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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2015)
2A • March 6, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com City questioned on public works project Locals say bank stabilization project should have gone to public bid and not to just one company However, the city never put the project up for bid, as required by Oregon law. A city public works proj- Winstanley and Wallace ect, costing nearly $800,000, said Oregon statutes allow for is underway, but some people an exemption when it comes question whether the project, to “the cost and availability which was not put up for pub- of specialized expertise that lic bid and is being done by is necessary for the public a California-based company, improvement,” which they could have been done for less. believe applied in this case. At its meeting Feb. 23, the “Regardless of what some Seaside City Council unani- of the local contractors claim mously approved a resolution of their ability to do this to authorize a loan through work, the truth is this was an the Oregon Infrastructure Fi- H[WUHPHO\ GLI¿FXOW SURMHFW WR nance Authority of the state get permitted,” Wallace said. Business Development De- “For various environmental partment. The same resolu- UHDVRQV LW¶V YHU\ GLI¿FXOW WR tion was brought before the get a rock project approved council at its meeting earlier these days. BioEngineering, this month, but the vote was the company we’re working split 3 to 3, requiring it be vot- with, it’s not just that they’ve ed on again. developed a niche. These The resolution authorizes guys are leaders in a new City Manager Mark Win- ¿HOG7KH\¶UHDWWKHIRUHIURQW VWDQOH\ WR REWDLQ ¿QDQFLDO of bioengineering.” assistance of no more than “There’s no one else $800,000 with an interest rate around here that has the of 3.7 percent per year to be ability to get this project put repaid over 10 years. together and to get it permit- The funds will be used to ted,” Wallace said. The city’s IXO¿OO D FRQWUDFW engineering department also with BioEngineering Asso- doesn’t have the capability to ciates, which was signed by design this sort of project, he Mayor Don Larson Jan. 29. added. A California-based company, Winstanley agreed. BioEngineering Associates “We needed the expertise was hired to design and build as far as permitting, as well a rock retaining wall to stabi- as working in environmental lize the riverbank along the areas,” he said. north side of the city’s waste- The U.S. Army Corps of water treatment plant. The Engineers authorized a gen- city has already paid a down eral permit for bank stabiliza- SD\PHQWRI tion for the city’s project Jan. Work on the project began 7KH UHPRYDO¿OO SHUPLW a few weeks ago after Bio- from the Oregon Department Engineering subcontracted of State Lands also was au- with Big River Construction, WKRUL]HG-DQ of Astoria, for construction But McDowell didn’t services and materials. Public agree with Wallace and Win- Works Director Neal Wallace stanley’s assessment. said he anticipates the project “It’s not hard to get per- ZLOO WDNH DERXW ¿YH ZHHNV mits; it takes time to get per- with good weather, instead of mits,” he said. the originally estimated six to Several local engineers seven weeks. and design companies could However, Dale McDow- have drawn a design and gone ell, of TFT Construction and a through the permitting pro- member of the Seaside Trans- cess and then put the project portation Advisory Commis- up for bid, McDowell said. sion and the city budget com- “For them to say no local mittee, and Keith Keranen, of contractor could handle it is Keith Keranen Excavating, hogwash,” he said. “We’ve said both of their companies, worked on the jetty before. and likely other local con- And a local contractor is han- tractors, could have done the dling it. They’re doing the overall project at less expense. work out there.” By Katherine Lacaze Seaside Signal KATHERINE LACAZE PHOTO Construction crews work on the city of Seaside’s project to stabilize the bank of the Necanicum Estuary, which had started to erode, threatening the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The project was awarded to California-based BioEngineering Asso- ciates rather than going to bid. BioEngineering subcontracted with Big River Construction, of Astoria. Not only have McDowell and Keranen raised concerns about the project not going out for bid, but they are crit- ical of the overall cost, which McDowell said go hand in hand. “Just follow the law and you’ll save money,” he said. “You get competitive bids. That’s the key word — ‘com- petitive.’” When BioEngineering emailed several construction companies in mid-January with a request to provide a few laborers and operators, along with equipment, to work alongside the BioEn- gineering crew to build the wall, McDowell’s company SXW LQ D ELG RI SHU ZHHN RU IRU VL[ weeks. BioEngineering, in- stead, subcontracted with Big River, which provided a low- er weekly quote. “The thing is it should have come out to bid as the whole project and not just a piece of it,” McDowell said. He posed the question: If the raw materials cost an HVWLPDWHG DQG FRQ- struction costs for the subcon- WUDFWRUDUHOHVVWKDQ why did the city sign a con- tract with BioEngineering for nearly $800,000 that now has forced the city to obtain a loan from the state? “The city is spending mon- ey like crazy and they don’t have any,” Keranen said. The city has not pro- vided a detailed budget for the project. The proj- ect’s general budget as ap- ‘For them to say no local contractor could handle it is hogwash’ Dale McDowell, of TFT Construction and a member of the Seaside Transportation Advisory Commission and the city budget committee proved for the loan from the Oregon Infrastructure Finance Authority includes IRU FRQVWUXFWLRQ IRU FRQVWUXFWLRQ contingency; $72,000 for construction management; DQG IRU SUHDZDUG H[SHQVHV VXFK DV ¿QDO GH- sign and permitting. Last September, the City Coun- cil approved a resolution to repay the loan using city sewer fees and revenue. SEASIDE FACTORY OUTLET CENTER DEL’S O.K. YOUR #1 SOURCE FOR TIRES • CUSTOM WHEELS • • AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES • Hours: Mon-Fri 8-6 Sat- 8-4 503-325-2861 35359 Business Hwy 101 For emergencies 503-325-0233 (miles crossing) Astoria, OR Environmentally - Friendly Products now at Biodegradable and Eco-Friendly Sand Urns are produced with a vegetable- based gelatin. When buried in the ground, the urn will biodegrade within three months. 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For more information, contact Melyssa Graeper at RUQHFDQLFXP- watershed@gmail.com. £Ó/Ê6°ÊEÊ79°Ê£ä£ÊUÊ--]Ê",ÊUÊxäΰǣǰ£ÈäÎ --"1//-° " 4UPSFTt6144IJQQJOH$FOUFSt#FBVUZ4BMPOt&BUFSJFT #SVDFT$BOEZ,JUDIFOt(JGUTGPSUIF,JUDIFOt4IPFTt#PPLT.VTJD $BTVBM4QPSUT6QTDBMF'BTIJPOt#PVODF)PVTFGPSUIF,JET 8JOF5BTUJOH#BS#FFSPO5BQ'JOF8JOFT#FFST WINTER HOURS (JANUARY-MARCH): SUNDAY-THURSDAY 10-6, FRIDAY-SATURDAY 10-8 TOKYO TERIYAKI TOYS”R”US TREE OF LIFE CHRISTIAN OUTLET VAN HEUSEN ZUMIEZ OSH KOSH B’GOSH PENDLETON PERFECT LOOK RACK ROOM SHOES RUE21 SEASIDE SHIPPING CENTER THE WINE AND BEER HAUS Empire Park & Recreation District, the Seaside Chamber of Commerce, the Seaside Downtown Development Association and others before ¿QDOL]LQJDSODQ The committee’s goal is to Their hope, though, is that proper procedures will be followed in the future in the community’s best interest. “We should learn from this going forward and not do it again,” Keranen said. “It’s really all about helping them not do any more harm to the taxpayers.” Wallace agreed the solu- tion the city has chosen is not the least expensive solution, but he believes it was neces- sary because “this isn’t a typi- cal rock revetment” or stabili- zation project. “I didn’t see any other av- enues to getting this project permitted in a timely fash- ion,” he said. “What we did was hired the best people for the job, and we’re going to end up with a good job.” Time was a factor be- cause the time period the city is allowed to do work in the ZDWHU HQGV )HE DQG ZLOO not open again until Nov. 1. Wallace said the city bare- ly got the permits in time to complete the in-water work for the project. Another concern McDow- ell raised is that, according to the Oregon Construction Contractors Board, BioEn- gineering does not have a statutory public works bond, as required by the state to be eligible to do construction on public works projects. Wallace said he could not comment on that. BioEngineering Associ- ates did not respond to multi- ple requests for comment. FAMOUS FOOTWEAR GNC KITCHEN COLLECTION L’EGGS HANES BALI PLAYTEX EXPRESS NIKE Public invited to open house to comment on Mill Ponds project The Mill Ponds Technical Advisory Committee is seek- LQJ SXEOLF LQSXW WR UH¿QH LWV vision for the Mill Ponds park and to craft a recommendation for the Seaside City Council. The committee is hosting DQ RSHQ KRXVH DW SP :HGQHVGD\0DUFKLQWKH Bob Chisholm Community &HQWHU $YH $ 7KH group will unveil its draft plan. The committee already has taken public input re- ceived in August and de- veloped a phased plan for the park. In addition to the public, the committee will seek input from the Parks Advisory Council, the Sunset Now that the project has been contracted out to Bio- Engineering, both McDowell and Keranen said it was right for the City Council to ap- prove the loan request, since the project has to be paid somehow. They also are hap- py that BioEngineering is sub- contracting with Big River.