Somerton reviews legality of sewer bid

Did Council’s approval break state law?

SOMERTON — A project to hook a public housing complex to Somerton’s sewage treatment plant is in limbo pending a legal opinion about whether the city council broke state law when it hired an engineering firm to design the project.

The Somerton City Council recently asked City Attorney Jorge Lozano to research the legality of the council’s vote in 2015 to approve the non-competitive bid by PACE, a Scottsdale-based hydraulic engineering firm, for the project.

The issue surfaced May 16 as the council voted to approve a resolution formally accepting a more than $800,000 loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finance the project to extend a sewer line from the Valley Vista Apartments to the sewer treatment plant.

Councilman Miguel Villalpando voted against adopting the resolution, saying he had still not gotten answers to questions he raised in 2015 about the legality of awarding the contract to PACE. Villalpando was among those who voted to approve the contract, but he said he did so on the condition that legality of the contract was reviewed by the city.

At Villalpando’s request last month, the council directed Lozano to research the law to determine if the city complied with the law in awarding the contract.

“The people elected us as council members to take care of their interests and their money,” Villalpando said. “I don’t have anything against the project. I’m sure it will be very good for the people of Valley Vista, but as a councilman I want to make sure that nothing irregular was done with the contract.”

The apartment complex, located at 8450 W. Highway 95, is managed by the Yuma County Housing Department and consists of 84 units for low-income families. The on-site sewage treatment plant is nearing the end of its service life, prompting the city and county to seek the financing from USDA.

At the May 16 meeting, Mayor Jose Yepez said he didn’t object to Villalpando’s request for the opinion, but said he hopes it does not hold up the project.

“We are going to wait for the legal opinion from our attorney, and if it’s something that has to be corrected, it will be done, but let’s hope that that doesn’t affect our position as far as financing and the time that we have.”

Yepez said the legality of the contract was reviewed when it approved in 2015 and that no issues were raised at the time. He added that no other companies or individuals raised issues regarding the contract.

The cost to extend the line is estimated at about $1.4 million. A separate grant of $647,000 from USDA is also going to finance the work.