The City of San Luis City Council approved a professional services contract with Consultant Engineering, Inc. (CEI) for $106,660 to develop the city's first formal capital improvement program (CIP) and related procedures.
City Engineer Tomas Sanchez described the scope: CEI will help "develop a formal process for the city to identify, evaluate and recommend available funding sources for the capital project request in a 5 year capital improvement project." He named project managers CEI will assign: Jeff Kramer and Anthony Bridal, and said CEI has worked with other Arizona municipalities.
Council members asked whether the work could be done in-house and whether the $106,660 fee covered five years. Sanchez said the contract covers the first-year effort to produce a five-year CIP and that future updates would incur additional costs. Sanchez explained the consultant's role in coordinating departments, improving transparency, and helping identify feasible funding sources and realistic project schedules.
Nut graf: The contract funds consultant work to create a consolidated CIP that staff and the council can use in future budgeting cycles and public reporting, with the intention of prioritizing projects and matching them to viable funding sources.
Several council members expressed support for outside expertise given limited in-house capacity; one member noted that prior CIP work existed but had not been formally adopted. The council voted to approve the $106,660 contract by voice vote.
Ending: The engineering department will proceed with CEI under the city's procurement code; if council wants future updates to the CIP after the initial effort, staff indicated additional funds would be required.