Town construction projects hit snags

For a while, Cathlamet's town council meeting Monday was bad news followed by more bad news regarding the town's construction projects.

First, consulting engineer Ken Alexander of Gray and Osborne, LLC, reported that the contractor installing wastewater conveyance lines under SR 4 had encountered bedrock that has stopped the boring.

The contractor tried boring at a more shallow level, he said, but still bedrock blocked the passage.

The problem doesn't stop the project, but the engineers are working out how to solve the problem and what the change order for the work will cost.

Alexander said they've already received permission from Washington State Department of Transportation to cut a trench through the surface of SR 4, if necessary.

Alexander said Gray and Osborne is waiting for the general contractor and subcontractor to supply cost estimates and project details before making a recommendation to the council.

If the information is available soon, Alexander said, he may ask for a special meeting. However, it may take until the council's August 20 meeting, and that wouldn't harm the overall project, he said, for the contractor is continuing to work on the treatment plant site.

Good news was that the boring contractor was able to drill under SR 4 at the School Access Road so that a water line could be installed to the plant.

Alexander and Mayor George Wehrfritz declined to put a potential cost to the change order.

"Right now we're waiting on a proposal from the contractor that would justify this change order," Alexander said. "We hope to have that in the next week or so."

"With a project of this size ($9 million), we knew we'd have change orders," Wehrfritz said. "The contingency budget was small, so we knew we'd have to bump it up."

"We'll have to address your contingency budget," Alexander said. "You have $21,000 left in it, and their proposal is for well over that, and we have others that are stacking up that we don't have to deal with now.

"The rest of the project is fine."

Alexander also informed the council that another contractor who has been installing sidewalks on 3rd Street won't get the final paving done this week as anticipated.

"I found out just before this meeting that it's not going to happen this week, which I profusely apologize for," Alexander said. "It will get done next week."

He added that he didn't yet know the reason for the delay.

The council discussed and approved a change order for additional paving for 3rd and Una streets. The work, grinding existing pavement and installing a single overlay over the patched up street, was left out of the original contract as a cost saving measure, but town staff and the contractor felt it would be better to have one smooth overlay, Alexander said. They negotiated a change order for $9,000 for grinding and paving. Of that, the town would pay $900 and Transportation Improvement Board grant money would cover the balance.

"It's a cosmetic issue," Alexander said. "The road is not damaged in any way."

In other business, Executive Assistant Chief Fred Johnson got council approval for a plan to pay stipends to paramedics willing to work with the Cathlamet Fire Department's ambulance crews.

The department had three paramedics on the crew a year ago, but all have resigned, leaving the ambulance crew able to provide only basic life support.

Johnson and Carol Wegdahl, who has been named captain of the Emergency Services Division, said four people are willing to provide the service. They would work 18-24 hour shifts at a rate ranging frm $50-$75 per shift. The EMS budget has funds for the program, Johnson said.

The council also passed ordinances setting up a $4.986 million loan to cover sewer plant construction, amending the town's zoning program, granting a franchise to Cascade Networks, Inc., for installation and operation of fiber optic cables, and amending the budget to reflect unanticipated revenue and expenditures.