Councilors chose to cover added costs for Project Downtown overruns

The Pullman City Council agreed to finance more than $200,000 in additional costs Welch Comer requested for Project Downtown’s overruns.

The council settled in for a large agenda during its regular meeting Tuesday. Councilors heard an update from the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee, approved contract negotiations with the city’s consultant Welch Comer and chose to participate in Innovia Foundation’s Heart & Soul program.

Without any discussion, councilors unanimously chose to cover Welch Comer’s added costs of $204,000 for managing the project.

The old contract with the city stipulates just more than $1 million to oversee the construction, according to documents attached to the meeting’s agenda.

Since April, Main Street has been closed while crews from Apollo Inc., a Kennewick-based construction company, rebuild downtown’s streets, sidewalks and utilities.

The revitalization project has run into several delays. The work was originally expected to take four months, but a delay pushed that to mid-October, when the area was expected to open to limited traffic. The deadline was again pushed back to mid-November when Main Street reopened. Work was supposed to be fully complete by the end of November, and now won’t be finished until early next year.

The extended timeline was attributed to supply chain challenges and treatment of contaminated soil in the area.

The consultant’s request includes an extension of their performance period beyond the original timeframe and additional work.

The contract adjustment will be funded through the city’s utility and stormwater fees, transportation dollars and Whitman County economic development funds, according to the documents.

The council also heard an update on the region’s usage of the Palouse Basin Aquifer, which announced that it’s working on an alternative to reduce the region’s dependency on the aquifer system.

Mike Faupel, executive director of the aquifer committee, said while the region’s usage has dropped over the past year, the system’s water supply is still decreasing.

“We don’t have enough water on a long-term basis to serve our regional needs,” he said.

In 2023, the Palouse pumped a total of 2.34 billion gallons of water from the aquifer, according to the documents. More specifically, Pullman used 918 million gallons, Moscow had 790 million gallons, Washington State University’s use was 436 million gallons and University of Idaho utilized 137 million gallons.

Compared to the committee’s 2022 report, over the past year Pullman’s usage fell 31 million gallons while Moscow’s has increased by 70 million gallons. WSU’s usage dropped 2 million gallons fewer and UI’s increased by 18 million gallons.

The committee has been exploring options for a sustainable water future. Faupel said in the past they looked at the possibility of Moscow using water from Paradise Creek and Pullman drawing from the South Fork of the Palouse River. However, both options proved to be unsustainable. He said there would be too many issues treating the water with its high sediment content, and low flow from the sources.

Instead, the committee is looking into diverting a portion of the Clearwater River in Lewiston to Moscow for regional treatment, sharing the resource to Pullman and both universities.

The committee is working on a preliminary study in cooperation with the city of Moscow for this diversion. Faupel said the project is requesting qualifications currently, with proposals due by Dec. 20.

The study would include a water supply assessment, conceptual design development, a regulatory permitting assessment and stakeholder engagement.

Faupel hopes the study will be completed by spring next year.

During the meeting, the council also passed a resolution to participate in the Innovia Foundation’s Community Heart & Soul program.

The foundation partnered with Community Heart & Soul earlier this year. Both entities granted $10,000 each to bring the program to Pullman.

Mayor Francis Benjamin said the multiyear process will gather community input to identify the town’s goals for Pullman’s future.

“I’m really excited for this Community Heart & Soul project,” Councilor Eric Fejeran said. “Especially how it’s going to help craft our community’s long-term vision for the Palouse.”

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com.