The final piece in Cheney’s proposed $24.34 million 2017 budget is Public Works. Maybe that really should be final pieces.
There are a total of 12 departments and funds that fall under the category of Public Works, including the Planning Department, Building Department, Transportation Funds along with water, solid waste and wastewater divisions. Projected revenues for these in 2017 total $7,510,700, with expenses coming in at $7,544,000.
Charges for service make up most of that revenue stream, 75 percent, while operations and maintenance (43 percent) and salaries and benefits (35 percent) comprise the bulk of the expenses. With regards to the various departments and funds, wastewater expenses are the largest at 36 percent, followed by solid waste at 21 percent, water at 19 percent and transportation 17 percent.
In a presentation to City Council Nov. 22, Public Works Director Todd Ableman said one of Public Works’ biggest accomplishments in 2016 was completing installation of a mobile 311 system that allows crews to generate and pick up work orders in the field. Crews no longer have to come into the shop to do the paperwork, and can remain onsite longer and work more efficiently.
“We do have a very mobile crew now,” Ableman said.
He also noted the city did over $1.5 million in transportation improvement projects in 2016, mostly funded with state and federal money. He added that more will be coming in 2017, albeit from work by the state’s Department of Transportation on State Route 904.
In an email, Washington State Department of Transportation Eastern region public information officer Al Gilson said DOT plans a $1.5 million to $2.5 million paving project of SR 904 through Cheney, beginning at Betz Road and culminating at Mullinix Road. The department is also undertaking a region-wide $2.5 million to $3 million Americans with Disabilities Act project to upgrade ADA facilities, including improved street ramps, signals, detection loops and other safety features.
“The Cheney work (ADA) will be sometime between May and mid-June,” Gilson said. The paving project will start once school is out, he added.
Ableman listed a number of challenges for the department in 2017, ranging from exploring and securing more grant funding opportunities to street and sidewalk preservation work to water system improvements such as updating the city’s water plan to rehabilitation work on wells 5 and 7 and production increases at well 3. One goal for the department’s administration is to continue to improve its “Utility One Call Service” requirement of marking out utilities at new construction locations within 48 hours of receiving the call.
“When construction kicks up, that is a very busy service,” Ableman said.
Major projects for the department in 2017 will again center on street work, with the city already receiving funding for work on Second Street from D to Elm, Lincoln Street from SR 904 to Sixth and North Fifth Street from Oakland to Annie Place. Ableman told the council that they had also received funding for improvements along Simpson Parkway from SR 904 to North Sixth Street.
After two years of drought conditions, the city experienced a “normal” irrigation season in 2016, Ableman said. He commended residents conservation efforts through adherence to the city’s irrigation schedule, and said the city will continue to explore the option of utilizing reclaimed wastewater for large-user irrigation purposes as a future solution to taking pressure off the city’s water supply.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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