Warden council undecided on port road project

WARDEN – Warden City Council met for a regular meeting Tuesday to continue the discussion on the Port of Warden Industrial Road Project and pass several other resolutions including signing the Grant County Economic Development agreement, accepting a parade for graduating students and allowing for bids to take place on two other projects.  

Port of Warden 

The Port of Warden presented information on its proposed road upgrade project at the March 25 meeting. Port officials said an agreement with the city is required because several proposed roads are within city limits.  

“The proposal for the construction of this road would be in this document, it's a contract, basically, is what it would be, and it would be developed with the port’s attorney and the and the City of Warden's attorney, and would come to the city council for approval,” Western Pacific Engineering Senior Project Manager Dan Levitt said.  

The proposed road upgrade project, divided into four phases, aims to enhance industrial access for the port. To read more about the proposed plan visit: bit.ly/PortofWarden.  

Levitt again discussed the plan with the council, emphasizing the aim of the development agreement is to facilitate future industry growth within the area. The proposed project would not include sidewalks, curbs or gutters; the lack of sidewalks, gutters and curbs deviates from city standards. However, Levitt said the road will be higher quality than city standard.  

“The primary mission of the port, of any port in the state of Washington, is to drive economic development, and that's the purpose of this,” Levitt said. “This road project is to drive economic development for the port and for the city.” 

The port has confirmed $5 million dollars in funding. However, it is working on several other grants to get funding for this project up to around $10 million.  

“This is just directing to start this conversation,” Levitt said to the council. “As we said last time, we're under a timeline. We've got state and federal money, and we have to start construction by September of 2026, or we start losing money. And we don't want to have that happen because this has been about a five-year project, and it's taken quite a bit of time to get to where we're at now and to get funding secured. In this economy, it's even tougher.” 

The council did not make a decision on whether or not to start the development agreement.  

“Two weeks, then we'll get back to you,” said Mayor Rosaelia Martinez. “We just have to get together one more time.” 

EDC

City Administrator Kriss Shuler recommended the council vote in favor of renewing an agreement with the Grant County Economic Development Council. 

“We have been in this agreement for quite some time. They do a lot of services for all over the county, and they do a lot of work with the industries and trying to bring industry to our county,” Shuler said. “They work with existing industries. They go to trade shows. They work by trying to put information together to provide industry. They do a lot of work with commerce, and commerce sends a lot of industry to them, and they try to determine if there's where it could actually fit by their criteria.” 

The council voted unanimously to sign the agreement.  

Grad parade 

The Warden School District will be having its senior graduation parade again after the council voted unanimously to accept the special event permit.  

Shuler said the graduating class of 2020 started the parade and it has happened annually since.  

Students start on Ash Street South, turn onto Main Street and then go back up Oak Street to enter the football field for their graduation ceremony.  

Shuler said it usually lasts about 15 minutes.  

Bids 

The council approved advertising bids on two separate road projects. The first involves repairs on First Street North. The second is called the Red Town Initiative, which is a Washington State Transportation Improvement Board grant to small cities with poor pavement conditions to improve street resurfacing and maintenance.  

“It's called the Red Town initiative, but it's the gravel conversion roadways,” Shuler said. “They are to seal on a number of our gravel roads and seal, I believe, some of our paved roads as well. And that project will be done this summer. So that is a $2 million project. The state was very gracious to select us for that.” 

Shuler said she is organizing the list of all the roads that will be repaired with the Red Town initiative; however, those are not available as of press time. 

Warden PD

Warden Police Department Chief Martin said he is working with his staff to begin to provide media releases to the press. He said they have learned to export the files, but now they must learn how to redact sensitive information. 

“We hope to have this up and going as soon as possible,” Martin said. “I think it will be good to know what is happening. I also plan on sending a report to the city council for them to review.”