Cathlamet council acts on concerns

The Cathlamet Town Council gave approval to its proposed budgets for 2012 at its monthly meeting last Monday.

The council's finance committee will fine tune the budget for final action at a future meeting.

The council also voted 4-1 to uphold a contract with a propane supplier. Councilmember Wally Wright suggested that the contract was invalid because it hadn't been put out to bid or approved by the council, and because Mayor George Wehrfritz had signed it, he should be responsible for the expense.

Clerk-Treasurer Tina Schubert responded that the contract amount didn't appear to be high enough to require a call for sealed bids, so the town staff contacted four suppliers who all submitted bids in a process that is deemed acceptable, and they accepted the lowest bid.

"There's some doubt that the contract was entered into legally," Wright said. "I'm afraid we are whitewashing this instead of holding the mayor's feet to the fire."

Councilmember Bob Rendler commented that the council has had an opinion from Town Attorney Tom Doumit stating that the council could choose to accept the contract. Voiding the contract could also impact other contracts, he said, including one which Wright signed while serving as mayor pro tem.

"Then hold my feet to the fire," Wright said.

After more discussion, the council passed Rendler's motion to ratify the contract. Wright voted against it; voting for it were Rendler, Ruth Doumit, David Goodroe, and Steve McNicholas.

In other business, Tom Zerkle of the engineering firm Gray and Osborne reported that the firm had reviewed the eight bids received for the waste water treatment plant.

As soon as the US Army Corp of Engineers approves the Corps permit, the firm will be able to make a formal recommendation for acceptance of the bid. Federal grant rules prohibit awarding of the bid before all environmental permits have been approved he said.

Low bidder was Pacific Crest Construction of Lynwood at $7.86 million. Gray and Osborne had estimated the cost at $8.5 million.

Zerkle said the firm had worked with Pacific Crest to build a plant at Toppenish, and that project had gone well.

The council approved a request from Chris Holmes and Carol Guyle to build a fence around the community garden at Erickson Park. The cedar plank fence will keep deer out of the garden and reduce vandalism, they said. Home Depot has offered to donate materials and send a crew to help build the fence, they said.

Marsha LaFarge presented a report from a citizen group formed to examine the walkability of Cathlamet streets. Members of the group came from different parts of town and represented different interests, she said.

The report noted several areas of concern--streets that need sidewalks; sidewalks that need to be repaired; crosswalks needing attention; improved signs for vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and work on trails. The report also urged property owners to maintain their property so that it looks nice and its sidewalks are safe.

To avoid conflict with Thanksgiving holiday schedules, the council agreed to change its November meeting to November 14.