2017-11-29 BOCC PW Individual Update MinutesLewis County Board of County Commissioners
Public Works Update
November 29, 2017
Present: Commissioner Bobby Jackson, Commissioner Gary Stamper,
Commissioner Edna Fund, Erik Martin, Director; Tim Fife, County Engineer; Larry
Unzelman, Real Estate Manager, Lara Seiler, recorder
Start 10:18 am
ADMINISTRATION
Budget-
No discussion.
Traffic Diversion-
Tim has been working with the Sheriff on an agreement between the BOCC and the
Sheriff for the Traffic Diversion. He sent a copy of the agreement Yakima County uses
as he wanted the Sheriff to see what other counties are doing. There will also need to
be an MOU between the Sheriff and Public Works that will detail what the eligible
activities are and these agreements will need to be signed each year. Discussion was
held regarding a CVO.
Recruitments-
Malcolm Bowie was offered the position of Assistant County Engineer and he has
accepted. This is an internal promotion.
Social Media-
Erik noted that the department hopes to have Facebook and Twitter accounts after the
1st of the year. Discussion was held regarding some issues with the layout of the county
website. The department picture takes up much of the Public Works homepage and it
would be ideal to see more of the verbiage and a smaller picture. Erik will be speak
with Steve to see if any changes can be made.
Real Estate Work for other Depts.-
Larry and his team have prepared real estate transactions and appraisals for other
departments for several years without charging. This was a decision that was made
years ago when Bob Berg was the director. Larry noted that he has acquired property
for the jail, the Star Tavern, leases for the senior centers and leases for the radio sites.
GIS does mapping work for the Assessor and does not charge for these services. In
exchange the Assessor keeps up the parcels however this is requirement by law they
do this.
Larry estimated his department spends approximately $10-$15k per year on work for
other departments which doesn’t include the Assessor.
Erik said that the department can either keep doing the same procedure, start billing the
other departments for these services or see what capacity the departments have to do
the work themselves. Discussion was held regarding these options and the board
agreed that we should move towards a reimbursement arrangement after discussion
with the affected departments.
Tim noted if there is a finding, then Public Works could be in non-compliance with
CRAB’s standards of good practice.
This item will be added to the next ESC agenda for further discussion.
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING & OPERATIONS
Borst Ave Pedestrian Safety Project-
Erik noted he shared the information regarding the Borst Ave project at the directors
update.
MAINTENANCE
Chip Seal-
Tim is currently planning the chip seal program for 2018.
Interlocal Work-
Tim noted that cities should notify Public Works early in the year if they need interlocal
work done in the summer. Public Works needs to know early in the year how much
material to purchase and also needs to plan the work crew’s time accordingly. This
issue will be brought up at the next mayors meeting and Kevin Korpi will attend.
FLEET
Striper order-
The striper will be ordered in the next two weeks which will be paid out of the 2018
budget.
New vehicle purchase bid-
Tim Murphy and Tim Mixer are currently working on a new vehicle purchase bid which
will allow the department to purchase from local dealerships.
REAL ESTATE
PSE Franchise negotiations-
Erik, Larry and Glenn had a meeting with PSE last week regarding the Jackson Prairie
franchise. Sole negligence language is proposed to be incorporated into the agreement
with caveats that would assign negligence with a percentage of liability based on a cited
RCW in the agreement.
North Fork-
Public Works has entered into ROW negotiations with the residents on North Fork Rd.
The Cgraggen who own a farm on North Fork sent a letter stating that they do not want
to negotiate and claim this project will affect their cow operation. The real estate
department made contact with Mr. Cgraggen to look at wetland and archeological on his
property. Bill Vander Hoeff recently had a meeting with the Cgraggen but Larry has not
heard the outcome yet. The county would need about 4/10s of an acre of their property.
Real Estate has over 20 offer to go out and will continue with the process.
ENGINEERING/CONSTRUCTION
Project Updates
Hwy 603-
No discussion.
Hwy Safety Grant Project-
No discussion.
North Fork Rd-
No discussion.
Jackson Hwy-
No discussion.
North Lewis County Industrial Access-
There will be a meeting held tomorrow at the Public Services building at 1:00 and Thera
Black from SCJ Alliance has a final report to review with the strategic group. The group
will also discuss what the next steps of the project will be.
Commissioner Fund noted she would like Peter Lahmann invited to the meeting. Peter
is the Centralia Port Commissioner elect.
SOLID WASTE
Host Fee Agreement-
Erik sent a request to Rob Hill asking to extend the existing host fee agreement through
the end of February 2018 if the city is willing to begin the mediation process by meeting
to discuss selection of a suitable mediator. Rob has not responded to the request yet.
Rental Agreement-
No discussion.
VADER WATER
Reservoir Project-
No discussion.
Rates-
Erik noted there will be a public meeting in mid-December with the City of Vader to
discuss the new rate structure with the city council.
GOOD OF THE ORDER
Ended 11:05 am