On Monday, the City of Lathrop did a little bit of internal housecleaning to make sure that everything was up to par as the push towards SB5 compliance moves onward.

Tuesday it was Manteca’s turn.

The council approved a consent calendar item that will add an additional $10,575 to the Capital Improvement Plan Project that is set to deal with the SB5 200-year flood protection plan currently making its way through the state.

While the line-item was standard upkeep for the run-up to a $160 million construction project, Manteca’s decision to authorize an interest free loan from certain funds in order to make money available so that Peter Brusted Inc. – a consulting firm that Lathrop has used on similar projects – can prepare a concept proposal for initial application submittal to the Urban Flood Risk Reduction grant program.

In short, it was Manteca trying to reach out to secure the funding needed to make the collaborative overhauling of 100-year rated levees a reality in the coming years.

And Manteca, who has partnered with Lathrop to make sure that the early engineering work is adequately completed so that development will be able to continue past the July, 2016 deadline for those who have not yet formulated an accepted plan, is running into some of the same problems that Lathrop did when it tried to bring everybody to the table.

“There are some who don’t wish to be players right now,” City Manager Karen McLaughlin said – echoing the sentiments of Lathrop’s administrative staff that have tried everything under the sun to get Stockton and the County of San Joaquin to join forces and move the massive undertaking ahead  with the benefit of a unified front. “Right now it’s Manteca and Lathrop working together on this, and ultimately you’re talking about a $160 million that’s going to come from a few different places.

“We want to be able to move us in that direction.”