Moses Lake resubmits annexation proposal

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake is asking Grant County to reconsider fairgrounds annexation in light of potentially rising septic system costs.

Moses Lake City Council restated their desire to annex the property in the wake of a July 14 meeting involving state, county and city officials.

Department of Ecology and Department of Health representatives at the meeting suggested the county may need to install septic system monitoring wells to ensure no contaminants from the Grant County Fairgrounds drain into the lake. Additional water sampling would also be necessary along the shore of the lake for up to two years, adding to the overall cost.

Connecting to the city sewer system would likely be less expensive over the long run, agency representatives said. They stressed no state agency can force the county to make such a move at this time.

Since 2005 the city and county have taken turns reworking a proposed interlocal agreement to annex and connect fairgrounds property to the city system. Although both jurisdictions have made several changes to the proposal over the years it's never progressed past the draft stage.

Councilman Dick Deane expressed his frustration over this fact during last Tuesday's council meeting, saying the latest draft is more than fair and would protect the lake's water quality while saving money for county taxpayers.

"It's about pollution and protecting our environment for our children and our children's children, right on down," Deane said. "It's also a cost issue. They already did their initial work, but now they have all this added cost coming in that they wouldn't have had they chosen to hook up with our city in the first place."

Councilman Richard Pearce alleged the county has ignored city efforts to negotiate favorable terms for annexation.

"Mr. Deane said this is a pollution issue but this is a political pollution issue," Pearce said. "They wanted to work politics on it and consequently they would never even acknowledge what we had said. We told them were not going to close the fairgrounds down, we'll allow animals, we'll make a public zone for them, we'll put up money - they never wanted to believe that and so they went ahead with this project out there."

The latest draft of the interlocal agreement includes a provision allowing "traditional uses" of the fairgrounds to continue. "If the city shall in any way restrict the traditional use of the fairgrounds, the city shall pay the sum of $250,000 to the county," the agreement states.

Additionally, the city would zone fairgrounds property as "public" if annexed with an amendment allowing for agricultural fairs and the showing of animals, Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski said.

Because the county has already spent more than $1 million, and counting, to install the septic system, Gavinski said county officials aren't likely to reconsider annexation by the city at this time.

"I think they're fairly well committed because they did expend a significant amount," Gavinski told council. "With all they have invested already I wouldn't see that they would abandon that and then hook to the city system with that additional cost."

The county's engineering estimates put the price of a city hookup at about $540,000 for infrastructure construction alone, Gavinski said.

But Pearce predicted the county will spend many more taxpayer dollars simply maintaining their existing septic system and said a change of county leadership may be necessary to stop the monetary bleeding.

"I'll make another prediction, that the thing will not work and they'll be back in eight or five years saying they have pollution going into lake," he said. "When the elections come around it would behoove us to talk to them about that issue and elect somebody that would be favorable to cleaning up that political pollution problem."

Council directed city staff to draft a letter to county commissioners restating the city's position and asking them to once again consider adopting the interlocal agreement.

"We have actually gone out of our way to make this happen for our citizens," Deane said. "Moses Lake actually took the lead on this to make this happen and have a positive aspect of our entire community. I really hope this is resolved because this is an issue that affects us all."