ML adopts transportation plan

As required annually, the Medical Lake City Council adopted the city’s six-year transportation plan — a wish list of road and street work to be performed should financing become available.

Financing is the operative word as seven of the nine listed projects specified that grant funding would be needed for the project. At an estimated $950,000, the Campbell Street Reconstruction Project accounted for not quite half of the $2.04 million project total.

According to information from the city, a complete reconstruction includes new road base, new top course, asphalt, sidewalks and storm drains. Should money be available from the water/sewer fund, water and/or sewer lines could be improved if necessary.

City Administrator Doug Ross told the council that the staff focuses heavily on projects in the first two years of the plan because that’s what most of the grant funding applications will be written around. Four projects are listed for 2017, with an estimated $400,000 reconstruction of Howard Street from Brooks Road to Fourth Avenue being the largest.

Also on the list in 2017 is a $90,000 chip seal project that would repair three blocks of both Evergreen and Washington streets. Also listed in 2017 is a project paving the shoulder of State Route 902 between the sidewalks and the travel lane, as well as asphalt repair work on various city streets, neither of which carried a price tag in the plan.

The only project listed in 2018 is a $150,000 sidewalk construction project along both sides of Hallett Street between Lake and Campbell streets.

Ross said he and city staff have traveled throughout the city examining roads and streets to come up with the list. He acknowledged during the public hearing on the plan that there are a number of streets in Medical Lake that need fixing.

“Everybody could come up with their own list,” he said. “These are, in our professional opinion, the streets that need attention now.”

No citizens testified during the public hearing on the plan, and council passed it unanimously.

In committee reports, Finance Director Jennifer Hough told the council the city had received two checks from the insurer totaling $184,000 for coverage of the maintenance shop, which was damaged by a fire in April. Ross added they are also expecting another $188,000 from the Washington Cities Insurance Authority to replace two of the six trucks that were damaged in the fire and deemed totaled.

In a presentation to council, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said his office sees no “concerning trends” in crime activity so far in 2016. The number of incidents reported are a bit below 2015, which was high, he said, but not as high as activity taking place from 2010 – 2012.

Councilwoman Jessica Roberts noted that traffic stops have been low, just 31 in all of 2015, and wondered if there was a reason. Knezovich said deputies are giving out a lot of warnings without resorting to quotas, adding if there were problem areas his office should be informed and they would be happy to provide a little extra enforcement in those areas.

Finally, new Councilwoman Elizabeth Rosenbeck was sworn in as Position 5 representative, replacing the late Howard Jorgenson who resigned in January and passed away in May.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].