Bids come in for Towne Road

Ozias attempts to stop project again

Against the wishes of Commissioner Mark Ozias, Towne Road cleared another hurdle in reconnecting Sequim to Dungeness and improving public safety.  Four bids to complete the .6-mile road/trail hybrid atop the levee were received and opened at Tuesday morning's commissioners’ meeting.

• Delhur Industries: $2,332,929

• Scarsella Industries: $2,218,166

• Jamestown Excavating: $1,930,742

• Nordland Construction NW: $1,821,409

"I have a couple of questions for staff," began Commissioner Ozias before the motion was made to accept the bids.  "If you can talk us through your anticipation with regard to the permitting issues, that would be helpful."

County Biologist Cathy Lear, who has managed the project for a decade, explained that the County would meet with the Department of Ecology, Department of Transportation, and Army Corps of Engineers that afternoon to discuss the stormwater treatment system.  "We're confident that the permit is in process and on its way," said Lear.

A motion to remand the bids to the Department of Community Development and Public Works was made by Commissioner Johnson and seconded by Commissioner Ozias.  The Commissioners then discussed the bids before voting on the motion.

"I hope that the meeting with the permitting agency goes well this afternoon, but that's still an unknown," said Ozias.  "However, I continue to believe that the trail component of this design is, and has always been, important."  

Ozias explained that the initial plan was to have the trail somewhere in the floodplain but, "with the way that the river utilized the floodplain, that made that plan not tenable but that didn't negate the importance of at least, again, in my opinion, the primacy of designing around a trail and so I will not be voting in favor of moving these bids forward because I don't believe we have a safe trail design."

Commissioner Ozias cited the suggestion of the Trail Advisory Committee to have improved trail signage as a reason to stop the project.  He did not mention that the Sheriff, two Fire Chiefs, and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) all support the road reopening for public safety reasons.  "I do not favor moving ahead with a trail that our [trails] advisory board, and others, are telling us will not be safe for all users," said Ozias.

The motion to remand the bids was passed with Commissioners Johnson and French in support, and Commissioner Ozias opposed.  This was the ninth attempt by Commissioner Ozias to reject what his constituents have asked for three times — a taxpayer-funded road to be returned to the public and not handed over to special and private interests.  It appears the two Commissioners outside Towne Road's district will be the leaders who shepherd the road toward completion.

Tuesday afternoon, after meeting with permitting agencies, DCD Director Bruce Emery released this statement:

"We just concluded our meeting with Ecology and the Army Corps 401 Team. Our engineers gave an informative presentation of how the planned stormwater improvements will assure water quality consistent with Ecology’s standards. They had questions about O&M and what we plan to do if we encounter problems, which we promptly responded. After their questions, we asked about their process—how long it might take and what it will involve? We were told they will meet internally but could not offer any indication how long they will need to deliberate, except “it won’t take months.”

I’m hopeful we will get a response over the next week, before the BOCC considers awarding the bid. Absent that, we may be forced to delay things. I remain optimistic given the bid proposals we received, but as you can see, some of this is outside of our control."

Outside the topic of Towne Road, the commissioners offered updates about their community interactions over the past week.  

Commissioner Johnson attended the Peninsula Behavioral Health gala which supports an organization he has championed for well over a decade.  "They helped a friend of mine who was in severe stress one time and it made all the difference in the world," said Johnson.

Commissioner French attended a Friends of the Forks Animals board meeting with Sheriff King and discussed animal control response and management issues in the west end of the county.  French told the commissioners, "It was a good, productive meeting and I was appreciative of the Sheriff for attending."  

Commissioner Ozias attended a State Opioid Dashboard Workgroup and gave details about the program that provides oversight of where opioid settlement dollars have gone.

"I'm really surprised that there was no mention of Washington State's longest-running festival from our District One Commissioner: Mr. Ozias," said Dungeness resident Kärin Cummins during public comment.  "This past week, many events happened including the Kiddie Parade, Arts and Crafts Fair, Dancing in the Street with one of Clallam County's favorites — Joy In Mudville — the Trashion Show, which is an extremely creative group of people using [garbage] materials for fashion.  I'd like to congratulate Cherry Bibler for the winning design.  This week you still have time to attend the High School Operetta, this Saturday the Classic Car Show, and of course the Parade and Logging Show and I hope to see at least one or two of you there."

Important events this week

On Friday, May 10th, at 4 pm, Commissioner Mark Ozias and Chief Engineer Joe Donisi of the Road Department will be interviewed on KSQM.  You can tune in to 91.5 FM or listen here.

After Saturday's Parade, meet podcaster Brandi Kruse at the Sequim Elks from 6 - 9 pm during the monthly Watchdog Meetup.  See details here.  If you missed Brandi's podcast yesterday, she discussed why one Washington school is cutting its music program.