PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Streamkeepers will help the city of Sequim collect data for its stormwater management plan.
The Board of County Commissioners today will consider approving a one-year interlocal agreement with the city for surface-flow monitoring of the streams and ditches in Sequim and its urban growth area.
The city will pay the county $10,000 for the service.
“The plan would be that we help coordinate volunteers and some of their field-related tasks,” Streamkeepers Program Coordinator Ed Chadd told the three commissioners Monday.
“It’s a flat fee, and we’re hoping that our costs will come in under that flat fee, and that will help to underwrite our overall operating costs.”
No commissioner objected to the interlocal agreement Monday.
Streamkeepers volunteers test for things like bacteria, nutrients, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, salinity and turbidity.
Former Clallam County hydrogeologist Ann Soule, now a water resource specialist with the city, will coordinate the project.
“Of course, she’s well aware of the whole history of stream monitoring out there, “ Chadd said.
Streamkeepers volunteers have sampled water at multiple sites in and around Sequim.
New sites used for the stormwater management plan will be added to Streamkeepers’s vast data inventory.
“Every time we do a project like this, it helps advance just the overall amount of information we’ve got,” Chadd said.
“The more sites you’ve established, the more other possibilities you have down the line of gathering information.”
The city is using a grant from the state Department of Ecology to help fund the stormwater project.
In other grant news, commissioners Monday endorsed a $16,417 grant renewal with the state Department of Commerce to curb domestic violence.
Clallam County will use its $9,213 share of the grant to install cameras and a DVR in the jail interview room.
The STOP Violence Against Women grant will also fund officer training to improve response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Alice Hoffman said.
The cities of Port Angeles and Sequim will spit a $7,204 share of the grant for officer training and cameras, Hoffman said.
In other board discussion, commissioners had no objections to calling for a hearing on the sale of a 1997 Cadillac that was seized by the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team.
The blue car will be sold at auction after the hearing on Dec. 16.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
