Leavenworth City Council advances infrastructure projects, approves Osborn Study, and finalizes downtown agreement

LEAVENWORTH – Public Works projects, an Osborn feasibility study, and a downtown right-of-way agreement were key takeaways of the City Council meeting on Feb. 27.

City Council unanimously accepted the Pine Street – Titus to Fir Water Main Replacement Small Works Project, authorizing the Mayor to execute the associated Final Contract Voucher Certificate. The project was completed at the end of Nov. 2023 in response to a September water main leak on an older 700-foot section of steel pipe, which required replacement. The project was originally estimated to cost just under $340,000 but grew by nearly $19,000 due to a unit bid overrun of crushed surfacing, rock excavation, and asphalt. 

“We knew that there was going to be some rock excavated, some large rock, but there ended up being more than we even anticipated,” said Deputy Public Works Director Andi Zontek-Backstrum.

The City Council also awarded a 2024 on-call utility bid, which would make a contractor available to repair utility leaks that exceed the capacity of the City’s workforce within 24 hours. The bid was awarded to the lowest bidder, KRCI, LLC, for just over $35,700. Public Works is concurrently obtaining upgraded trench safety equipment in order to ease the need for contracting services in the future. 

“Throughout our water, sewer, and stormwater system, we have utilities that are deeper than our city staff can safely excavate with the trench safety equipment we have at this time, and so the purpose of this on-call utility repair contract is just to have another tool in our toolbelt,” said Zontek-Backstrum.

Additionally, Public Works requested authorization to contract Ardurra Group Inc. for the design, bidding, and construction services on its 2024 Street Maintenance Project. The project was one of three projects awarded nearly $1.95 million by the Washington Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) in Dec. 2023. TIB allocated $90,000 of that sum to street maintenance, which the city must expend in 2024. The department recommended outsourcing the work in order to expedite the process and utilize the grant funds in time. City Council approved a professional services agreement with Ardurra Group Inc. for $32,469.

City Council approved an additional professional services agreement, this time for ARC Architects to conduct an evaluation for partial demolition and adaptive reuse of the Osborn Elementary School building into a library and community space. An original agreement was approved at the Jan. 23 meeting, of which the city estimated the consulting services to cost $50,000. However, the Feb. 27 agreement was updated to reflect ARC Architect’s actual cost estimation of $82,000. This amount will pay for ARC Architect to conduct a fatal flaws analysis of the existing structure and provide a cost estimate for the project in time to apply for a $2 million library capital improvement grant with an April application deadline.

Lastly, the City Council approved a Right of Way Use Permit to extend a new heat pump and balcony structure at 833 Front Street over the City’s alley right of way. It was confirmed that the overhang was similar to nearby structures, complied with the Bavarian theme, and would not interfere with garbage collection.

The next City Council meeting will be held on Mar. 12. Public Hearings for Alley Vacation and Park Avenue Vacation requests were changed from Mar. 12 to Apr. 23, at 7 p.m..

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media