PORT ANGELES — The Carlsborg sewer project will go out to bid next week.
County commissioners have agreed to issue a notice of invitation for bids next Tuesday and to assemble the county finance committee to scrutinize cost projections before awarding a contract in April.
Public Works Administrative Director Bob Martin told commissioners Tuesday that the county has already spent $3.1 million on the sewer and needs to spend an estimated $12.1 million more.
“We have $11.4 million available,” Martin said in the commissioners’ work session.
“So we have a $726,000 estimated shortfall, which is a little less than the $1.2 [million] that I previously reviewed with you. And I think where we actually stand is going to be much clearer once we open the bids.”
The county could make up a shortfall with real estate excise tax revenue, its capital projects budget or the Opportunity Fund, officials said.
Martin said the engineer’s estimate for construction is highly conservative and that the bids will likely come in below the estimate.
“I agree with everything we’ve heard and everything we’ve seen — although you can’t count on it until you get the bids in — that the bids are highly likely to come lower than the very conservative estimate,” County Administrator Jim Jones said.
“And that’s when we’ll really know what we need to do.”
After opening bids March 1, county officials will spend six weeks analyzing the proposals.
The finance committee will vet the project at its March 10 meeting.
Commissioners are expected to award a contract in mid-April. The infrastructure will take 225 days to complete, according to the latest timeline.
As proposed, a contractor will build a pump station along Carlsborg Road and lay sewer pipes to transport effluent to the existing wastewater treatment plant in the city of Sequim.
The county paid the city $1.3 million for about 20 years of sewer capacity.
$10 million loan
Clallam County secured a $10 million loan from the state Public Works Trust Fund to fund the sewer, which county officials have been planning since the late 1980s.
The 30-year loan will be repaid from the Opportunity Fund, a portion of state sales tax that supports infrastructure in rural areas.
If the Carlsborg system is operational by April 1, 2017, the 0.5 percent interest rate on the loan will be lowered to 0.25 percent, Martin said.
“We changed the working days from 250 to 225 to make sure we’re done by that time,” Martin said.
“We want to give the contractor as much time as possible because there are some items that have long lead times as far as getting them delivered, particularly the electrical equipment. We do think, from talking to a couple of contractors, that 225 is very doable for them, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
Clallam County has $1.43 million reserved for the project in a special fund.
Commissioner Mike Chapman said he supported an earlier request from County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis to focus the finance committee on expenditures related to the Carlsborg sewer.
Chapman, the board chairman, also suggested that Vice Chairman Mark Ozias attend the March 10 finance committee meeting because Carlsborg is in Ozias’ district.
“Thank you,” Ozias told Chapman.
“I would like to do that.”
Chapman said it is important that the county auditor, treasurer and board of commissioners are “operating under the same set of numbers” for accuracy and transparency.
Martin has said the cost of building the sewer will not be borne by the ratepayers.
Service fees are expected to be about $70 per month for an average residential customer.
Connection fees are $500 while the sewer is being built, $1,500 within two years of operation and $8,000 thereafter.
No one is required to connect immediately, Martin has said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
