In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared the virus a severe public health threat. On March 15, 2020, the City Manager declared a state of emergency in the City of Sparks related to the global outbreak of the illness caused by the virus, COVID-19. As of January 25, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported nearly 98 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, leading to 2,120,877 deaths worldwide. As of January 24, 2021, Washoe County reported 40,549 confirmed cases and 583 deaths.

Because the prevalence of the COVID-19 virus may not be adequately reflected through testing only those displaying symptoms of the disease, there is a need to better understand the magnitude of the prevalence of the virus within the community.  It has long been recognized that human pathogens, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, can be measured in wastewater up to 14 days prior to a person developing symptoms.  Numerous cities and regions around the world are conducting environmental surveillance of wastewater to determine the incidence of the virus in their communities. Such information can be used to create a predictive tool for decision makers tasked with managing the pandemic.

Since March of 2020, staff has been collecting samples of wastewater from Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility (TMWRF) for analysis. In August of 2020, the City Manager executed an agreement with the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, on behalf of University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), for the analysis of such samples to develop a community prevalence model of the COVID-19 virus. City Council ratified the agreement on September 14, 2020. Scientists at UNR continue to collect and analyze wastewater samples pursuant to the agreement.

The City of Sparks paid UNR's contract price, $1,790,385.00, using federal funding provided under the CARES Act. On November 18, 2020, at a concurrent meeting of the Sparks City Council, Reno City Council, and Washoe County Board of County Commissioners, the parties approved a cost-sharing agreement for the UNR contract. Under the cost-sharing agreement, Reno pays 54.21% of the contract price, Sparks pays 22.27% of the contract price, and Washoe County pays 23.52% of the contract price.

Sections 1.30.010 and 2.20.025 of the Sparks Municipal Code empower the City Manager to proclaim the existence of a local state of emergency and to request state and federal assistance when the City of Sparks is affected by a public calamity and the City Council is not in session. State law authorizes local governments responding to an emergency to “enter into contracts and incur obligations necessary to combat such an emergency or disaster, protect the health and safety of persons and property and provide emergency assistance to the victims of such an emergency or disaster.” NRS 414.090(3). Because the COVID-19 emergency is ongoing, these emergency provisions apply to contracts necessary to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the initial execution of the contract with UNR in August, City staff determined that some of the line items in UNR's budget for the project were not eligible for CARES Act expenditures. Therefore, amending the project budget, which was included in the original agreement, became necessary. On November 12, 2020, City Manager Neil Krutz approved the amendment to the agreement for the following reasons. The terms and conditions of the agreement were reviewed by staff and deemed acceptable. Like the original agreement, the amendment provides for community prevalence monitoring of the COVID-19 virus, which in turn gives decision makers important information about how the virus is moving through the community. Gathering this information is needed and in the best interests of the health and safety of residents of Sparks. Finally, time is of the essence in providing this information.

This amendment does not change the cost of the contract or the scope of work. Rather, this amendment changes the allocation of the contract price among certain line items in the project budget. 

1. Council may ratify the amendment of the agreement as recommended by staff.

2. Council may reject the amendment of the agreement and provide further direction to the City Manager.

I move to ratify Amendment No. 1 to Agreement AC-5386 between City of Sparks and Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education on behalf of University of Nevada, Reno, to fund research related to the investigation of the presence of the COVID-19 virus in wastewater and community prevalence monitoring in an amount not to exceed $1,790,385.00.