Quincy, port work on water

QUINCY — The Port of Quincy and the City of Quincy are teaming up to apply for a $1.1 million grant from the federal government to pay for improvements to the water system they share.

On Tuesday night the Quincy City Council passed a resolution that will authorize Mayor Dick Zimbelman to sign the agreement with the Port of Quincy, according to Quincy City Administrator Tim Snead.

The agreement is part of a joint effort to obtain grant money from the federal Economic Development Administration to continue improving the Inland Intermodal Facility.

In the future, both the city and the port commissioners would like to have the intermodal facility, which has the capacity to move some 4,000 containers per day, become a regional distribution system center.

The intermodal facility is located northeast of the city of Quincy and is a hub between the major highways in Washington state and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad mainline. The facility opened this year and it operates to transport cargo into Seattle and Tacoma from Eastern Washington. The facility has not yet shipped its first container.

The grant would fund improvements to water lines that serve both the intermodal facility and the city to update infrastructure needs for future operations, Snead said.

—Staff report