PORT ANGELES — Officials with the Clallam County Department of Community Development have requested that county commissioners reject a bid for its Phase 2 Lower Dungeness River Floodplain Restoration & Levee/Realignment Project.
The solitary bid the DCD received on June 7 from Delhur Industries Inc. for $13,817,361, exceeded engineers’ estimates by 47 percent and was more than the current level of grant funding for the project — information summarized in an agenda item during the commissioners’ work session on Tuesday.
Said Cathy Lear, DCD senior habitat biologist: “We tried taking some elements out (of the bid) to see if we could make it affordable and doable. … so our request to the board is that that bid be rejected and we re-issue one with a more relaxed timeline. I think that will have more bids and they’ll be more competitive.”
Commissioners took the advice under consideration.
Also during its work session Tuesday, commissioners agreed to review a two-year contract amendment between Clallam County Health and Human Services and the state Department of Social and Health Services — Developmental Disabilities Administration.
The second-year DSHS installment of $1,514,493 “provides a coordinated and comprehensive state and local program of services for persons with developmental disabilities.”
The second-half installment brings the total awarded to Clallam County to $3,028,986 for the period between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023.
Commissioners agreed to review a request from Clallam County Parks, Fair and Facilities (PFF) to sign a grant application from the state Department of Commerce to support “legacy festivals and grants” for the county fairgrounds. The grant is worth $35,000 with no county match required.
“It’s (the grant) got a great niche and we fall right into it,” said Don Crawford, director of PFF. “You know, our fair’s over 100 years old, we’re in a county with less than 100,000 residents, so we just fit right in the sweet spot.”
The application, Crawford added, would allow the county to remove the existing first aid building, put a modular unit on site, add air conditioning for a cooling station and make a dedicated mother’s lounge.
In action during the regular business meeting on Tuesday, commissioners:
• Approved a request from Clallam County Parks, Fair & Facilities to sign a transportation enhancement exception from the Federal Highway Administration to improve safety, manage stormwater, improve traffic flow, regulate speed, reconfigure the parking area and enhance restrooms at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and Recreation Area.
• Approved a 10-year agreement between the state Department of Health and Clallam County Health and Human Services for the regulation of water recreational facilities (swimming pools and spas) and extended for one year a contract between the state Department of Ecology and Clallam County Public Works for the Clallam Bay — Sekiu Wastewater Treatment Facility project that was delayed due to staffing turnover and COVID-19.
• Approved a settlement between Clallam County and Scarsella Brothers, Inc., to remediate damage to a 1/2-acre of wetland vegetation Scarsella inadvertently mowed during a recent project, and approved a total of $220,000 in Hotel/Motel Tax Funds in the 2022 Clallam County budget to three entities: Port Angeles Baseball for its Volunteer Field Turf project, the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce for its Winter Ice Village, and Lincoln Park BMX Association for its Pumptrack Large Scale Infrastructure project.
• Approved a grant application from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office for $141,080 to replace its aging lake patrol vessel with a new boat.
• Approved three new applications for entrance into the county’s Open Space Tax Program and three requests for reclassification from the Farm & Agriculture and Designated Forest Land Tax designations into the Open Space Tax Program.
• Approved a public hearing for 10:30 a.m. July 5, in the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Room 160, to discuss the county’s revised Forestry Conversion Ordinance. The ordinance addresses reforestation requirements and six-year development moratoriums of harvested areas retained in forestry use, county forestry requirements for conversion from forestry to non-forestry use, the process to lift a six-year moratorium, and conversion-option harvest plans.
• Approved a resolution to temporarily close Cooper Ranch Road between mileposts 0.23 and 0.40 for approximately 90 days or until Oct. 17, whichever comes first. The closure is necessary to replace a fish passage barrier in Kugel Creek.
• Received no bids for the DCD’s McDonald Creek Irrigation and Fish Passage Improvement Project. Bids were due on Tuesday.
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Paul Dunn can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at paul.dunn@peninsuladailynews.com.
