The Seal Beach council on Monday, July 27, approved an amendment to its contract with HF&H Consultants, LLC, for their services to implement the state law regulating organic waste.
The maximum cost: $190,000. That is a $50,000 increase from the previous agreement.
The council also authorized City Manager Patrick Gallegos to execute the agreement.
This was the second amendment to the city’s agreement with HF&H Consultants.
The vote was unanimous.
This was a Consent Calendar item.
The council doesn’t talk about consent items unless a council member pulls one for individual discussion. Nothing was pulled from this week’s Consent Calendar.
The contract was originally approved in June 2024, according to the staff report prepared by Management Analyst Lauren Barich. “SB 1383 was adopted to reduce the statewide disposal of organic waste, and the law grants CalRecycle the regulatory authority to achieve organic disposal reduction targets,” Barich wrote.
“Organic waste recycling is required from every waste generator, which includes residences, businesses, and government entities,” Barich wrote.
“The City has made substantial progress in its negotiations with Republic Services to update the solid waste and recycling franchise agreement, which was originally entered into in 1997 and amended in 2020,” Barich wrote.
“The new amended and restated agreement will reflect organic waste provisions in compliance with SB 1383, which established methane emissions reduction targets for short-lived climate-pollutants (SLCP) in various sectors of California’s economy,” Barich wrote.
“In addition, the City continues to make progress on related SB 1383 compliance items,” Barich wrote.
“On October 27, 2025, City Council adopted Resolution 7703 approving Amendment 1 to the Agreement, which extended the term of the Agreement through and including December 31, 2026 and increased compensation by $25,000, to support the extended timeframe of the negotiations and agreement development, as well as additional time to analyze, facilitate, and negotiate the contract,” Barich wrote.
“Progress has continued to be made in negotiations, however, the timeline was impacted by the necessity of completing the Orange County Waste and Recycling Services Waste Infrastructure System Enterprise (WISE) Agreement by April 30, 2026 due to the expiration of the Waste Disposal Agreement,” Barich wrote.
The WISE agreement was adopted in March 2026, according to her report.
“Staff is optimistic the negotiations will be completed prior to December 31, 2027, however, the purpose of extending the agreement to this date is to support ongoing SB 1383 implementation efforts,” Barich wrote.