Commissioners act on ferry ramp project, OK arena furnishings

Wahkiakum County officials addressed construction projects at their meeting Tuesday.

The board of commissioners opened two bids to replace and upgrade the Puget Island ferry landing. Public Works Director Pete Ringen will study them and make a recommendation to the board of commissioners next week for the bid award.

Bergerson Construction, Inc., of Astoria was the low bidder at $1.87 million. Hickey Marine Enterprises was the other at $2.3 million.

Ringen said the design engineer's estimate was $1.6 million.

Commissioners expressed concerns that the bids were higher than the estimate and the state federal funding allocated to the project.

"There will be no extra state or federal funding, so if we accept the Bergerson bid, we're $200,000 over budget," Ringen said.

To handle the shortfall, the county could tap into the Public Works Trust Fund, which was established for capital projects, or Ringen could try to negotiate some cost savings with the contractor. For example, the county could eliminate the planned temporary ramp and save $500,000, he said, but that would close ferry service and cause inconvenience to people who use the ferry, Ringen said.

The commissioners approved a $306,000 contract extension for the engineers working on the ferry ramp, David Evans and Associates, Inc., but not before Commissioner Lisa Marsyla expressed concerns.

She noted that the firm originally quoted $298,000 for engineering the project but the bill was now up to $762,174.

Ringen explained that the original quote was for a certain portion of the design work, and because of the opportunity to use federal economic stimulus money for the project, the work schedule has accelerated past the original plan. The firm is now doing work that wasn't originally expected at this point, he said.

In other business Tuesday, commissioners authorized Wahkiakum Fair Manager Sarah Lawrence to purchase bleachers and animal pens for the new arena.

A contractor is erecting a new arena to replace the previous arena and attached buildings, whose roofs collapsed under last December's snowfall.

Lawrence said she had $41,000 available for bleachers and pens and needed to order them soon so they'll be available at fair time.

"I want to make sure we don't have cost over runs and have to come back for more money," said commission Chair Dan Cothren.

"We understand completely," Lawrence said. "My intention is to now spend the whole $41,000."