Aberdeen Treatment Plan Options
Waterline plan kept alive by county, cities - January 12, 1999
By Ryan Teague Beckwith - Daily World Writer, The Aberdeen Daily World
The Grays Harbor PUD may get back in the industrial water business, but this time it won't be alone.
The city of Hoquiam and Grays Harbor County have agreed to work with the PUD to find money for repairs to the aging industrial waterline now operated by the City of Aberdeen.
The county commissioners and the Hoquiam Council signed off on an interlocal agreement during their regular Monday meetings.
"Look throughout history. Nothing important is gained without some risk," said Hoquiam Mayor Roger Jump. "Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted. People of progress have to take risks."
The agreement was put together by the county. Mike Daniels, the county's director of public services, presented it at both meetings. He said the Aberdeen City Council will consider it Wednesday night and the Cosmopolis City Council next week.
But the key to the agreement, Daniels said, is what happens at the PUD's meeting this evening.
In a surprise turnaround last week, the utility opted out of negotiations with Aberdeen. Until then, the PUD had been talking about assuming control of the line and seeking state and federal money for repairs.
"We feel that this working group method ... will work and will bring the PUD back to the table," said Daniels. "We certainly hope that will happen."
The 70-year-old waterline serves Grays Harbor Paper L.P. in Hoquiam and the Weyerhaeuser Co. pulp mill in Cosmopolis, but parts of the line are made of wood, which is rotting in some places. A dependable source of industrial water is also cited by local economic development activists as necessary to bring other industry here.
Supporters of the project say even a year delay could be devastating if the waterline fails during that time. The interlocal agreement is intended to keep the project on track for work this summer.
Lynn Micheau, assistant director of the Grays Harbor Economic Development Council, said the agreement is primarily intended to keep the waterline in the running for a $300,000 grant from the Community Economic Revitalization Board.
"We have to preserve that funding," she said. "We can't afford to give up one red dime."
The PUD had been scheduled to make a CERB grant presentation Jan. 21 and boosters are trying to get the interlocal agreement in place before then, Daniels said. If the other parties wait, the CERB money may be awarded to other projects, he said.
The cities, the county and the PUD were working on the project together 18 months ago, but the utility starting taking the lead and the others backed off, Daniels told the Hoquiam Council last night.
But last week, newly sworn in PUD Commissioner Frank Moses joined Commissioner Howard Moe in opposing utility involvement in the water business. When Commissioner Tom Casey moved to continue the negotiations, his motion died for lack of a second.
Since then, the Grays Harbor EDC and the city of Aberdeen have looked into several possibilities for continuing the project. At this point, the options range from convincing the PUD or the county to take over the project to forming a new agency much like the group that runs the Satsop Development Park.
Daniels stressed that the agreement does not preclude any of the options and it does not commit either the cities or the county to spending any money on waterline repairs. Consultants have estimated that completely retooling the pipeline could cost as much as $17.1 million. The agreement does specifically say that the PUD would be the lead agency in the interlocal agreement.
Hoquiam City Council members wanted assurance that signing the interlocal agreement didn't obligate the city financially. Daniels gave them that, saying any city that signs on would only contribute voluntarily.
Hoquiam council members were seeing the hurriedly produced agreement for the first time last night and some wanted to wait until next week before deciding whether to sign on. Mayor Jump pushed for approval last night, saying it was important for PUD officials to know that others supported the agreement.
The council voted 10-2 to support the agreement. Council members Jeff Wetzel and Patrick Connor opposed it, but both said they didn't oppose the idea of the agreement, only that it was thrown on last night's agenda at the last minute, which meant there was little chance for citizen input.
Dave Forbes, a Hoquiam resident who has opposed the PUD's involvement in the project, was at last night's meeting and said he didn't oppose the city's signing on, but he still opposes the PUD being a party to it.
The county has already committed half of the money it generates through the state sales tax every year to paying off debts incurred in fixing the waterline. In the meantime, the EDC is seeking grants and low-interest loans from the state and federal government.
Project backers already have some of the money in place. Last August, U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., announced that he had secured some $3 million from the Department of the Interior to pay for repairs to the waterline.
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