Othello approves playground install, discusses ACPR contract

OTHELLO — During Monday’s regular Othello City Council Meeting, council members unanimously approved a motion to proceed with the installation of new playground equipment at Lions Park. The council also agreed to reevaluate the city’s contract with Adams County Pet Rescue.

City Engineer Shawn O’Brien spoke with the council regarding the playground installation.

“Now we have all the numbers, we need to go ahead and authorize the installation. But, putting all these things together, we’re a little bit above the $1.8 million that was originally budgeted.”

According to the playground installation agenda memo, the updated total cost of the project is listed at $1.93 million. Finance Officer Spencer Williams said that using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) stimulus to pay the extra $130,000 required to continue with the playground installation would leave the city with $70,000 in remaining ARPA funds.

The total project is being paid for with $1.1 million from two state Recreation and Conservation grants, $100,000 of City funds, and $600,000 from a Washington State budget appropriation. Council members passed a unanimous motion to approve staff to proceed with the contract for the installation and for the additional costs to be covered with ARPA funds.

After voting to proceed with the playground installation, Council member Jon Erickson, attending remotely, presented his findings after speaking with Adams County Pet Rescue about their recent financial issues.

“I support taking on the pet rescue and helping them because we don’t have any other option. I don’t believe, as a personal opinion, that the city is in a position to own and operate a dog pound,” said Erickson.

Mayor Shawn Logan said that ACPR’s operating costs are exceeding its revenue, and he would like to add more money to its budget when the time comes to negotiate a new contract with them when the current agreement ends this year. He also said that a recent outbreak of parvo at the Pet Rescue restricted their revenue further.

“When they had parvo, they couldn’t sell any of their dogs, and so this went on for about three or four months. Normally they would draw income from the sale of the dogs that they have in the pound.”

Council member Corey Everett said that Adams County Pet Rescue had not been fulfilling services the city of Othello is paying for that are outlined in the current contract. Council member John Lallas also addressed the subject of the Pet Rescue abiding by the contract.

“I would definitely want to see a cost breakdown from Adams County Pet Rescue,” said Lallas. “We’re talking about services that are being given to the city and that’s what we’re paying for. We’re not donating … I want to make sure that what we pay for, we receive.”

Erickson said that he agreed with asking for a commitment to the contract and a more thorough cost breakdown.

“We need to figure out how to make them whole, and yes, if we have to tighten up their contract and get some bigger commitments, absolutely. And I don’t think you’re going to find any opposition from the facility and their board in doing that, but we’re going to have to make it financially viable for them to continue to pick our animals up,” he said.

Mayor Logan said that he would like to meet with Adams County Pet Rescue and speak in depth about how to update the contract to better fit the Pet Rescue’s needs and the city’s needs, and then report back to the council with his findings. The council agreed with this course of action.

In addition to the discussion about the Pet Rescue and the vote on the playground installation, council members also voted unanimously to allow the city of Othello to submit a grant application to the Washington Transportation Improvement Board to potentially secure funding to construct sidewalks on streets in Othello that don’t currently have a sidewalk on either side of the road in an effort to improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians.

“We hope to direct most of this money to Juniper and Fourth Avenue, which are some of our higher volume streets,” said O’Brien.

Council voted unanimously to approve the submission of the grant application and to match the required 10% of the grant. O’Brien said that the city won’t find out if they’ve secured the grant funding until November or December.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. A resident of Othello, Davis covers the cities of Othello, Warden and Soap Lake.