PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioners have approved a contract with an archaeological firm to analyze animal bone fragments and other cultural resources that were unearthed last summer during the project to upgrade the light standards at Memorial Athletic Field.
The contract with Equinox Research & Consulting International Inc., not to exceed $115,030, was one of 17 items approved on the consent agenda for the Board of County Commissioners on Monday.
Additional agreements included the construction of a bridge to replace a culvert on Thorndyke Road, the approval of caretakers at HJ Carroll County Park and a traffic study in Port Ludlow.
The animal bones were discovered last August when the contractor was excavating one of the holes for one of four light standards, County Administrator Philip Morley said.
“It’s hard to know whether that was potentially stuff that had been tossed out by white settlers or whether that was remnants of a midden of some sort from Native Americans,” Morley told commissioners.
“This is a site where, in the past, Native American settlement had been,” Morley added. “So we’re working with the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation to do it all right and to do some mitigation, which will likely involve some interpretive signage.”
The contract calls for screening and analyzing sediment found at the site. A final report is due by Nov. 1.
The state Recreation and Conservation Office will provide up to $67,000 in additional funds, not to exceed its original match of 45 percent of the project, according to county documents.
Construction at Thorndyke Road will replace fish-barrier culverts at milepost 4.71. The total cost of the project is about $1.8 million, although 90 percent will be covered by state and federal grants and about 10 percent covered by the county road fund, according to county documents.
The county applied for funding with the Fish Barrier Removal Board in 2018 and anticipates receiving funding this year, according to county documents.
Commissioners also approved an agreement between the county public works department and Charlene and Joseph Frick to be the caretakers at HJ Carroll Park, 9884 Rhody Drive in Chimacum.
The Fricks will live at the park and provide general maintenance and customer service five days per week from May 15 through May 14, 2020. In exchange, the county will pay for their utility services, an agreement valued at $10,848.
The traffic study in Port Ludlow aims to collect and analyze data and might include speed limit investigation as warranted by a citizen petition, according to county documents. The study area includes Paradise Bay and Oak Bay roads from Walker Way to Timberton Drive and all of the crossroads in between.
Commissioner Greg Brotherton, the newest of the three elected board members, questioned the need to study a change in speed limit.
“What do we think we’re going to learn?” he asked. “If we just made the change, wouldn’t we learn the same thing?”
Morley said the process is standard procedure.
“It’s actually getting certain metrics, both in terms of volumes and average speeds,” Morley said. “We’ve done this a number of times with different road segments.”
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
