Sunnyvale voters have approved Measure G, a charter amendment that would let the city use design-build contracting for public-works projects, The Silicon Valley Voice reported. KQED’s Associated Press tally, updated at 9:59 p.m. PT on Nov. 9, showed 28,447 yes votes, or 77.2%, to 8,364 no, or 22.7%. The results remain unofficial. The measure needed a simple majority.
Why it matters: The Voice said Sunnyvale’s charter, like Santa Clara’s, had limited public works to a design-bid-build process with separate contracts for design and construction, even though state law has allowed design-build since 2014. Under Measure G, the City Council plans to pass ordinances spelling out when the city can use the single-contract option, the paper reported.
Former Sunnyvale council member Gustv Larsson told the Voice that in the traditional two-contract approach, “costs balloon, because the incentives are different for the designer versus the builder,” and that a low bidder may try to “make up the money on the change order fees.”
A later Silicon Valley Voice update on Nov. 8 put Measure G at 77.34% yes, before the Nov. 9 KQED tally of 77.2%. Both figures are unofficial, and the county was still counting ballots.