By Mai Ling Slaughter, The Chronicle, 8/10/99
Although no decision has been made to kill the regional wastewater treatment plant concept, some Chehalis leaders' fear of a higher price for regionalization appears to have been proven true.
At Monday's city council meeting, Public Works Director Jim Nichols said the cost for a new plant to serve Chehalis, Napavine and the Lewis County Sewer District is estimated at $38.8 million.
But a regional plant that would include Centralia would cost Chehalis from $41.7 to $50.7 million, he projected.
''The regional plant ... is not cost-effective at this time,'' Nichols said.
For some time, leaders from the two cities have been discussing regionalization with their two consulting companies. Cost estimates differed until the consultants recently met to form unified figures.
The plant would likely be on land the Centralia City Council recently purchased north of the Port of Centralia. The $50.7 million cost would include pipes and pump stations from Chehalis to the plant.
However, if Centralia paid half of that price, the cost would be about $41.7 million.
Nichols said a plant to process Centralia's wastewater alone would cost the neighboring city $33 million.
Chehalis councilors would like to meet with Centralia to discuss the regional plant option with the unified figures they now have.
But they decided to wait until after Centralia Utilities Director Dick Southworth discusses the option at today's Centralia City Council meeting.
Besides working on the regional plant option, the city's consulting company has been compiling analyses of different options for a new independent wastewater treatment plant.
Consultants Gibbs and Olson have added an additional nine alternatives to the original analyses, racking up an unbudgeted amount of $125,222.
''We're as frustrated and tired of it as you are,'' Nichols said to the council.
He said his next step is to meet with representatives of the Department of Ecology, the Environmental Protection Agency, and local tribes to get a better idea of what they are looking for before narrowing down the alternatives.
''I know that whatever option we choose,'' he said, ''someone will have a problem with it.''
The Lewis County Sewer District and Napavine - both of which use the Chehalis wastewater treatment plant - are paying 2.1 and 4.5 percent respectively of Gibbs and Olson's requested cost.
Councilors agreed to amend the budget to pay Gibbs and Olson the remaining costs.
Mai Ling Slaughter covers municipal government for The Chronicle. She can be reached by e-mail at news@chronline.com or by telephoning 807-8237.
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