outbreak worsened, the Mayor’s Office said responding to the threat and solving the homelessness crisis that exacerbated it was the city’s highest priority.


The response worked. In January, county public health officials called off the emergency, although by then 584 cases had been reported and 20 people died.

Keach said the city has issued a more formal request for proposals to continue pressure-washing downtown sidewalks. The solicitation closed March 6 and the bids are now being evaluated. The new contract, which would be awarded for five years, may cost less than the city has been paying.

“Contractor is responsible for providing all labor, materials, supplies, equipment, permits, documentation, containers, and transportation/disposal necessary to successfully perform the services,” the request stated.

The power washer contract is not the first time the city has hired out-of-towners to do work that locals might have wanted.


When 1.2 million library items were moved into the city’s new central library in 2013, the city hired a moving company from Chicago. Movers were flown in and stayed at the Town & Country resort. The contract cost $450,000.


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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald