Delays probable on Danekas Road Project

After opening bids for an overlay project in the Othello area and referring them to Public Works for review, the Adams County Commissioners met with the Public Works Department to discuss maintenance and ongoing projects in the county.

Public Works Director Todd O’Brien told commissioners two crews would be crack sealing in the Lind area and crack sealing in the Ritzville area had been completed. He also reported crews were beginning to broom some of the roads that had been seal coated earlier this year.

He also reported West First Avenue in Ritzville from Weber Road to the state right-of-way was scheduled to be seal coated around Sept. 8.

O’Brien then told commissioners he had filled two of the vacant positions in the county, one solid waste attendant and one maintenance worker in the Othello area, as well as offering another individual a position as a solid waste attendant and another as a maintenance worker in the Ritzville area.

County Engineer Scott Yaeger then gave his report on the Danekas Road Project.

Despite Central Washington Asphalt being ready to pave the road Yaeger did not expect it to be done on time.

This is because before CWA can begin paving the other contractor must finish the gravel work on the road. As of Monday, Aug. 25, Yaeger reported the contractor was still working on grading the road, and did not expect them to be completed by Monday evening.

Commissioner John Marshall inquired about the condition of the detour and if it could handle the traffic for the extended amount of time.

Yaeger said it could use a break but he did not expect needing to repair it again.

A compounding problem to the Danekas Road paving is CWA has another project in Grant County on Sept. 3.

If CWA were to begin paving Aug 26, there would only be five days for them to complete a six-day project before having to further delay the opening of the road.

Yaeger then presented the board with the county’s submittals for the County Road Administration Rural Arterial Program, which is a competitive program that ranks different projects based on a mathematical scale to compete for a pool of project funding. Adams County competes with 11 different counties each biennium for project funding.

Commissioner Roger Hartwig moved for the chairman to sign the perspectives for submittal, Marshall seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

After discussion about rodeo lake and the possible sale of the property on Division Street the meeting adjourned.