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Page 'A-38 Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, April 14,
BELFAIR
Sewingltheconimmities of Belfair, Allyn, Grapeview. Tahuya, Mason Lake,
South,;Share (and Victor
’ Belfair sewer out to bid; project draws mixed reviews
By Tiflatt Baide
matt@masoncountjzcom
The Belfair sewer project has gone
out to bid for the next phase of the
project, and the public hearing April
5 revealed a split on how county resi-
dents feel about the project.
County Administrator Mark Neary
outlined the notable changes made
through the state Department of Com-
merce and the Legislature to change
the scope of the project from being
built along the state Route 3 Freight
Corridor and changing the bond to
general obligation.
Since the board approved going out
to bid, Neary said the county will try
to get the advertisement for bids out
by Friday. The county has 60 days to
award a contract. Neary said July 1 is
when the county hopes to execute the
agreement with the successful bidder
and receive the bonds needed to con-
duct the work. Aug. 1 would be when
material submittals would be com-
pleted and approved.
The project must be complete by
April 9, to comly with the public
works board loan. '
N eary said he: Public Works Direc-
tor Loretta Swanson and county com—
missioner Sharon Trask had a meet-
ing with property owner David Over-
ton and said Overton said he was not
willing to pay for part of the project.
Trask said she did not feel all com-
munication was off with Overton
and conversations could continue as
the project moves forward. Overton
spoke at the public hearing and said
they don’t enter conversations about
easements until the easements are
appraised and none of the appraisal
work has been done yet.
“Our standard practice is we don’t
give away things before we know what
their value is and if we’re dealing with
a public'entity, that our requirement
is everything needs to be appraised
rather than just negotiated so there
is transparency,” Overton said. “We’re
willing to work with the county on
those, but until we know what the
project is and we’ve had a chance to
appraise those easements, we can’t
The Belfair sewer line is being constructed behind the Olympic Vi
Hera/d photo by Gordon Weeks
really answer that question.”
Overton said he hopes all connec-
tion fees are “treated equally” and
they are happy to pay the connection
fees the county establishes.
Mason County resident Greg
Sypnicki asked about possible sewer
expansion to thewest side of Route
3, and Swanson said there are quite
a few areas within the Belfair Urban
Growth Area that will be served by
the Belfair sewer. .
“What we would do for future
phases, Greg, would be to, again, re-
group and say, alright, what’s the
next area that we need to look forward
to serving,” Swanson said. “And go on
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the hunt for grants, ARPA (Amtarican,
Rescue Plan Act), whatever funding
source may be out there and begin
that design and construction process.”
In the prior loan agreement, which
was a revenue band, it stated a po-
tential rate increase of $87, if there
weren’t enough customers to pay for
the bond. That has been removed from
the loan agreement. Resident and Re—
alator Judy Scott asked about a poten—
, tial rate increase and Neary said the
cost of utilities continues to increase.
He said not bringing forth a' rate in-
crease to the commissioners at some
point would be “inaccurate.”
“I think that we have to, just like we
ew housing development on April 5 in Belfair.
do in some of our other utilities on an
annual basis, we actually have writ—
ten into our code that we evaluate the
CPI (Consumer Price Index) for the
specific area and rates are increased
by the CPI on an annual basis,” Neary
said. “I do believe that as Belfair con-
tinues to develop and we continue to ,
get more customers, that’s definitely
going to help the need to rely on 0.09
(rural sales tax)‘ funds to help cover
some of our operations and mainte-
nance costs that are. more than What
we receive in rate revenues. I think
that .it’s also a larger opportunity to
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NORTH MASON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
the night of unity, will
f "Please God, ye will regard this blessed night as
and resolve to adorn yourselves with the ornament
of a goodly and praiseworthy character. ”
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