State plans 2023 SR17 project in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — The Washington State Department of Transportation is planning on resurfacing a lengthy stretch of State Route 17 through Moses Lake next summer, Moses Lake City Engineer Richard Law told members of the city council at a regular meeting on Tuesday.

“They are going to be resurfacing SR 17 from I-90 to Randolph Road,” Law told council members.

The matter came up for discussion after WashDoT submitted a request to the city for a variance from the city’s noise ordinance — an exemption — prohibiting road work in residential areas from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“They want to get in and get out as fast as they can, and they want to do most of their work at night,” Law said.

The road work would also include the on-ramps and off-ramps at the Stratford Road interchange as well as resurfacing the deck of the Stratford Road bridge, Law said. WashDoT did not return a request for information on the proposed project, which would involve resurfacing nearly nine miles of SR 17, prior to press time.

Council members expressed concerns about the disruption to people’s schedules and home lives that loud, nighttime construction work would cause, particularly on the stretch of SR 17 between E. Nelson Road and E. Wheeler Road. However, council members approved the state’s request for a variance, given that the city will be asking the state legislature to help cover the $15 million cost of building a new police station.

“We’ve got some big asks,” said Council Member Mark Fancher. “We’re asking the state to play nice with us, we need to play nice. I do not want us to start to become difficult.”

Fancher was referring to a discussion earlier in the meeting about the five things the city of Moses Lake wants to lobby state legislators for in the upcoming session, set to begin on Jan. 9, 2023. The first four items on the city’s lobbying list — money for city and regional water infrastructure, changes to restrictions imposed in the last few years on police operations, money to help the city prepare for the wave of high-tech manufacturing making its way to Moses Lake, and changes to the laws for special tax districts to support transportation and fire service — were not controversial.

However, the final item, state assistance for what the city is calling “The Community Services Center” — the new police building slated for construction along N. Central Drive — where the Moses Lake Police Department will be the “primary tenant” prompted concerns from several council members about the purpose of the building they had voted to build.

“This is misleading,” said Council Member Judy Madewell. “I don’t like this at all. I don’t like the language.”

City Manager Allison Williams said the choice of language was part of the city’s effort to secure state funding for the new police station as well as reflect the fact that the MLPD is hoping to locate some social workers — including mental health and addiction treatment specialists — in the office to help provide some funding. Normally, Williams said, the state does not help cities fund the building of police and fire stations.

“This is a police building first and foremost,” Williams said.

MLPD Chief Kevin Fuhr echoed that statement several times, adding that the department is hoping to dedicate some offices to both social workers as well as federal law enforcement like the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Both Fuhr and Williams explained that the mental health case worker currently embedded with the MLPD and whose salary is paid for by a two-year grant is likely going to be a permanent presence. They said officers are noticing the value of having a mental health care first responder in their midst.

“This is a police department,” Fuhr explained. “We want our department to house other services we work with on a daily basis.”

However, Council Member Dustin Swartz noted that mental health is the responsibility of Grant County.

“These are county programs. I don’t understand why they aren’t lobbying for this,” he said.

Council members voted 5-2 to table the proposed legislative agenda while city staff reword the description of the new building, and will take it up at their next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 10.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.