BEAUMONT >> Federal and Riverside County authorities on Wednesday raided City Hall and three other locations across the Inland Empire in an investigation into the city’s long-standing business relationship with a local consulting firm, law enforcement and city officials said.

The FBI and investigators from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office served the search warrants in conjunction with an investigation into the city’s business relationship with Beaumont-based Urban Logic Consultants, Inc., the city announced in a news release Wednesday.

• Photos: DA, FBI raid Beaumont Civic Center

“Urban Logic Consultants, a private company, has provided engineering, planning, and economic development services to the city of Beaumont for 20 years,” the city said in its statement. “The city is fully cooperating with the District Attorney’s investigation and will continue to update the public as information is made available by the D.A.’s Office.”

No one has been arrested.

Authorities seized hundreds of boxes of documents, more than a dozen computers and other electronic hardware and data during the raids, one of which was also conducted at the offices of Urban Logic Consultants at 871 W. 4th St. Warrants were also served at the Palm Desert home of Beaumont City Manager Alan Kapanicas and a Temecula residence located in the 27400 block of Enterprise Circle West.

According to documents filed with the Secretary of State, Urban Logic Consultants’ secretary Deepak Moorjani lists the same Temecula address as his own.

• Video: FBI stacks dozens of file boxes outside City Hall

“I can confirm that warrants have been served as part of an ongoing investigation,” Riverside County DA spokesman John Hall said. “Because this is an ongoing investigation, I will have no further comment at this time.”

Hall stopped short of calling it a public corruption probe, even as investigators combed through files and closed City Hall.

Several failed attempts were made to reach Urban Logic Consultants Inc. for comment. Kapanicas also could not be reached.

A California state flag was pulled across a window blocking the view into the Beaumont city council conference room office where plain clothes agents were working.

A citizen watchdog group, long a critic of Urban Logic’s connection to the city, reacted swiftly to the raids.

“I was so relieved to hear of today’s actions,” said Judy Bingham, Beaumont Citizens for Responsible Growth. “I’m thrilled it’s over.”

“They have run this city for 20 years,” Bingham said about Urban Logic.

Hall said the search warrants filed with the court were sealed.

While authorities made no allegations of wrongdoing, the raids shined light on Urban Logic’s association with Beaumont.

The firm – which provides services such as wastewater engineering and construction, infrastructure planning and financing – has contracted with Beaumont for more than 20 years, and at one time reportedly employed all of the city’s top managers.

Among those managers is Kapanicas, the city’s top manager.

In 2010, officials such as former mayor Brian De Forge said Kapanicas’ $14,000 per month contract may have seemed high, even though he wasn’t technically a city employee. But at the time he suggested it was a bargain for Beaumont, since the city didn’t have to foot the bill for his retirement or benefits.

In fact, through its arrangement, Beaumont paid Urban Logic for Kapanicas’ services.

Officials said that contracting out for such services has helped the council keep the budget balanced without layoffs.

Ultimately, in June 2011, the council reportedly voted to approve an employment agreement that converted his status from contract worker to employee. At that meeting, it was reported that several members of the community touted Kapanicas as a leader in keeping the city financially strong.

At that meeting, a dissenting voice was then city councilwoman Nancy Gall.

“We were delighted at what happened today,” she said Wednesday. “We’ve been wanting this to happen for a long time. We just hope that they can get on with the villains involved and we can have a completely clean city council, and they can hire some new, competent people to run our city.”

As recently as Monday night, Urban Logic was among four firms bidding to win a contract for a water treatment project.

Beaumont has called a special meeting for 4 p.m. today at Beaumont City Hall, 550 E. 6th St.

Staff Writer Ryan Carter contributed to this reporter.