Board Pumps Brakes on $16M Sewer Force Main, Demands Review

SAM's board deferred its biggest infrastructure decision in years — a $16.6M sewer force main replacement under a federal consent decree — after directors demanded to see the actual contract, get a peer review, and consult the member agencies footing the bill. The same meeting also marked a quieter milestone: a fifth consecutive national award for financial reporting excellence, capping a turnaround from an era when the agency was three audits behind.

• $16M+ sewer force main contract deferred to August 10 as board demands peer review, full contract, and member agency input

• Fifth consecutive Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) financial excellence award celebrates dramatic turnaround from 2019 audit crisis

• Community group wins transparency commitments — SAM will create a miscellaneous spending subcategory and public project dashboard

• 4% cost-of-living raises approved unanimously for unrepresented and Local 39 employees

The basics: SAM must replace roughly two miles of 40-year-old sewer force main along Highway 1 in Montara under a consent decree from the Ecological Rights Foundation (ERF), with a current deadline of June 30, 2027. Staff recommended the board authorize General Manager Kishen Prathivadi to sign a Phase 2 progressive design-build contract with McGuire and Hester at a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) of $13,228,000 for construction — plus roughly $2M for engineering, inspection, testing, and outreach, bringing the total to $16.6M under the recommended option, which includes requesting a one-year extension from ERF to June 2028.