Projects moving forward

RITZVILLE — City Council members approved several motions for infrastructure work at their March 3 regular meeting.

The city’s consulting engineer, Ben Varela of Varela and Associates of Spokane, attended the meeting to answer any questions.

Several questions surrounded the Pete’s Lift Station and Overload Sewer Replacement Engineering Services Agreement with Varela and Associates, which went from an estimated cost of $875,000 in 2014-15, to $1.2 million dollars in 2020.

Chairman of the Public Works (Water, Sewer, Street, Airport) committee Scott Yaeger, led the discussion.

“We’ve had this agreement before us for about a month; and we were discussing, in council, the reason for the increase in construction costs,” Yeager said. “Varela did a good job explaining. They’ve seen an increase in costs due to shortage of contractors performing that work, because the economy is kind of booming in that sewer and infrastructure type work, and escalating costs in construction and increased costs in material because of the “Buy American Steel” clause. I brought up the question of the hours needed to produce the construction drawings, because that was the bigger cost in that agreement.

“The drawings were around $43,000, and Varela explained it took between 20-40 hours per sheet. So it is my recommendation to approve the mayor to sign the agreement.”

Yeager’s motion was seconded by Plumb.

“If you have any questions, now is the time to ask, because Ben (Varela) is here for you,” Plumb said.

One councilman asked if cost was increased due to just inflation, or if the project had expanded. Varela said the project had not expanded, but construction costs across all their infrastructure projects had escalated a lot over the last six or seven years.

“Construction is up, labor is down and materials are up, all across the board,” Varela said.

“That’s just the cost of waiting six years to do it,” Plumb said.

“Well, we had to wait for funding,” Yeager said, earlier calling it a “standard CDBG project.” The Community Development Block Grant program, through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) office, provides communities with resources to address a wide range of community development needs.

The motion was approved by the majority, with Mark Weigan voting in opposition.

Council also approved an amendment to the owner-engineer agreement between the City of Ritzville and Varela & Associates in the amount of $93,880 for phase 2 of the Water System Improvements project. The Standpipe Reservoir Recoating Project was awarded to Industrial Coatings and set to begin March 9. The amendment, which raises the total cost from $363,984 to $457,863, is for construction management and on-site inspection services of the project. The amendment includes a budget of $32,080 for construction engineering and $61,800 for construction inspection.

A consulting agreement for $49,537 was also signed with Varela & Associates for the Transportation Improvement Board Main Street and Galbreath Way 2021 seal coat project, which includes a county chip seal followed by contractor slurry seal and adjacent ADA ramp updates. The ADA ramps will be installed in 2020, followed by the paving in 2021. The project, which runs through the city’s downtown central business district, is to be completed by Feb. 2021. Both the city and TIB have the right to participate in the review or examination of the work in progress.

A TIB consultant agreement in the amount of $76,196 was signed with Varela & Associates for full depth recycle of existing roadways with cement treated base and five inches of HMA. The proposed work on Galbreath Way, to be completed in 2021, will extend approximately 430 feet south of Weber Road. Curb and sidewalk will be constructed on the west side of Galbreath Way and include a bio-infiltration swale to accommodate an existing drywell, as well as a curb ramp across from Weber Road. Sidewalk improvements to Galbreath Way will include a crosswalk and ADA ramps to cross to the north side of Weber Road and tie into the existing sidewalk system. The city plans to eventually extend the sidewalk further down Galbreath Way as development occurs and/or funding allows.

In other business, council:

Heard committee reports from council members.

Heard reports from department heads, including Police Chief Dave McCormick, who announced they would be doing traffic enforcement for St. Patrick’s Day from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Held an executive session regarding potential litigation prior to the regular meeting.