DATE: July 11, 2017
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Student Intern Agreement with the California State University Fresno Foundation
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a student intern agreement with the California State University Fresno Foundation to provide student interns for the Department of Public Works and Planning, effective upon execution, with a term not to exceed five consecutive years, which includes a three-year base contract and two optional one-year extensions, total not to exceed $80,000.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will enable the County’s Department of Public Works and Planning (Department) to retain the services of California State University Fresno (CSUF) students as interns.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If the recommended action is not approved, the Department will be unable to retain the services of CSUF students as interns.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Sufficient appropriations are included in the FY 2017-18 Public Works and Planning - Roads Org 4510 adopted Budget and will be included in future budgets during the term of the agreement.
DISCUSSION:
The Department has a wide variety of tasks which could be accomplished by student interns from CSUF, and the CSUF Foundation is willing to provide interns enrolled in appropriate courses of study to supplement the efforts of County staff. The agreement requires that interns must be enrolled at least half-time (enrolled in at least six semester credits for undergraduates or enrolled in at least four semester credits for graduate students) in one of the following courses of study:
• Engineering
• Construction Management
• Geography
• Physics
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Other related fields as approved by Foundation and County
Prospective interns will be identified by the CSUF Foundation and selected by the Department. It is anticipated that interns will:
• Assist in record keeping services, data entry, and tracking of building inventory and real property assets
• Participate in the data collection and preparation of engineering and environmental monitoring studies
• Create graphs, maps and other drawings using software programs such as AutoCAD and ArcMap
• Analyze and process engineering and environmental data using various computer programs
The County will make no payment directly to interns - their payroll will be handled by the CSUF Foundation and the County will reimburse the CSUF Foundation for services provided by interns at the rate of 12 to 16 dollars per hour, plus applicable payroll taxes and a 15 percent markup for administration. Interns will not be eligible for any employment benefits from the County, and interns will not accrue County of Fresno civil service status. Interns will not be allowed to work more than 194 days in a 365 day period. Additionally, they will not be allowed to work more than 20 hours per week during the academic year when class is in session, or more than 40 hours per week during any period of time when the class is not in session, such as winter break, spring break, and summer break. It has been determined that the County will not incur any Affordable Care Act penalties as a result of the utilization of interns since they will not be employees of the County. Such penalties, if any, would be the responsibility of the CSUF Foundation since they will be the employer of the interns.
It is anticipated that the utilization of interns will provide a cost effective means of supplementing County staff while enabling the interns to gain valuable experience. The agreement has been reviewed by County Counsel, Risk Management, and the Human Resources (HR) Department. HR has reviewed applicable memoranda of understanding between the County and various bargaining units and has determined that the utilization of interns will not result in any conflicts with such MOU’s. The agreement has an initial term of three years and provides that the Director of the Department may, upon concurrence from the CSUF Foundation, extend its term by up to two years.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The agreement was approved by the CSUF Foundation.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Student Intern Agreement
CAO ANALYST:
John Hays