Cheney council approves receipt of grants

Cheney’s Parks and Recreation Department has been busy pursuing grant funding lately, and it’s meeting with some success.

At its April 11 meeting, the City Council approved receipt of a $4,000 grant from the Spokane Parks Foundation to be used by the Cheney Youth Commission to upgrade amenities at the city’s Hagelin Park, including installation of a nine-hole disc golf course. At the April 25 meeting, recreation manager Kim Best and company added two more grant awards.

While small, the Youth United mini-grant and the Spokane Gives grant, which total $800, will go a long ways to fund local park improvements. Best told the council the $300 mini-grant will be used by the Youth Commission to purchase paint and boards to assist in fixing up the Sutton Park gazebo, slated to undergo some major foundational work.

The $500 Spokane Gives grant, also from the Youth Commission, goes to purchasing trees for planting, helping Cheney maintain its Tree City status. In approving receipt of these grants, council gave its approval to Best to apply for a USA Football Equipment grant, which would be used for leagues and summer clinics in the department’s growing flag football program.

In public works developments, the council approved two consultant agreements for upcoming projects. Both contracts are with Spokane’s Parametrix engineering firm.

Public Works Director Todd Ableman said the first, a $22,900 contract, will provide engineering services on the city’s upcoming water main replacement project. Water main sections along Oakland Street from North Ninth to North Eleventh, and a short stretch of University Lane, are slated for replacement some time this summer.

The second contract with Parametrix was a supplemental agreement for Cheney’s Simpson Parkway overlay project, also scheduled for the summer. The city originally entered into a $41,442 contract for preliminary engineering services in December, 2016.

The new, $50,074 contract is for construction engineering services. Ableman said they hoped to close on a bid for the work earlier this week.

Finally, the council agreed to declare as surplus some equipment in the city’s Light Department. With the recent completion of an upgrade of city street lights to LED fixtures and lamps, some of the department’s existing inventory of the older style lighting is no longer of use, Light Department Director Steve Boorman said.

The inventory has an approximate value of $4,500, and the department recommends it be offered for surplus sale for a minimum bid of $500 through the sealed bid process.

Councilman Chris Grover asked Boorman if the minimum bid price couldn’t be higher.

“We’d probably be glad to get that much,” Boorman said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.