Council seeks to gain consensus on Butler Street

Over the past several months, Butler Street has been a source of discussion during sessions of Cathlamet's Town Council. With the street's water main being between 40 and 50 years old and, as noted by Cathlamet Treasurer Sarah Clark, "likely to fail," the question has arisen as to whether the Town should use money from a Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) grant to resurface Butler Street and whether or not some financial support may come for the replacement of the Butler Street Watermain. During Monday's session, options for the Butler Street water line and reconstruction were discussed between Council, Mayor David Olson and Project Manager Jacquelyn Gribble. In a prepared statement, Gribble said, "We have been informed that the DWSRF (Drinking Water State Revolving Fund) funding application for the 2nd Street/Butler Street Watermain Replacement project was not successful. As a result, we need to explore alternative funding/project options."

Prior to Gribble's listing of the options before Council, Olson said of the unsuccessful funding application, "I think this is a shot across the bow indicating these applications are not assured and it's particularly relevant to the utility consolidation."

Option 1, which would involve proceeding with the Butler Street reconstruction under the TIB funding, would not entail replacing the water main and would leave the main's replacement "as a future for the PUD (Public Utilities District) if utility consolidation proceeds."

Option 2, much like the first option, would have the reconstruction proceed with TIB funding; however, the water main replacement application "would be converted into a pre-construction application for the DOH (Department of Health) DWSRF, covering design, engineering, and environmental and cultural reviews of the water main replacement." According to the Town website, Option 2 "assumes that utility consolidation will not go through.'

Option 3, which would entail "applying for both pre-construction and construction funding through the Washington State Department of Commerce's Public Works Board (PWB)," and would involve "declining TIB funds," according to the Town website. Possible setbacks of Option 3 include the delay of water main replacement, which "could lead to increased maintenance leaks, bursts, property damage, and higher long-term costs." According to the Town website, declining TIB funding "could negatively impact the town's eligibility for similar future grants."

Option 4, which Gribble described as "not recommended," declines the TIB funding and, pending PUD consolidation, the Town "could opt to wait until the PUD replaces the water main before applying for funding through TIB, DOH, or the Department of Commerce for the road replacement." Like Option 3, a major setback of Option 4 would be the negative impact on the Town's "eligibility for similar future grants."

Discussing the decline of TIB funding, Clark said, "If consolidation goes through, TIB will be one of our primary funding sources for street [repair], so that would be putting us in a bad situation for streets in general."

With the meeting turned over to council members, Laurel Waller requested dates and deadlines regarding possible reconstruction dates and when a decision needs to be made. Asking to do "all of Column A and a little bit from Column B and Column C and start the process," Councilmember Joe Baker said, "That street needs to be fixed. It's garbage now, and it's not just one of the bad streets in Cathlamet. It's the worst street... If we can't get the drinking water fixed, we don't fix it. If we can, we go after the grants and we get it done before the street goes in but we can't just ignore this and turn it down. It's gotta be fixed. It's a free street fix that we can't afford right now, and we won't be able to afford, and the street isn't gonna get fixed. It's gonna get worse."

Offering a different opinion, Councilmember Robert Stowe said, "If we fix the road without having the infrastructure underneath it repaired, when we have a break or pipe burst or we finally get money to replace the main, we have to dig up the street at our own cost, replace whatever broke at our own cost and then fix the street again at our own cost. What you're asking us to do is cover it up so it looks good, but if something happens and it breaks, we get to tear it up again at our own cost. It's no longer free."

Countering, Baker said, "If it breaks now, we still have to tear it up and then throw a patch down over the top of it. It's gonna get torn up either way if something breaks. If it's nice and it lasts for a couple of years and we can come up with some money when some of this ridiculous stuff stops, then we get the street fixed. Right now, we don't have the money to fix Butler. It needs to get fixed." Later in the discussion, Baker, reiterating his point, said, "Mt. Rainier is scheduled to erupt sometime. There's scheduled to be a catastrophic earthquake at some time. We might not have to worry about any of this stuff, but if we can get something done, let's get it done."

Following the council members' discussion, Olson said, "Having heard the strong feelings from several of you about this, I think you're close to being able to reach a direction forward, which is what we need from you."

Council agreed it would find out "drop dead dates" and deadlines before "coming to a consensus on these options at the next available meeting."

During call to the public, resident Crystal Baker said, "You guys have a grant to be able to take care of the road....As a business operates, when you run water, you should have money set aside to be able to take care of things because grants are never for sure. It doesn't matter what the state of things are; you can get approved for it [or] not approved for it. If all of our functions as a water company is based off of grants, then that means we're never guaranteed to have anything updated and we should have been putting money aside at all times to have an emergency fund, so when something like this happens - because it sounds like it's pretty major repair that needs to be done - we should have had the money to cover it regardless of whether there was a grant or not, because that's a pretty important thing. Trying to do it when it's an 'oh no, now it is an emergency and we have to do it' is not what we should lean on."

For more info on the project, visit townofcathlamet.com.