Subject:
Title
Approval; RE: Professional Services Agreement with The Conservation Fund Charitable Trust.
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Fiscal Impact:
The fiscal impact to the EEL Program referendum funds will be a $75,000 annual fee plus a contingency fee for each successfully closed acquisition as per the contract terms.
Dept/Office:
Parks and Recreation/Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested that the Board approve and authorize the Chairman to execute the Professional Services Agreement with The Conservation Fund Charitable Trust for a term of five (5) years upon approval of the County Attorney’s Office, Risk Management and Purchasing Services.
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Summary Explanation and Background:
On March 12, 2024, the Board authorized staff to begin the Request for Proposal (RFP) process to seek qualified applicants with demonstrated expertise and success in conservation land real estate acquisition and bring the best qualified applicant(s) back to the Board for consideration.
A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was publicly advertised and the members of the Selection / Negotiating Committee were Virginia Barker, Natural Resources Department Director, Justin Caron, County Attorney’s Office and Mike Knight, Environmentally Endangered Lands Program Manager.
The Selection / Negotiating Committee met on February 25, 2025, to review and rank applicants. Two (2) applicants responded to the RFQ (The Conservation Fund Charitable Trust and Realty Capital Advisors). The committee unanimously determined The Conservation Fund was the only qualified applicant. Three contract negotiation meetings were held on March 18, 2025, April 8, 2025, and concluding on April 21, 2025, with the committee’s unanimous vote to recommend approval to the Board of the Professional Services Agreement with the Conservation Fund Charitable Trust.
Under the agreement, the County will pay The Conservation Fund an annual fee of $75,000 plus a contingency-based fee calculated on each total purchase price as follows:
The annual and contingency fees will be paid out of the EEL program referendum funds (bond). All land purchases will come back to the Board of County Commissioners for final approval.
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
Please return Board Memorandum to the Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program.