At its July 1 meeting, the Gautier City Council renewed a general professional-services agreement with Seymour Engineering for up to $50,000 a year to provide on-call engineering support and separately authorized a professional services agreement for design work on a nanofiltration water treatment plant at the Larkwell site for an amount not to exceed $85,600.

City staff described the Larkwell project as a plan to use a self-contained, skid-mounted 1 MGD (million gallons per day) nanofiltration plant that would reduce construction time and cost compared with a full site-built plant. The council heard that site work, a foundation, piping and a small storage building will be required and that the city will bid the full project once design and bid documents are complete.

In the meeting, staff said there is a capital-improvements plan that recommended both a 3 MGD plant in the south and a 1 MGD plant at Larkwell; the Larkwell option under consideration uses modular, self-contained equipment to speed delivery. The transcript records the professional services authorization motion as moved by Councilman George and seconded by Councilman Jackson; council approved the authorization by voice vote.

The general-services renewal provides the city with on-call engineering assistance for routine operational items; projects requiring separate contracts remain subject to separate procurement. The transcript records that Seymour Engineering also was retained earlier under a separate contract for project management on another project (Montbluff), and the council clarified that the current $50,000-per-year contract does not cover that project management work.

No public opposition was recorded on the engineering items during the meeting. The council approved the professional-services agreement for the Larkwell plant with an amount “not to exceed $85,600” and renewed the general-services agreement for up to $50,000 annually.