Sewer line omission may delay 3rd St. work

Cathlamet 3rd Street paving project may not take place this year as planned.

The project calls for widening the street and installing sidewalks roughly from the Elochoman Slough Marina to the SR 4 intersection, about two blocks in length. Cathlamet town council members thought they would be voting to authorize a call for bids on the project when they met January 25 to hold a meeting postponed from January 17 because of bad weather.

Town officials learned in January that the project hadn't taken into consideration the old clay-pipe sewer line that runs along a portion of the street.

Mayor George Wehrfritz reported the news to the council. A rough estimate for adding replacement of the sewer line to the project would be $2,500 for engineering and $50,000 for work, he said.

The council hasn't budgeted that money, and the grant source paying for the street improvement doesn't cover sewer line replacement.

"I'm sorry this is the case," he said. "This information is real fresh. I would like time to consider options so that I can report to the council at the February 21 meeting."

Councilmembers wanted to discuss the situation.

Public Works Superintendent David Vik commented that he hadn't realized until late 2011 that the line wasn't included in the project, apparently because the state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) funding doesn't cover sewer lines.

The line, he said, is one of the few that wasn't replaced in the town's major sewer main replacement project in the 1980's, Vik said. The line is old clay pipe, and if it gets disturbed during the street construction, the town might have to replace it in two years and that would involve digging up the new street.

Wehrfitz said he wants to look into the situation. One point to clarify is how long the project could be delayed without losing the TIB funds.

"The only constraint is that the project has to be under construction by July 1, 2013," Vik said. "That leaves us time."

Councilmember Wally Wright suggested an option would be to line the pipe with another reinforcing line.

"That's possible," Vik said. "But for one block, the mobilization cost for a contractor is not cost effective. The best deal would be to do it with the contractor who will be on the scene."

The council then voted to table the issue until its February meeting.