Adams Co. approves Hatton Road contract

RITZVILLE — The Adams County Public Works Department discussed Tuesday during the regular Adams County Board of Commissioners meeting approving the Hatton Road Safety Project contract with Central Washington Asphalt, along with another project’s pay retainage estimate and updating the interlocal agreement with the city of Othello.

“The Hatton Project; I have contracts here for that for the board to look at,” said Assistant Public Works Director Troy Reynolds. “That one starts in a month or so.”

“They have to start by Sept. 6,” said Public Works Director Todd O’Brien.

The commissioners voted unanimously to approve and sign a contract and contract bond with Central Washington Asphalt in Moses Lake in the amount of $1.79 million for the Hatton Road Safety Project.

According to the Adams County Public Works website, the Hatton Road project will renovate a stretch of road southwest of Othello to improve several safety features, including shoulder widening, intersection improvements, clear zone improvements, asphalt surfacing, shoulder rumble strips and other improvements as needed.

The commissioners also unanimously approved the estimate for retainage pay from pavement improvements done in Adams County by Grant Construction Company. The retainage pay, which is processed after the construction project is finished, was approximately $17,000

In addition to construction contracts, O’Brien also informed the commissioners that the Public Works Department will be updating the interlocal agreement between Adams County and the city of Othello, represented by City Engineer Shawn O’Brien.

“I talked with Shawn O’Brien about it. He wasn’t sure if there was one in place and there is,” said Todd O’Brien. “We work with neighboring counties and/or sometimes cities to do certain maintenance activities on their roads that make sense and they do it on our roads that make sense.”

O’Brien gave an example of how the current interlocal agreement functions — he said that based on the agreement, the city of Othello is responsible for plowing Cemetery Road while Adams County is responsible for plowing Main Street and Cunningham Road up to SR 17, along with other similar work agreements.

“But since all of that interlocal was done in the early 2000s, they’ve annexed more of this, that or the other,” said O’Brien. “So we’re going to go through that process with their public works and Shawn and draft up some language that makes more sense and put it down.”

For more information on the Adams County Public Works Department’s ongoing projects, visit www.co.adams.wa.us.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.