Lind’s Stormwater Project construction delayed until 2017

The regular meeting of the Lind Town Council took place on April 26 beginning with a report from Town Engineer Alan Gay who is contracted through Stantec in regards to the ongoing Stormwater Project.

Gay began by discussing uses for monies left on grants the town has received. The first grant was received from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDARD) to be used for improvements on water systems. His suggestion for the best use of the funds is to purchase a system to automate the meter readings and billing system.

The Town would save on the labor to have the Town employees read meters and would allow the staff to be notified if there is an issue with a reading. The billing will be interfaced with Bias Software, which is already used by the Town.

The purchase of the equipment would include four years of system support and training for the Public Works employees and Clerk/Treasurer Denise Snead, and would cost $90,000 of grant monies the Town already has.

The second grant was from the Capital Development Building Grant (CDBG) to improve the well system in the Town and there is still approximately $9,000 remaining. Gay’s suggestion to use remaining funds is to improve Well No. 6 by adding a second truck fill to create two independent sources of water, one that is potable and the other that is not. There would also be enough funds left over to upgrade the well house with repairs to the roof and the siding.

On the day of the meeting Gay was informed the water line on Sixth Street between L Street and S Street has a leak. Previously they had received money to repair the water line via a grant from the Department of Health (DOH).

They had to return the money as they did not receive funds from the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) to repair Sixth Street. The TIB recently changed their definition of an arterial and Sixth Street will now fall into the category for a full rebuild, which Gay stated needs to be done.

Gay suggested the Town documents the leakage to reapply for the DOH and TIB grants once again. He also advised the leak is an emergency for the Town and the crew will need to do temporary repairs until it can be replaced.

The estimate for the project is approximately $900,000 for the street and water line repairs. The DOH funding is a 50-50 fund split between them and the Town and the TIB funds would be a 95 percent grant, so the Town would be responsible for five percent.

Gay additionally advised there is another leak on Van Marter Street at Third Street, which was on their list of lines to repair. They agreed it now needs to be moved up on the list to be replaced.

Gay plans to speak with the Program Manager at DOH to see if combining the two water lines together would score higher on the application or if just Sixth Street alone would be best. He will look into both options and select the option with the highest funding for the town.

Part of the Sixth Street water line replacement would be removing meters that are installed in the basement of homes and placing ones on the street, which will make readings easier in the future. This removal will require the Town to coordinate individually with the homeowners.

The last time they received the DOH grant they received $150,000 to cover the water line replacement, which would mean the Town’s responsibility would have been $75,000. For their portion of the cost, the Town will receive a low interest rate loan package.

Gay then presented to the Council information on the Stormwater Project. He advised they would have the revised contract from the Department of Ecology (Ecology) within the next two weeks or before the May 10 council meeting.

He advised because of the delay no construction will take place on the project this year but he highly recommends going forth with the cleanouts of the culverts this year. Gay also suggests they move forward with remaining studies on the areas they plan to use.

One of these costs would be $100 to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to dig a test pit and see where they run into a basalt layer. The size of the test pit is roughly six feet deep and 20 feet in diameter.

They have also identified an ideal location for a bio filtration swale, which is located on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway property. In order to do testing there, they need to begin the permit process for an easement and this process has a cost of around $800, it can also take up to three months.

This will help alleviate high flows of storm water by building catch basins, which will pipe the water into the existing system. The existing channel would be intercepted before reaching the coulee and would go into the bio filtration swale to be treated.

Once it is treated, it will overflow into the coulee.

This plan for the project will involve more piping and additional catch basins, and will ultimately cost the same amount as the original cost estimate.

Gay’s cost estimate is roughly the same as the original $558,000 grant the Town received along with a $98,000 loan at 2.5 percent interest.

The Council approved the expenditures of the $100 and $800 permit fees for the test pits to be dug as these funds will be reimbursable through Ecology.

A current resident of Lind leases the land owned by DNR and the property is located at Fourth Street and L Street. The Town has to have permission from the lessee in order to dig their test pit.

Mayor Jamie Schmunk then presented her updates on numerous topics. The first of which is a fundraising effort to take place for a dog park to be built in the Town. Councilperson Kathy White advised she would keep in touch with the fundraising committee and report back to the council.

A free cat spay clinic for feral cats will be in Lind on May 27. Schmunk is working with the company to provide more information to the community.

The American Ramp Company (ARC) sent information to the Town in hopes of setting up a demonstration of their pump track in Lind. These tracks are very low maintenance and can be moved around if needed. The Mayor advised ARC they would like to be in the running for a demonstration.

The Council then approved an animal permit for five chickens.

Ordinance 11-02 in regards to the animal permits was then discussed as White came up with language for the resolution. After discussion the Mayor advised they need it to be an amendment to the ordinance and not a resolution. They did, however, approve the language provided.

The Mayor then discussed the extra work Snead has been performing to clean out their records and ensure everything is correct. She has, to date, discovered funds that do not match with any current accounts on file in regards to utility charges.

Because of this the Town is able to do a one-time transfer of the money from the Utility Deposit Fund to the Water Fund. The Council approved the transfer of the $3,450.