City OKs water purchase pact with Kerby
From our weekly issue dated December 3, 2008
Finalizing a water purchase contract with Kerby Water District (KWD) during a Cave Junction City Council meeting brought spontaneous smiles and applause following a 5-0 vote.
The agreement means that KWD could begin delivering water to its users sometime in latter 2009, said KWD Board Chairman John Plute after the meeting, attended by some 20 persons.
Authorizing Mayor Tony Paulson to sign the purchase pact caps several years of planning and negotiations between KWD and the city. Approval came during the council session on Monday night, Nov. 24. The council and mayor sat as a contract review board for the vote.
Amid the smiles and applause that broke out, Councilor Margaret Miller noted, “It’s been a long haul, an arduous job, and something to be proud of.”
KWD has a $1 million Community Development Block grant for engineering and construction; and a $1.7 million grant for construction from USDA Rural Development. Plute said that the block grant expires next year, so the agreement for water comes just in time.
He said that construction bids will be sought in May.
The agreement signed by the city last week involves some revisions. One major aspect involved whether or not KWD needed a reservoir, a possible stipulation based on the supposed incident of simultaneous major fires in Cave Junction and Kerby.
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The firm engaged by the district, Pace Engineering, has said that there is no need for such a reservoir. Kerby resident John Bowler disputes the finding, saying that flow figures are incorrect. Paulson said that he would have data emailed to Bowler.
Another revision to the contract, which was approved by the KWD Board prior to the council meeting, involves maintenance and testing, said Plute. The amendment states that KWD will hire the city at an hourly rate, rather than the previous plan, which involved a higher water purchase rate to include maintenance and service.
Meanwhile, said Plute, some odds and ends involving areas such as some easements, are being handled. Overall, the plan to supply water to the Kerby community “is coming to fruition,” he stated.
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