Amador County – Sutter Creek City Council on Monday approved a reimbursement contract with a company that helped the council and planning commission process of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort.

City Manager Sean Rabe said the Gold Rush item was brought up by Councilwoman Linda Rianda because the development agreement with Gold Rush “contains specific trigger points for things to be done by both the city and the developer.”

The triggered tasks “were put on hold until the referendum was completed and are still on hold pending the outcome of the lawsuits filed against the project.”

Rabe said the council “wanted to make sure that the city has a mechanism to track what the trigger points are, and that a reimbursement agreement is entered into with the developer, so that when the lawsuits have made their way through court the city knows what is needed and by when.”

The city council directed staff September 7th to “prepare a reimbursement agreement with the developer for the hiring of a project manager to track the project for the city.”

Rabe recommended contracting the firm of Hauge Brueck Associates, which helped the city “process the Gold Rush Ranch project.” The contract would be “for reimbursable planning services.”

Rabe said “it’s not specific to Gold Rush” but is for “any project that’s brought to the council by developers.” He said it is a professional service, for which he “did shop around, but we don’t have to do a formal (Request For Proposals) process.”

The council voted 5-0 to approve the contract with Hauge Brueck Associates, basing it largely on HBA’s familiarity with Gold Rush.

Under the contract, “HBA would perform work for the city only when a reimbursement agreement has been entered into by a project proponent and the city, with the appropriate deposit on file.”

Planning Commissioner Robin Peters said they all watched HBA’s Anders Hauge “handle this project.” He said “this isn’t going to cost the city anything,” but he was curious about the “underplay” between Hauge and City Planner Bruce Baracco.

Rabe said Baracco has valuable “institutional knowledge” from his long service with the city, and as a contracted planner would help Rabe in his triple-duty position as city manager and directors of community development and planning.

Mayor Gary Wooten said a “major consideration in selecting” Hauge was not having to bring in a new person and spend the money to get them up to speed on Gold Rush.

Rabe said “it is critical that we have continuity with his firm, and I think it would be a conflict to have me do it.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.