Operating Procedures 

1.       PURPOSE/MISSION

The Regional Standards Committee's (RSC) mission is to prepare and maintain a uniform set of standard drawings and specifications for use on public works related projects by all public agencies within the San Diego region.

The RSC slogan is  “Cost effective government through regional construction standards for San Diego area agencies.”

2.       OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the Committee are:

A.      To contribute to cost effective government by eliminating duplication of effort in creation of standards by public agencies in the San Diego Area.

B.      Ensure that the Standards are clear, current, constructible, safe, and cost effective (considering first cost and operating and maintenance costs).

C.      Encourage the adoption of Regional Standards by all Public Agencies within the San Diego Area.

D.      Assure standards meet a wide range of needs of industry and agencies.

E.      Promote the use of the Standards by private and public sectors.

F.      Expand participation in the standards development process.

3.       MEMBERSHIP

A.      Committee membership is open to the City Engineers, Chief Engineers, and their equivalents or their designated representatives, from the cities within the County, the County of San Diego, private construction industry associations, special districts and other utility companies operating within the County.

B.      Designated representatives shall be certified each publishing cycle by a letter or e-mail from the City Engineer, Chief Engineer, or their equivalent. The Coordinator shall make this request in November of the year of publishing. Term to take effect in January.

C.      Meetings are open to all interested parties.

4.       COMMITTEE STRUCTURE

A.      The Chair and Vice Chair will be elected by and from the RSC active membership for a term of three years beginning January 1 of each publishing cycle.

B.      The Chair or designee will represent the RSC at Green Book Committee meetings.

C.      The Chair shall appoint subcommittee Chairs by February 1st of each publishing cycle.  Subcommittee chairs shall develop a list of volunteers for their committee by July 1st and submit to the Coordinator for distribution.

D.      Subcommittee Chairs do not have to be an expert in the field, their primary duties shall include: recruiting members for their committee, scheduling meeting, establishing agendas, facilitating meetings, issuing minutes, and reporting progress on reviews at RSC meetings.

E.      The Chair shall sign all standards upon approval by the entire Committee.

F.      Subcommittees will review proposals for new standards or modifications to the existing standards. Each subcommittee will review proposals within its area of responsibility and make recommendations to the RSC.

G.     The Editorial Committee is composed of the subcommittee Chairs, the RSC's Chair and Vice Chair, and up to three members at large who may be appointed by the Chair.

H.      The Editorial Committee shall advise the RSC Chair, perform a final editorial review of all approved actions prior to publication, review and update Operating Procedures, and monitor progress of the proposal and publication process.

I.         The RSC organizational structure is illustrated on Exhibit A.

5.       BASIS OF THE REGIONAL SUPPLEMENTS AND STANDARD DRAWINGS

A.      The basis for the Regional Supplements will be the Standard Specifications for Public Works Construction, written by the Green Book Committee Inc. The Standard Drawings will be an independent document.

B.   Standard Drawings shall be stand alone to avoid the user having to cross reference to other standards, such as Cal Trans, unless unavoidable.

6.       PROCESSING PROPOSALS

Proposed new standards or modifications will be processed as follows:

A.      Proposals shall be submitted to the Coordinator who will assign a reference number, maintain a log, and transmit them to the appropriate subcommittee for action, copies to the Editorial Committee for information, and post on the Website under Changes Under Consideration Log.

B.      Proposals should be specific with respect to information, content and what change is sought. Background and reasons for the proposed change are required. The name of the proposer must be included.

C.      Each proposal will be reviewed by a subcommittee, which reserves the right to make any modification it deems necessary. The subcommittee Chair will notify the coordinator of the status of the subcommittee’s review prior to each RSC meeting to allow updating of the log and website.

D.      Rejected proposals by a subcommittee will be sent to the Coordinator with a negative recommendation, the log updated, and the proposer informed of the decision.

E.      The approved proposals by a subcommittee, in the final form, will be included as an agenda item by the coordinator to be presented by the subcommittee Chair at the RSC meeting. The RSC will discuss and comment on the proposals and return to the next meeting to vote on the proposal.

F.      The RSC may either approve, approve with modifications, reject, or return proposals to the subcommittee for further study.

G.     Once a proposal has been approved or rejected, the proposer will be notified in writing of the RSC's action and the submittal log and website updated. Information on all submittals shall be maintained on an archive log as a history of items considered and actions taken.

H.      The RSC Chair shall sign all standards upon approval by the RSC.

I.         Approved proposals will be posted on the website as approved for interim use and an e-mail will be sent to member organizations stating that new approved supplements and/or drawings are have been posted on the website.

J.       Proposals shall be posted on the RSC website under the following categories:

·         “Under Review” - RSC is considering the proposal, it may still be in a subcommittee committee.

·         “Approved for Use” - RSC has approved the proposal and it may be used on projects but has not been issued as a supplement to the standards. A hard copy will not be issued to member agencies since most of them adopt the standards once every three years. Once the official publication is issued, every three years, the documents in approved for issue will be removed from this folder.

·          “Archived” – Proposals that have been reviewed and the action taken and the associated dates will be recorded in this database. Also, the past drawings and specifications will be kept in the archived folder.

7.       PROCESS FOR PUBLISHING

A.      The Green Book issues addenda every year and new editions every three years.

B.      The Editorial Committee will review each Green Book addenda for possible impacts to the regional supplements and any approved revisions of the supplements    will be posted as “approved for use” on the website

C.      The RSC posts revisions and changes to the standard drawings on the website as they are approved.

D.       The RSC issues a new edition of the supplements and drawings every three years in concert with the Green Book. The publication date shall be in December.

E.      Standard Drawings and Specifications will be issued in a single three ring binder, unless otherwise directed by the RSC.

8.       VOTING PRIVILEGES

All matters before the RSC, including approval of standards and supplements proposals, shall be decided by a simple majority vote of the members present at the meeting. A voting quorum shall consist of ten members, at least 5 representing public agencies.  All member agencies, associations, districts and utility companies, as specified in Section 3, shall have only 1 vote each.

9.       MEETING DATES

RSC meetings will be held a minimum of every three months. Meetings will be open to all interested parties. 

10.   COORDINATOR

A.      The Coordinator will be a representative from the County appointed by the County Engineer. The Coordinator will head County staff and preside over RSC meetings in the absence of the Chair and Vice Chair.

B.      The County of San Diego will act as the coordinating agency, providing staff, as well as publishing and maintaining the standard drawings and specifications. This is provided for under the County Board of Supervisors Policy 1-50, October 1973.

C.      The Coordinator shall keep a record of all substantive questions raised by those who use the standards and forward these to the appropriate subcommittee for a response. The respondent shall send a copy of the question and answer to the Coordinator and the Editorial Committee. The Editorial Committee will select those Q & As to be added to the web site for general information.

11.   AGENDA AND MINUTES