Council zips through busy agenda

The Cheney City Council got a lot of business jammed into a mere 25 minutes at its July 24 meeting.

And as it worked out, Public Works Director Todd Ableman was at the center of much of it.

In terms of action items, Ableman spoke to a series of projects from construction of a replacement water well to an update at the wastewater treatment plant, street paving and striping.

Resolution E-638 involved the rehabilitation project bid for headworks at the plant.

“We went out for bids to do some modifications on the headworks,” Ableman said.

There were two bidders, one at just over $200,000, the other was $150,000. The city’s original projection was $60,00 to $70,000, he said. The 400-foot gas main alone was in the $20,000 range.

“We felt it was high, we’re going to back off and see what we can do to go in a different path,” Ableman said.

Councilman Paul Schmidt, a member of the public works committee, asked that the resolution — which in its original form called for simple rejection of the lowest bid — be modified to reject all bids. Council, minus member Dan Hilton who was away on an excused absence, agreed and voted unanimously to start over again.

The project to replace the city’s Well No. 3, outlined in resolution E-642, was going much better, Ableman said.

Blue Star Enterprises from the Tri-Cities is in charge of the work, estimated between $840,000 and $930,000. “They are also the one who did Well 8 and also an EWU well last year,” Ableman said.

A significant amount of funding comes from a $750,000 state grant and will pay to vacate the existing well and drill a new one in proximity to the old well. It’s a 150-day calendar project with a completion in late 2018 or early 2019.

Ableman said the deal calls for a well that will go down “close to 1,100 feet.” The city studied EWU’s well project and knows about a sand region that they want to stay out of if possible. The measure also passed unanimously.

Wrapping up his time at the podium, Ableman offered details on a pair of street projects.

The first dealt with a paving project, where unlike the situation at the wastewater facility, the bids were better than expected.

A $182,735 offer from Red Diamond Construction will be covered by a $186,000 Community Development Block Grant. Most of the bids were in the $250,000 range, Ableman said for the project that will repave North Third Street from Ash to Oakland.

A street striping project that began in 2017 will be completed this year with crosswalks being the focus. “We got a late start (and) ran out of weather on the crosswalks,” Ableman said.

Light Department Director Steve Boorman spoke on behalf of Resolution E-641, dealing with ongoing work at the city’s substations. Needing council approval because the contract was over the $10,000 maximum that can be signed off on by Mayor Chris Grover, they also passed that request unanimously.

With the recent resignation of Cheney Public Defender Shawn O’Quinn, City Administrator Mark Schuller asked that council approve a contract with his replacement, Shawn Carr. He was one of three attorneys to respond to the city’s call to take over for O’Quinn who moved on recently to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s office.

“The agreement is the exact same agreement that we had for Mr. O’Quinn,” Schuller said, who highly recommended that Carr, a Michigan native, U.S. Navy veteran and Gonzaga Law School graduate step into the role, which he had helped on an interim basis for the past two months. Carr’s contract was approved unanimously.

In staff reports, Schuller addressed some citizen concerns over Spokane Transit Authority buses using Golden Hills — and seemingly doing so at a higher rate of speed. “They did not understand why buses all of a sudden started going down Golden Hills,” he said.

That detour was done while the paving project on Betz Road from North Sixth to Washington Street was being done. “The project is complete I’m happy to report,” Ableman chimed in from the audience, who said contractor Shamrock Paving completed work July 24.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.