Monday night’s Prescott City council meeting included approval of the February 12th council minutes followed by a request for comments from the public. There were none. Moving on to report opportunities for all standing committees of the council beginning with Health and Safety. There was no report. The Finance Committee requested that a fee of $3,500 be paid to the Pierce County Economic Development Corporation for 2018 funding. Questions were asked by members of the council on what specific benefit was gained by the city in exchange. Action on the request will await a presentation by their representative before payment will be approved by council. The next item was approval of one operators license, which is required for an employee to serve alcohol in a Prescott establishment. That license was approved Matthew Mitchell Seamus.
The next topic was a discussion of the pressure reducing valve replacement by the Public Works department at the Locust Street and Kinnikinnic intersection near the Middle school. Director Hank Zwart provided an explanation how a pricetag first represented at between $25 to $35,000 grew to an eventual price at between $55 and $67,000 including $4,620 due MSA consultants for providing the bid details. Zwart noted that the low estimate was based on a uninformed understanding of the project, . He also stated that the original estimate included the same structure and same size piping but current plans now increase the size of flow pipe 100% to allow for more thorough flushing of mains on Broad Street to prevent buildup repair costs.
The department now also wants to move the valve to allow a better location to do maintence without closing the roadway each time that is necessary. Mayor Hovel asked if it was possible to wait another year before replacing to allow the general fund to accumulate the added cost. Discussion followed that ultimatley accepted the increased cost, awarded the contract to Fitzgerald Excavating and approved the $47,250 dollar descrepancy in the Water Utility account to be paid with GO bonds. The project will get underway once school is out in June. The council then approved payment to MSA Professional services for assessment and receipt of the bids.
