Porterville City Council members voted unanimously on Tuesday to take a new direction in managing a vast farming operation — the sole purpose of which is to safely dispose of treated sewage.

The council also voted unanimously in closed session to file suit in connection with about 169 acres that’s part of the previous lease-purchase agreement between Nuckols Farming and the city.

Tuesday’s action closes one chapter in the city’s quest to effectively manage treated effluent from the sewage plant and lift a state-imposed cease and desist order that could have barred all future growth. The action also opens a new chapter that may include one or more court battles.

The history of the city’s farming operation has evolved from a shoe-in proposition for the original farm manager, to a City Council election campaign issue, to the decision by the current council to employ a competitive bidding process moving forward.

Along the way there was a grand jury recommendation three years ago to essentially do what the city’s now doing.

In 2002, the city awarded a contract to Robert Nuckols of Nuckols Farming to oversee the city’s 375 acres of irrigated land, 62 percolating ponds and 220 acres of farm land to be developed. Much of the land was owned by Nuckols and became part of a lease-purchase agreement whereby the city would buy the land in installments over the course of several years.

The reclamation area project, which includes a farming operation, was established in response to an April 2001 cease and desist order because of unacceptable and ongoing methods of disposing of city waste. At that time the city’s Wastewater Treatment Facility delivers 5.3 million gallons of treated wastewater to the city’s reclamation lands each day, as well as 1,000 tons of bio-solids.

Those numbers remain essentially the same today.

The city awarded Nuckols’ original five-year contract to farm reclamation lands without going through a competitive bidding process. Within the first couple of years, questions arose about the costs associated with the operation.

A Tulare County grand jury investigated the farming operations and in June 2006 recommended the city prepare and distribute Request for Proposals for a new contact, lease the farmland or hire a city employee to oversee operations.

Those recommendations were essentially ignored and in early 2007 the City Council voted 4-1 to extend the no-bid contract with Nuckols for another five years.

Mayor Cameron Hamilton was the lone dissenting vote.

The contract to manage the farming operation was extended in April 2007 through Nov. 30, 2012 but contained a 90-day out clause allowing either party to end the agreement with proper written notice.

Again, no bid process was used.

The city took a closer look at the operation early this year at the request of new council member Brian Ward. After reviewing records associated with the massive operation, the council voted in March to exercise the 90-day out clause and to pay Nuckols Farming all that’s owned on the lease-purchase of land within the bounds of the operation.

The council also instructed city officials to take the management contract out to competitive bid.

The city has since opened escrow to complete the purchase of Nuckols’ land, but is being blocked. That, City Manager John Lollis said, prompted the council’s decision to file suit in an attempt to close the deal.

The existing contract stipulates that the city cannot sublease the land governed by the lease-purchase agreement without the consent of Nuckols.

Council members on Tuesday approved a revised staff recommendation that:

-- Accepts the five-year lease proposal of Rick Perigo Roadsiding to lease and farm the city’s reclamation area land in accordance with state requirements. Perigo’s bid will generate $130 per acre — or about $90,000 in revenue — for the city annually.

-- Hold off on executing the agreement with Perigo until after the legal issues surrounding the previous lease-purchase agreement are resolved.

-- Negotiate with Perigo to establish an interim agreement to manage the affected property.

Lollis said that proposed interim agreement will be brought back to the City Council next Tuesday for consideration. The interim agreement would govern the entire city reclamation area.

“This has been kind of a long process,” Mayor Cameron Hamilton said Tuesday. “A lot going on.”

Hamilton asked Nuckols, who was in the audience, to share the nature of an earlier conversation between the two that night. Nuckols declined.

“I have nothing to say, your honor,” he said.

The staff’s revised recommendations were approved on a 5-0 vote.

Revenue generated from farming 30 acres at the site — land owned by Nuckols but included in the overall farming operation — remains in dispute.

The amount in question was about $59,000 in March. Hamilton on Tuesday said the disputed amount has grown to about $75,000.

-- Contact Glen Faison at 784-5000, Ext. 1040, or gfaison@portervillerecorder.com.