Colfax City Council members tackled a new round of sewer-related ordinances Wednesday night.

Council members agreed to enter into a three-year contract with Larry Walker Associates for wastewater engineering services, particularly to ensure the city stays in compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, a state cease and desist order and a settlement agreement with the Edwards family.

Davis-based Larry Walker Associates was chosen out of three engineering consultants by a panel of city staff and council members.

Consultants with the company will be paid as work is needed.

“This is not a month-to-month thing,” said Councilmember Steve Harvey. “It is as-needed, on-call, pay-as-you-go.”

The council also opted to move forward with a USDA Rural Development Loan/Grant application for $3.6 million to cover necessary sewer projects – including lining the wastewater treatment plant’s Pond 3 and improving city inflow and infiltration – despite new costs and delays in the application process.

Colfax paid Terrance Lowell & Associates Engineering and Planning, the firm that formerly provided city engineering services, to prepare a pre-application, which was submitted in October 2008. ECO:LOGIC Engineering was later authorized to prepare the following application, which was submitted in January 2010.

USDA recently notified the city the application is incomplete, most notably lacking a preliminary engineering report.

On Wednesday council members agreed to budget $15,000 for City Engineer Nick Ponticello to complete the preliminary report.

“It is a risk – any of these USDA grants are a risk,” City Manager Bruce Kranz said. “But everything I’ve heard is that we have a good chance of getting it if we move ahead.”

Currently, 70 percent of the funding would be in the form of a low-interest 30-year loan and 30 percent would be granted directly. Kranz said he hopes to reverse that ratio.

If awarded, the council will have to decide whether to accept USDA’s terms.

The city also agreed to pay up to $70,000 for contractor Robertson-Bryan, Inc. to conduct a copper water-effect ratio required by its NPDES permit. Conducting the study could give the city more flexibility to negotiate wastewater discharge parameters in its next permit.

In addition to the sewer agreements, council members agreed to contract with TLA Engineering and Planning for up to $23,400 in street work consulting services.

TLA prepared plans for laying asphalt concrete on S. Auburn Street and rebuilding the portion of Church Street near the Placer County Library, but stopped work in May 2009 when Ponticello was hired as city engineer.

Since then, portions of S. Auburn Street were rebuilt after a water main failed and Church Street received a new water line as well as frontage improvements due to the library remodel.

“As professional engineers, we are not in a position to basically finish what was prepared,” Ponticello said, explaining that his firm could either start the process over or allow TLA to modify the existing plans.

Authorizing TLA to complete the design will avoid additional redesign and costs, which would further delay the project, he said.

Colfax has budgeted $400,000 in Proposition 1B funds for the construction work.

In other news, council members passed an ordinance to help local businesses compete for city contracts. This allows the city to give preference to local companies able to offer a bid within 10 percent of the lowest non-local bidder on a given project.

“Larger cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento have a program to keep taxpayers’ money in the area,” said Mayor Josh Alpine. “(For example) with the wastewater treatment plant, we’re looking at millions of dollars coming into city, and we’d like to see that come back to community.”