TD Council gets a bit of sticker shock on utility repairs

TD Council awarded a $1.175 million contract to Crestline Construction on Monday, July 25, to improve utilities in and adjacent to Trevitt Street between Ninth and 12th streets in The Dalles.

By Tom Peterson

Deteriorating utilities drove more than $1.3 million in decisions at The Dalles City Council meeting on Monday, July 25th. 

A failing sewer line and deteriorating roof support in a 3-million gallon potable water reservoir provided motivation to approve the expenditures.

Trevitt Street Utility  

Councilors unanimously approved the award of a $1.175 million contract to Crestline Construction for the upgrade of sewer and storm drain utilities in and adjacent to Trevitt Street between West 9th and 12th streets.

One of the sewer pipes is currently failing, Public Works Director Dave Anderson told Council.

The utility work will also occur in alleys and side streets adjacent to Trevitt. Crestline will replace 2200 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipe 4 to 10 inches in diameter. In addition, Crestline will remove abandoned sewer lines and construct manholes where necessary.  

It is part of a phased project on Trevitt that will eventually see the sewer and storm drain pipes replaced from Sixth Street to 17th Street in years to come.

Once utilities are replaced, the street will be rebuilt and resurfaced, including ADA ramps for sidewalks, according to Anderson.

Sticker Shock

Councilors received a bit of sticker shock at the cost of the project. Anderson said the cost came in at 45 percent above Crestline’s last estimate of $746,724. That bid and two others were rejected by Council in January when all three bids exceeded the amount budgeted for the project.

Under questioning by Mayor Mays, Anderson said that increased costs tied to inflation could be a factor in the price tag. However, due to bidding rules, Anderson was not permitted to call Crestline and inquire about the costs.

Crestline was the only bidder, Anderson said. 

Before voting to award the bid, Councilor Dan Richardson said he was inclined to reject it if a portion of the sewer line was not currently failing. The scheduling of the work will be announced after the bid is formally accepted. 

Reservoir Repair 

Tank Industry Consultants headquartered in Indianapolis was awarded a bid to repair the roof support structure in the 3-milling gallon Sorosis Water Reservoir tank that sits above Sorosis Park.

Council voted unanimously to spend $199,532 to extend the life of the 3-million-gallon Sorosis Water Tank Reservoir above Sorosis park for 50 years. The money will be used to repair the steel in the roof rafters and hardware supporting the roof of the tank, which have deteriorated during the past 68 years. The deterioration was photographed when its interior was recently painted.

Looking at the roof structure inside the sorosis Reservoir. Metal loss on rafter and circular brace; hole in circular brace.

Typically, reservoir interiors are painted about every 20 years to reduce the corrosion of metal. However, the Sorosis tank was the only reservoir supplying that upper section of town until the new reservoir near Mid-Columbia Medical Center was built in 2014, according to Anderson. 

Until then the tank could not be taken offline for maintenance, he said. 

Bottom line: the tank interior has been painted once in its 68-year life, and is now in need of quick repair due to metal corrosion, Anderson said. 

Given the urgency of the situation, Council is able to contract with a “direct appointment” forgoing the usual bidding process. Anderson said Tank Industry Consultants can do the work this winter. 

Costs on the project are based on an estimate of the work taking 16 weeks at 55 hours per week. 

Costs could come in above or below the amount allocated by Council depending on the actual hours worked by Tank Industry Consultants.  

Sidewalks for students 

Sidewalks along 10th Street between Snipes Street and the Chenoweth Creek Bridge would be improved in years to come if the City of The Dalles is successful in its competitive bid to win an ODOT grant for Safe Routes to Schools. The improvements would provide walkways for students leading to both the Wahtonka and Chenowith Elementary School campuses. Grant will be announced in October.

Councilors gave City Engineer Dale McCabe the green light to apply for an Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) grant to improve sidewalks leading to Wahtonka High School and Chenowith Elementary.

McCabe said the project was ranked by ODOT, and it came in second out of 82 projects, giving it a very high chance of being funded at $2 million. 

The project would build bike lanes and sidewalks along 10th Street from Snipes Street to the Chenowith Creek Bridge. Councilors agreed to authorize $200,000 to be dedicated to the project to meet the matching grant requirements. North Wasco County School District 21 must also match at $200,000.

McCabe said the grant is due by July 31 and notification of awards would come in October. If awarded the City, ODOT and D21 would have up to five years to complete the project.

Lobbying

Councilors agreed to the following list of priorities that the League of Oregon Cities will lobby for in Salem:

 • Local Funding to Address Homelessness

 • Infrastructure Funding to Support Needed Housing

  • Economic Development Incentives

 • Transportation Safety Enhancement

 • Infrastructure Financing and Resilience

In addition, Council directed City Manager Matthew Klebes to include priorities of providing assistance in reducing the rising crime rate as well as providing state-funded solutions for addressing people with mental health challenges.  

In other business

• Council discussed The Dalles Vision 2040 Town Hall and Survey Results from April/May 2022. Click here to read the report on pages 165 through 179

• Councilors voted to adopt an Emergency Operation Plan to ensure the continued delivery of vital services in the event of an emergency

• Councilors authorized Transfers of Funds Between Various departments of the General Fund to allocate enough funding, in part, for the leasing of computers for The Dalles Police.

• Councilors accepted  Real Property near the 2400 block of West 14th Street for Public right-of-way purposes.

• City Manager Matthew Klebes told the council that Joshua Chandler is the interim Community Development Director in planning since former director Alice Cannon took a job with Wasco County.

• Council gave Klebes approval to enter into a grant agreement with Mid Columbia Community Action Council, a requirement of a $1 million grant from the state for MCCAC to establish an office of housing stabilization for Sherman, Wasco and Hood River counties. The agreement also creates an advisory board on which Mayor Mays will participate.