CommissionersOK design pact,personnel changes

Wahkiakum County commissioners approved a contract for the design of improvements to the August Hanson Bridge over the Elochoman River on Beaver Creek Road and handled a variety of other business Tuesday.

They heard a report on efforts to schedule disposal of dredge spoils on Puget Island; they heard a report on electronic waste disposal, and they approved some salaries and job classifications for personnel.

Sargents Engineers, Inc., was awarded the contract for the new bridge design at a maximum cost of $54,000. Public Works Director Pete Ringen said the project calls for replacing the upstream girder, raising the bridge and modifying approaches.

The bridge was damaged in the freshets of the 2006-07 winter, and the county was in the process of awarding a contract for repairs when last winter’s flooding damaged the girder so much that a new design was necessary.

Ringen said the design is due by the end of July, 2009; construction could start after that. State and federal disaster funds will pay the bulk of costs.

Federal officials feel a dredging contractor will be able to deposit sand spoils at Puget Island sites this year.

Commissioner George Trott had expressed concern that a hopper dredge was working near one the area where the spoils are supposed to go. The dredge collects sand from the bottom of the river and moves to a deep spot and discharges in the water. Local officials and Island residents are hoping for arrival of a pipeline dredge that will pump the spoils to disposal sites along eroding beaches.

Ringen said he had heard from US Army Corps of Engineers, which directs shipping channel maintenance, and they said a pipeline dredge is near Puget Island and should be available later in the season. The Seattle office of the Corps reportedly was ready to issue a water quality permit for the project.

The board passed a resolution setting salary ranges for the Building and Planning Manger, $44,208-$53,000, and Human Services Manager, $65,000.

The positions formerly were union positions.

The board also approved amendments to the union contract to establish part-time deputy auditor 1/recording and mental health therapist 1 positions.

The board also signed a contract for employment of a new physicians assistant, Mike Meno, at the Wahkiakum Family Practice Clinic.