Title
Approval of Task Order #11 under Services Agreement No. AGR 22-18e with R & M Construction, LLC, in the Amount $398,861.44 plus applicable Gross Receipts Tax for the Installation of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at the Municipal Building, Establishment of Project Budget in the Amount of $730,000 including GRT and Contingency, and Approval of Carryover of Sustainability Funds in the Amount of $590,000
Recommended Action
I move that Council approve Task Order #11 under services agreement no. AGR 22-18e with R & M Construction, LLC, in the amount $398,861.44 plus applicable Gross Receipts Tax for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations at the Municipal Building and establish a Project Budget in the amount of $730,000 including GRT and contingency.
I further move that Council approve Budget Revision 2026-01 as presented and include Attachment C as part of minutes of this meeting.
County Manager's Recommendation
The County Manager recommends that Council approve the motion as presented.
Body
As part of the strategies to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions outlined in the Los Alamos Climate Action Plan adopted by County Council in November 2024, County Council allocated $550,000 in FY25 to initiate the expansion of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at County Facilities. After considering potential sites, the County Manager and the County Sustainability offices identified the Municipal Building parking lot as the natural site to initiate this effort. The criteria supporting this decision are the following: The building is in a central location, there are three level 2 chargers and a networked level 3 charger that are continually utilized by the public and County fleet, and the proximity to electric power infrastructure to support additional charging stations.
With a site selection at hand, the Sustainability office collaborated with the Public Works (PW) and Public Utilities Departments (DPU) to develop the design of the new charging stations entirely in-house. The PW-Engineering and Capital Projects Division designed the site and concrete work needed to accommodate six charging stations. The DPU-Electric Distribution Division designed the distribution infrastructure and specified the upgrades necessary to provide power to the six charging stations. One of the six charging stations was designed following the U.S. Access Board guidelines for accessible EV charging stations. The design also incorporates safety measures such as bollards to prevent vehicles from hitting the chargers and an emergency power shutoff.
Capital Projects staff requested cost proposals for this project from contractors under On-Call Services Agreement AGR 22-18 a-e. After review, staff found that the proposal submitted by R and M Construction, LLC, satisfactorily provides the materials, labor, and management required to construct the six charging stations. Next, staff prepared the Task Order #11 (Attachment A) in the amount $398,861.44 plus applicable GRT. R & M Construction, LLC, has provided excellent and timely service to the County on previous and ongoing construction projects. Two instances of their services include the Renovation of the DPU standby area and the replacement of the Ice Rink chiller.
In addition to the construction of the charging stations, the project budget also includes the purchase of six level 2 chargers with dual ports and upgrades to the electrical power supply systems available at the Municipal Building parking lot. The funds for the level 2 chargers, as well as the networking and maintenance services needed to support them, have already been encumbered through AGR22-931a-c with CHARGEPOINT, Inc. The upgrades to the power supply systems will be performed by the Department of Public Utilities Electric Distribution Division. The total budget for this project including construction, electric chargers, updates to the electric systems, GRT and contingency is $730,000 (Attachment B).
Upon project completion of the project, there will be twelve EV charging spots at the Municipal Building parking lot powered by six dual-port networked chargers. These charging stations will be available to the public and for County’s fleet use. A fee will be applied to the charger users at a rate of $0.23/kWh. This fee will be reviewed bi-annually by the Department of Public Utilities. The operation of the charging stations will be transferred to the Department of Public Utilities as recently approved by County Council and the Board of Public Utilities on December 4, 2024.
Alternatives
Council could choose not to approve the project. Any delays could result in a significant increase in construction costs given the escalation trend observed in recent years. In addition, any delays will result in a delay in the implementation of measures to reduce the County’s Greenhouse Gas emissions.
Fiscal and Staff Impact/Planned Item
The County programmed $550,000.00 in FY25 for the project. From this amount, $140,000 were encumbered in FY 2025 for the purchase of the six chargers. A Budget Revision (Attachment C) in the amount of $590,000 in the form of a carryover from unexpended balances in the Sustainability Fund is requested to fully fund the project.
This is a programmed initiative outlined in the Climate Action Plan and no significant impact on Staff is expected.
Attachments
A - Project Budget
B - AGR 22-18e Task Order #11
C - Budget Revision 2026 - 01