Grant County gives Royal City grant to fix water main

ROYAL CITY - Residents of Royal City are closer to water and street improvements on Camelia St. after the Grant County Economic Development Council has agreed to a grant of $225.000.

Mayor Kent Anderson reported at the City Council meeting of Aug. 4 that the City's application for funding for the Camelia Street water main replacement project was likely to be accepted. According to Finance Director Greg Pike, the grant was made last week.

The grant will be combined with $225,000 from the City's water fund and water construction fund to pay for the project. The water main now on Camelia is a six-inch line. It is made of outdated material, Pike said, and has become a problem. It will be replaced with a 10-inch PVC line.

How soon the project will go out to bid is a question. Pike said the city wants to improve the street at the same, and it doesn't yet have the funding for that project.

"I think this will be a spring project," Pike said.

In public comment, Patrick Dosing of the Royal City Golf Course Association notified the Council of plans to work toward obtaining a liquor license, allowing the golf course to sell beer to patrons. Pike said no action will be taken until the city attorney has been consulted.

A motion was made to adopt a consent agenda that included the Council meeting minutes of July 7, payroll of $22,160.88 for July 15 and claims in the amount of $20,521.23 for July 21.

Pike reported to the Council that Finance Director Pike reported that contribution rates for city employee pension plans (PERS) have increased starting July 1. The new rates will be in place until 2017.

Contribution rates for employees of the police department (LEOFF) will remain the same.

Police Chief Darin Smith reported that parked vehicles without new license tags have been removed from city streets by Royal City Towing. These were vehicles that had been given 24 hours' notice before being removed.

Public Works Director John Larsen reported that Empire Welding has scheduled to pull the pump out of Well No. 1 on July 29. The Well has been offline for the last few weeks because of operating problems.

It will be inspected to see if it will still be of service of the city will have to buy a new one. Well No. 1 is the first backup well.