Warden school board wary of S.R. 17 roundabout

WARDEN — Ar a regular meeting on Thursday, the Warden School Board mulled support for a proposed roundabout at the intersection of S.R. 17 and S.R. 170 west of town and the status of the ongoing upgrades to the heating and cooling systems at Warden Elementary School and the district’s middle and high schools.

“I see some and some bad,” said Board Member Dave Whitney about the proposal to replace the intersection with a roundabout. “There are a few accidents there, but I don’t know any that were too serious.”

Whitney, whose views reflected the majority opinion of the three board members in attendance — including Warden Police Chief and Board Chair Rick Martin and at-large member Kassandra Campos — noted that a truck hauling potatoes on S.R. 24 south of Othello overturned at a roundabout and blocked the intersection for several hours.

“I see all the marks that go over the middle,” said Campos of other roundabouts, “and I don’t know how that is a solution. I personally don’t like them.”

“I’m sitting on the fence about this,” he added.

The board was considering supporting a letter by the Port of Warden calling for improvements to the intersection to make it safer. The issue of a roundabout came up because, according to Port of Warden Executive Director Pat Millard, the state Department of Transportation has put the intersection on its list and done the engineering work on a future roundabout. The project, however, still needs to be funded.

“I know we want that roadway to be better, but I’m a little fearful of what we might get,” Martin said.

Superintendent Scott West told board members they don’t need to endorse the port’s proposal.

“If there are mixed feelings, we don’t have to support it,” West said.

Instead, the school board tabled consideration and asked to create a letter of its own that would ask for improvements at the intersection without supporting the creation of a roundabout.

The long-delayed work on installing the chilling units for both the elementary school and the secondary school complex — the middle school, high school and gymnasium — is set to continue with the arrival of the chiller in November, West said.

“It’s cool enough now where the chillers aren’t a problem, and we’re getting into heating season,” the superintendent told school board members.

After the meeting, West said the $2.3 million has been delayed because of the difficulty in obtaining the chiller units from their international producer, which is set to arrive on Nov. 18. To ensure students would stay cool in September and early October required the district bring in a temporary chiller unit all the way from California.

“It’s coming from a different country and the time that it was predicted to get here, which was August, now it’s several months delayed,” West said. “It’s fairly common in large construction projects that schools are doing right now this delay of parts and materials.”

In fact, West said he meets with a group of area superintendents who are all reporting similar delays and difficulties, especially with heating and air conditioning projects.

“It’s not specific to Warden,” he said. “There are other HVAC chiller projects that are going in two other districts in Eastern Washington and their chillers have not yet arrived as well.”

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