MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - At the March 3 meeting of the Marysville City Council, members considered a one-year agreement with Peterson Consulting Advantage for on-call grant development and strategic consulting, for an amount not to exceed $25,000.

The city relies on state and federal grants to help fund major improvement projects for parks, transportation and infrastructure. The grants often require a level of expertise in capital improvement planning and interagency coordination, as well as experience analyzing environmental considerations and providing detailed narratives and cost-benefit documentation.

Having a professional consultant on-call to provide these services will make the city more competitive and better able to meet time-sensitive deadlines. Peterson Consulting Advantage, through Daniel Peterson, has extensive experience successfully securing these grants in the Yuba-Sutter region. The city would utilize the services as needed through specific task orders with defined scope of work, ensuring full city oversight and fiscal control.

Peterson lives and works in the area, so his region-specific experience will be extremely valuable to the city as it plans for major improvement projects and pursues these competitive grants.

Mayor Chris Branscum said he was confident that Peterson’s experience would serve the city well and the council voted unanimously to approve the agreement.

The council also considered issuing a Request for Interest for two additional seats on the Linda Fire Protection District Board of Directors, which meets once a month. With the annexation of the Marysville Fire Department into the Linda Fire Protection District, the board is expanding from three members to five, with the additional seats representing Marysville.

The council voted unanimously to post the notification inviting interested residents to apply for the board positions. By May, the council will make the final appointments, one to a two-year term and the other to a four-year term. After the initial terms, they will transition to elected positions.

The next meeting of the Marysville City Council is scheduled for March 17.