Commissioners cautious about expenses for new ferry

Wahkiakum County commissioners showed on Tuesday that they plan to watch very carefully the expenses needed to bring a new ferry to the Puget Island-Westport run.

Public Works Director Pete Ringen requested and eventually received approval to obtain design updates for the Puget Island ramp.

The county completed an update of the Puget Island ramp in 2010,

However, the county has embarked on a project to replace the aging ferry Wahkiakum, and the new vessel will be larger, so docks at Wesport and Puget Island will need modification.

Clatsop County is planning a major upgrade of its dock at Westport.

Ringen asked the Wahkiakum board to approve documents listing David Evans and Associates as a sole source engineering provider and authorizing payment of $161,573, plus a $16,157 management reserve, for the work to design the upgrade to the Island dock.

The cost concerned the county commissioners.

"I thought the new ramp was designed for a new ferry," said Commissioner Blair Brady.

Ringen replied that while the dock was designed with a new ferry in mind, the layout of pilings for landing and mooring still had to fit the existing ferry.

"There are still some details," Ringen said. "Some pilings will have to be moved. With the changes, we'll need to make sure that the channel is aligned with US Army Corps of Engineers data. These are the kind of things that need to be done."

Brady and Commissioner Lisa Marsyla also questioned the cost of the design. They've had to deal with cost over runs on other projects, such as computer software, and they don't want a repeat of that, they said.

Ringen responded that he, too, was concerned with costs. He said he had negotiated the contract down from $220,00 to $170,000.

Ringen has obtained state and federal grants to cover most of the cost of replacing the ferry. He said the county's share of this design work would be 10 percent of the total cost of the work, close to $17,000.

"I would have thought this would cost us closer to $100,000," Ringen commented.

"We really need to watch this," Marsyla said.

"I am very aware of the financial stress this county is under," he said. "But we have a one time shot to replace the ferry, and we're so close."

"We really need to keep our finger on it," Marsyla said.

Ringen and the commissioners hope to have designs completed this year with a call for bids in early 2013 and completion of the ferry a year later.