White Salmon City Hall rebuild project authorized for bidding

“This will allow us to proceed and get that part of the work done,” Wellman said.

Wellman said his task has been made difficult because the city has not given him a budget to work with, so he broke the project into two parts to simplify the process. The engineering of the first phase is complete and ready to go, while work on the interior redesign continues.

“I have a plan that I would like to do, but it’s going to depend on what our costs turn out to be,” Wellman said, and added, I’m still a little in the dark as to what the city wants to do, so I’ve worked to keep costs down.”

One estimate for the total project that’s been floated around is $300,000. “My plan is to do my darnedest to bring the project in at that level,” Wellman said.

The council moved to advertise the project for bid, with a bid opening date of Sept. 2 at 11 a.m., at City Hall. Noted Wellman, “Our hope is to have a recommendation of award for council that night.” The council is scheduled to hold its first of two regular business meetings on the 2nd of September.

A notification to Small Works Roster contractors stated, “It is the intention of this phase to bring City Hall up to acceptable Building Code Standards and leave it in a fully safe and weatherized condition, ready for Phase Two, which will complete all the remaining work to provide a fully reconditioned building for City Hall use.”

City Hall has been at 142 E. Jewett since the Jewett and Main building sustained serious water damage in late September 2012, when an interior water line in the second story broke and flooded the former bank building, and left it uninhabitable.

Agreement to fund engineering of SRTS project gains approval

White Salmon signed off on a grant reimbursement agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation that will provide $41,000 to the city for preliminary engineering of its Safe Routes to School sidewalk improvement project on NE Hood Street.

“As part of the process to access Safe Routes to School grant funds, the city needs to submit a project prospectus and a grant agreement,” Clerk/Treasurer Leana Johnson noted in a memorandum to the City Council.

Total estimated cost of the project, including professional engineering, is $391,242. Cost of construction is pegged at around $350,242. Most of the money, $330,242, is federal. The remainder of the budget is made up of WSDOT Local Programs funding.

The project, as laid out in the prospectus, calls for installation of sidewalks, curbing, gutter, planter strips, crosswalk markings, flashing beacons, signs, crosswalk flags, a speed feedback sign, public education, and a walking school bus program. The project area is fourth-tenths of a mile long and includes NE Hood between N Main Avenue, and south on NE Wauna Avenue from Hood to NE Tohomish Street. The city holds rights of way on both legs of the project.

“The width and good street condition on NE Wauna Avenue along the larger portion of the proposed project promotes speeding by motorists,” wrote City Administra-tor/Public Works Director Pat Munyan Jr. “Speeding vehicles breaking the hill crest increases the safety risk for walking students. The narrow street conditions on NE Hood Street and absence of sidewalks force students to walk in the street for the three-block section.”

The construction portion of the project was added to the city’s Six-Year Transportation Improvement plan and has been moved to the 2016 budget.

Snohomish/Tohomish project contract rises to $945K because of change orders

The cost of White Salmon’s Tohomish/Snohomish Improvement Project increased to about $945,594 because of three change orders approved by the City Council at its Aug. 5 business meeting.

Councilors approved one change order with contractor Pipe of Washington (POW) for $1,061.66 to decommission a utility vault found under the surface near the intersection of NE Wauna and NE Estes avenues. The vault was located directly next to the existing waterline.

Project engineer Dustin Conroy, of Pioneer Surveying and Engineering, said the new water line would be compromised if the vault was removed. Instead, the vault was filled with controlled density fill (CDF), a self-compacting, cement-like material used primarily as a backfill in lieu of compacted backfill.

Work on change order no. 2 amounted to $11,071.93, and related to sewer and water line repairs. Crews built a hydrant extension for a fire hydrant at the intersection of Tohomish and Wauna, and rebuilt the fire line to Harvest Market as a 6-inch line.

“The fire hydrant at the intersection with Wauna needed a hydrant extension,” Conroy wrote in the justification section of the change order. “The new water line was in conflict with other utilities and needed to be installed deeper. The deeper installation required the fire hydrant extension.”

Also, the fire line to Harvest Market was shown on project plans as a 4-inch line. A crew that excavated and exposed the line discovered it was a 6-inch line.

The third change order came in at $35,292.11, for a total revised contract of $945,593.94. Conroy wrote that POW encountered a soft subgrade in Tohomish Street after the roadway had been excavated to subgrade.

“The subgrade was extremely soft and pumping [water to the surface],” Conroy noted.

The city brought in a geotechnical engineering consultant to evaluate the subgrade condition and devise a plan to address it. The consultant recommended placing quarry spalls (sub-base constructions made with broken stone such as basalt, or broken concrete rubble) on the subgrade and rolling them into the hardened surface.

The intersection of Tohomish and Wauna continued to pump water after the quarry spalls had been installed, so the city asked the consultant to evaluate the intersection

“Based on their recommendation the intersection was over-excavated an additional 18 inches below subgrade,” Conroy wrote. “Geotextile fabric was placed and quarry spalls were placed to bring the road back up to grade.”

Overall, the Tohomish/Snohomish Improvement Project is about two weeks away from substantial completion. Conroy pegged the completion date at around Aug. 27.

Paving is scheduled to begin around Aug. 17, and “the project will look pretty much complete when the pavement is down,” Conroy said in response to a question from Councilor Bill Werst.

Councilor Donna Heimke inquired of Conroy how long the improved streets should last under the best of conditions. Conroy answered, “You should get a good 25 years out of it.”