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By John Henderer, The Chronicle, 5/5/98
Attempting to navigate toward a flooding solution, Lewis County commissioners on Monday agreed to spend $600,000 more on the journey.
Most of the money will go toward a study being prepared by Edmonds-based Pacific International Engineering and Pharos Corp., a joint venture.
A special appropriation in the latest legislative session, inserted into the state Department of Transportation budget by Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, provides all funding for the contract extension.
Lewis County commissioners selected PIE last year and granted it a $455,000 contract to produce a ''baseline flood model'' for the Chehalis River. PIE was to identify three preferred projects and other alternatives to prevent flooding.
The contract was later amended to include $102,000 more from Grays Harbor County for work pertaining to Lewis County's westerly neighbor.
Monday's action extends Lewis County's work, allocating $560,000 to PIE to continue the work on the three proposed projects. The county will keep $35,000, and $5,000 goes to the state, according to the contract.
PIE will conduct a ''feasibility analysis'' and ''project optimization,'' the contract states. The firm will also analyze the consistency and compatibility of its proposals with fish and habitat recovery efforts, coordinating with a technical committee.
Answering citizens' questions about the work, Commissioner Russ Wigley said Monday, ''We hope to have something in the very near future. I've seen a little bit of it and it was fantastic.''
A report will be available by June 1, said Bob Berg, county director of General Administration.
Chehalis resident Rose Spogen asked why PIE's work addresses flooding in the Centralia area only. Something else is needed ''to save Chehalis,'' she said.
Commissioners said the firm is studying plans to do that.
''Who will cross-check this and be sure we aren't fed a bill of goods?'' asked Chehalis area resident Tammy Baker.
A technical team of state, federal and tribal agencies is working to track the progress, Berg responded. The group was to meet at 1 p.m. today.
PIE, which originally was hired by the so-called Flood Action Council after the 1996 flood, last year recommended building a dam or series of dams on the upper Chehalis River near Doty.
PIE has since dropped the controversial dam proposal as not being feasible. It now is pursuing three alternatives: Skookumchuck Dam improvements, ''overbank'' excavation along the Chehalis River, and modifying the Mellen Street bridge and Highway 6 bridge.
Lewis County officials are hoping to convince the state Department of Transportation to pay for PIE's projects, using money the state would otherwise spend on raising Interstate 5 above floodwaters.
Some have estimated the freeway project at $90 million to $100 million.
In related action, commissioners agreed to sign an agreement with the cities of Centralia and Chehalis, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties, and the Chehalis Indian Tribe to coordinate flood-control efforts in the Chehalis River basin. The agreement terminates after 2003.
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