County says no to ML money request

Unanimous decision a setback for overpass project

MOSES LAKE— Grant County Commissioner LeRoy Allison announced that his agency voted against putting up $100,000 for the construction of an overpass on Interstate 90.

"We are in support of the bridge project," he said. "But we can't accommodate the money (request.)"

In a letter to Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey, Allison said that there is a statute on the Revised Code of Washington which precludes use of a county's road fund from being used outside the county's area of jurisdiction.

"We can't use the county roads funds on paths and trails," he said. "Our six-year program has enough feasible projects in it to use the same monies."

Some of these projects include a bike path in the unincorporated section of Ephrata.

Covey said this was merely "another stop block put by the commissioners because they don't want to use the funds for this project."

City authorities have said they have until March to come up with about $1 million to fund their desired project, for which they had requested the county contribute $100,000.

Now that the request has been turned down, Covey said there are some options, such as asking the Washington State Department of Transportation to put off the project for another year, giving the city time to acquire the needed money.

Covey said that an opinion dating back to 1978 by then-state attorney general Slade Gorton supports the city's plight, in that a county may expend monies in its county road fund to construct and maintain bicycle paths including within city limits on city owned property, where the construction of such a path or paths, by reducing traffic will increase vehicle safety.

In the letter to Covey, Allison said the 1978 opinion leaves several unanswered questions.

"First, how does this opinion relate to the parameter limiting such use of road fund monies identified in the RCW?" Allison said, adding that the exception allows use of road fund monies for small towns of 1,000 people or less.

Setback aside, Covey said that he still feels like this is the right thing to do. The WSDOT has said they would pay for a $3 million project of two lanes on Division Street, leaving the city to come up with the additional cost for a four-lane road.

"There has got to be a way to accomplish it," he said.