The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Jake Holopeter, a physical engineer with Anderson Perry & Associates, spoke at a special city council meeting, last Monday, about the terms of the one million dollar Public Works Board Pre-Construction Loan, which was granted to the city to buy property for its land acquisition discharge wastewater treatment plant facility project.

Because the City has been looking into a different method of treating effluent, Holopeter said he would recommend turning the loan back to the Public Works Board and reapplying later when the direction is clear.

He said the City hasn’t spent any of the money.

“They would just as soon have that money to use somewhere else, more quickly,” Holopeter said.

City officials have been working with Washington Water Trust and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation about the possibility of utilizing a different treatment method, which would discharge the effluent into natural, or man-made wetlands.

Holopeter said Anderson Perry & Associates is currently in the process of creating a scope for analysis about how a mechanical system coupled wetland reclamation can work, and be acceptable for the city, for Washington Water Trust, and for the Department of Ecology.

The Dayton City Council voted to authorize Mayor Zac Weatherford to sign a letter to the Public Works Board requesting “termination of convenience” for the Pre-construction Loan.

Mayor Weatherford was also authorized to sign a letter of authorization to submit a grant application to the Department of Commerce to fund a Housing Action Plan.

City Administrator Trina Cole said the Housing Action Plan is a collaborative project for the cities of College Place, Waitsburg, Walla Walla and Dayton, and will allow the cities in reaching their overarching goals of improving housing affordability in the Blue Mountain Region. The City of Walla Walla will be the lead agency for the application.

The East Clay Street Improvement Project, between 7th St. and 8th St., is moving forward with the lowest bidder, Humbert Asphalt, Inc. performing the work.

Because their bid was $58,314.00 higher than initial estimated costs for the project, the City has authorized an inter-fund loan in the amount totaling up to $67,061.00.

That figure allows for a contingency, in the event there are issues beneath the street, said Cole.

“This is a loan we will pay back to ourselves by October of next year,” Mayor Weatherford said.

The total cost of the project is $129,814.80.