the commissioner’s email response, re Ocean Shores scoring $6 million in water funding:

I don’t know.  The county will be building its system this summer.

Without the city buying water we will not be putting in one storage tank and one booster pump, at least.

That’s a savings of about $300K plus.

Kevin Varness and I will be at the Lions Club to meet with the Concerned Citizens Group on Sunday.

An email just in from the Ocean Shores Concerned Citizens advertises its meeting Sunday with County Commissioner Al Carter and O.S. councilman Garland French. The email insists there are “hidden costs” with the city’s water plans:

Dear Fellow Citizens,

Concerned Citizens is having a meeting at the Lions Club Sunday 4-26-09 at 3 p.m. You will be able to ask questions of your city and county officials on the water issue. All are welcome and refreshments will be available.

Are you clear on the county versus city water controversy? If you aren’t it could cost you up to 11 million on the tax listed 13,298 lots in Ocean Shores minus any stimulus grants which will also come out of your pocket as times moves on. You are being committed to pay in your water bill today for a population that is unknown now but projected to be here in 2035. The North Coast News website reports we are up for a 3.0 million dollar grant and a 1% interest loan on a second 3.0 million. The city is moving forward to purchase and build an Australian MIEX ion exchange plant to process water from new shallow wells. The total cost with new wells has to be much more. There are operational/maintenance and debt payment costs.

“I guess we scored an inside straight,” Ocean Shores Mayor Dean Bunkers cracked, minutes after learning the City landed $6 million in federal stimulus funding for a new water treatment plant. Half is to be “loan forgiveness” (essentially, a grant), the other half a loan at 1 percent interest.

The Department of Health posted its “2009 DWSRF Economic Recovery Funding Program Final Proposed Funding List” (http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/2009-final.pdf) around 4 p.m today.

Carolyn Cox, public information coordinator of the Department of Health, confirmed that Ocean Shores was awarded funding of $6 million. “$3 million of that will not have to be repaid,” she said.

For years, Ocean Shores has been hearing complaints from citizens about the poor taste and strong smell of its water. For just as long, the City has been debating whether to upgrade its own water system, or purchase water from the County’s new well site at Hogan’s Corner.

In the water poker game, this could be a straight flush, with the City holding all the cards. With the $3 million grant and $3 million at 1 percent, Bunkers said “I’d anticpate we will be able to lower our cost of water” that citizens pay.

Mike Olden, engineering consultant with the County, on Hogan’s Corner wells: “We received really good bids on our project. The bids were about $400,000 less than our estimated costs. Rognlin’s of Aberdeen was the low bidder. We anticipate awarding a contract in the next week or two.”

This was confirmed by Al Carter, the County commissioner who attended a North Beach Business Association meeting last night.

this just in:

The Concerned Citizens of Ocean Shores will meet on April 26, 2009, the fourth Sunday at 3 PM at the Lion’s Club. All citizens, family and friends are welcome. There will be refreshments. Taxpayers will need critical thinking and facts to decide between the city employee desired Miex water process or county water from Hogan’s corner wells? Councilman Garland French and County Commissioner Al Carter will answer questions from Concerned Citizens at this meeting.

from this week’s North Coast News:

Mayor Dean Bunkers and the rest of Ocean Shores will have to wait: A final decision on $2.9 million to Ocean Shores for drinking water up-grades has been delayed to April 27. The Department of Health’s doling out of Federal stimulus money for “safe drinking water” was originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 7.

 “In order to be fair to everybody we wanted to give them more time” to submit documentation, said Carolyn Cox, of the DOH.

Bunkers spoke at a public hearing at the DOH Tumwater office on Friday. He made a case for why Ocean Shores should graduate from the “draft list” it made, to the final award round.

“I feel pretty good,” Bunkers said. “I feel very confident based on the hearing we will stay where we’re at.”

Due to an email glitch, Councilman Patrick was not given the opportunity to reply to “Why Did You Vote Yes/No?” on moving forward with the City’s water system. He was one of the four who voted in favor of the motion to move ahead with a new treatment system. Here, finally, is his reply:

“I voted in favor of the motion to move ahead with a new water treatment facility in Ocean Shores because it simply was time to do so and because the proposal was in the best interests of the citizens of Ocean Shores.  The issue is not a new one and this Council and other Council’s have wrestled with finding solutions to improving our drinking water in Ocean Shores.  We can argue the merits of City versus County water forever about  improving the quality of drinking water in our community without taking the appropriate action.  The majority of the Council, including yours truly, decided to move forward with a plan that we believe will resolve water quality problems.  With the possibility of grants the costs of doing so may be substantially reduced.  Regardless, something had to be done and I am comfortable with my decision to vote in favor of the motion for a new water treatment facility.”

Mike Patrick

Due to me typing his email address incorrectly, Mike Patrick did not get the request I sent to council members asking to explain their Yes or No votes on water. I resent the question to him, and he will be responding for the Web site and next week’s edition.

This week’s top story, “The $3 million question”:

The poker table just got more crowded . . .

The “poker game” that Grays Harbor County and the City of Ocean Shores has been playing over water for the last decade now turns out to be part of a much larger scenario, involving Federal money.

Last week, the Department of Health announced its “Draft Intended Use Plan (IUP)” to use $41 million in Federal stimulus money, targeting safe drinking water.

 Ocean Shores made the draft funding list, to the tune of $2,993,202. This represents roughly half of the cost for Ocean Shores to build a new water treatment plant. City Council quickly voted 4-2 to go ahead with the project, bypassing (for the time being, at least) the option of purchasing water from the County’s new Hogan’s Corner wells.

Now comes the tricky part . . .

According to Ocean Shores Mayor Dean Bunkers, there are several scenarios:

Responses from Mike Olden, Engineering Consultant for Grays Harbor County, to questions posed by the North Coast News:

Q: Even if Ocean Shores gets a full $3 million grant/loan forgiveness, can you see a scenario where Ocean Shores would up-grade its system, and still purchase some water from the County? 

A: I can’t speak for the City of course, but I could foresee a situation where they could build the first 1 MGD of capacity with the grant money and then contract with the County for peaking capacity.  This could potentially save the City a lot of money by not having to spend an additional $3 Million for something they would only use on summer weekends. 

 Q: There are concerns about pumping tests. Can you give a few examples of wells you have worked on, length of testing and how they have worked out? Have any wells you tested later failed?