Crestline Construction crews work in early 2020 to replace water main lines in the downtown core of White Salmon. The City of White Salmon recently approved closing the project, and secured a USDA loan that funded the project with a $2.73 million water revenue bond.
Crestline Construction crews work in early 2020 to replace water main lines in the downtown core of White Salmon. The City of White Salmon recently approved closing the project, and secured a USDA loan that funded the project with a $2.73 million water revenue bond.
The City of White Salmon approved the closing of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan documents and acknowledged the Jewett Street Water Main Improvement project as complete during a special meeting of the city council last Thursday.
As part of the final closing process, White Salmon City Councilors unanimously approved a resolution and ordinance issuing a water revenue bond in the amount of $2,731,000. The bond will then be used to secure the USDA loan and pay back the principal payments on the USDA loan which funded the water main project.
The bond has a lifetime of 40 years and will bear a 1.75-percent interest rate on the unpaid principal amount, which the city will pay back monthly, according to the ordinance.
In total, the project, with construction performed by Crestline Construction and project management by Walla Walla-based Anderson Perry & Associates, underwent six change orders and had a final price-tag just shy of $3 million, with the city contributing $266,739.68 from its own coffers.
During the meeting, Councilor Jan Ransier questioned why the meeting was labeled as a special meeting, to which City Clerk Jan Brending said it was about timing, saying if the action had waited until the Mar. 3 council meeting, the city would have had to pay more in interest due to the different closing deadlines with USDA and North Cascade Bank, the city’s interim financier.
“So the timing here is very tricky,” said Brending. “It’s not uncommon to have a special meeting, particularly for these USDA loans.”
The issuance of a water revenue bond replaces the interim financing with a permanent financing solution, said Scott McJannet, representative with K&L Gates, which prepared the bond paperwork.
“It’s a very clean resolution and USDA came through very nicely this week adjusting down the payment schedule and the interest rate, so you’re well-packaged in,” said McJannet. In council documents, an email from a USDA representative shows that the USDA office for Rural Development amended the original terms and conditions to show a decrease in the bond’s interest rate, amortization factor, and principal amount, which cut the city’s agreed-upon monthly payments by just over 65-percent. The city was originally approved for a $3.19 million bond.
The approval of such action items mark the culmination of a years-long effort to replace water main lines that run along Jewett Boulevard in White Salmon’s downtown core. The project saw 12-inch water mains replace thinner lines, which were nearing the end of their service life and had been historically a source of leaks. The replacement of those mains with larger ones help for fire flow, according to project documents, and decrease water pressure, which city officials cited as a health hazard to City staff working on the system, and exasperate the leaks.
Additional fire hydrants were installed along Jewett boulevard and pressure-reducing valve systems were installed on Jewett Boulevard, Vine street, and Oak street.
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