City’s plans for sewer plant upgrade, pedestrian bridge moving forward

Liberty Lake is moving into 2005 with the promise of completing two huge projects that the city inherited from the county when it incorporated.

Construction crews are readying to pour concrete for the $11 million sewer plant upgrade, now that the latest round of a permitting dispute is resolved.

After spending several months reviewing technical specs and gathering public input, the city issued a building permit.

However, the district thought the permit’s price of $62,000 was steep. Sewer officials noted on their check, “Payment under protest,” because they weren’t sure how the city calculated the permit’s cost.

The city declined to cash the check and, instead, recalculated the permit based on updated estimates of the project’s value.

City Administrator Lewis Griffin said the city then readjusted its own figures and lowered the permit’s price by about $2,000. The district picked up the permit on Wednesday.

Pedestrian bridge a go – again …

The pedestrian bridge – caught in a quagmire of rising construction costs – is moving forward in spite of a snag when the project’s lowest bidder, Westway Construction Inc., unexpectedly withdrew its bid.

Because the original bid was higher than hoped and the second-lowest bid of $1,250,860 added an additional $103,000 to the cost, the city and Washington State Department of Transportation held a teleconference to see if participating agencies could raise additional funds.

Griffin said among the city, the local Transportation Benefit District and the state’s Transportation Improvement Board, enough money was pledged to build the bridge.

“We’re kind of feeling good about where we’re at with it right now. There have been a lot of people who have done a lot of hard work on this,” Griffin said.

Including permits, taxes and engineering fees, the pedestrian bridge, which will run adjacent to the Harvard Road overpass, will cost $1,525,910.

The contract will go to Max J. Kuney Co., Griffin said, and if things go as anticipated, the paperwork will be completed in 10 days. Site preparation, which is being handled by the city, will begin shortly after, and construction will start in spring. With luck, the bridge will open next fall.

Looking at 2005

Liberty Lake’s City Council recently approved a 2005 budget that adds the equivalent of five full-time positions.

Next year’s $9 million budget funds a full-time police officer, engineer, building inspector and an equipment manager for the city-owned Trailhead Golf Course.

A half-time person will be hired for the finance department, and a half-time library assistant will expand her hours to full time.

The city also contributed an additional $120,000 to the $300,000 it carried over from 2003 to put toward the pedestrian bridge.

Also notable, the city committed more than $1 million to maintain its streets.