Franco Martinez-Tinoco named to Brewster city council

Franco Martinez-Tinoco is Brewster’s newest city council member.

MIKE MALTAIS/WARD MEDIA

BREWSTER – The city council selected a new member during its regular monthly meeting last Thursday, April 17. Franco Martinez-Tinoco, a Brewster High School graduate and resident for more than two decades, replaces council member Jan May who tendered her resignation last month.

Director of Finance Misty Ruiz introduced a city budget amendment that includes funds for the Swamp Creek project, the water project, the sewer project, and the Old Highway 97 project. Regarding the latter, Public Works Director Lee Webster reported that Selland Construction is ahead of schedule on the Highway 97 project.

“Originally the cement-treated base was going to go down in mid-May,” said Webster. “As of today, they are expecting April 29, so there will be a seven or eight-day complete closure of Old 97 tentatively scheduled for the 29th.” 

The Swamp Creek Project got underway last month with representatives from the National Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS), USDA, and DJ&A engineering, surveying, and environmental consultants from Missoula, Montana. The project will involve a Preliminary Investigation and Feasibility Report (PIFR), where specialists will examine the drainage to evaluate workable options for potential flooding in response to FEMA’s latest floodplain designations.

 “This will be a pretty good-sized project, probably $10 million-plus,” said Webster.

The city is finishing its $12 million multi-year water/manganese project. All but one of the city’s three well houses are also done. 

“We have one well house left, the old one up Paradise Hill,” said Ruiz. 

The old insulation inside the Paradise Hill well house is being tested for the possible presence of PFOS, a hazardous substance the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated a forever chemical.

“We were hoping we could it with the $500,000 direct appropriation we have but it’s not going to be enough,” said Ruiz. “We need $2 million.”

The sewer project to upgrade the treatment plant, UV light system, and undersized piping is funded by a combination of a $2.7 million direct appropriation, $900,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), a 50/50 grant/loan from the Department of Ecology. Ruiz said requisite cultural and biological surveys have delayed this year’s construction start date.

Ruiz brought up an interesting point about the treated water the city discharges into the Columbia River.

“We are putting cleaner water into the river,” said Ruiz. “We had to do a study on that to see what that will do.”

The public pool is full of water, and solar warming will begin soon. Webster said the circulation pumps will start around May 9 after the PUD cutoff to avoid a demand charge. When the pump exceeds a set wattage use three times in a month the demand charge is triggered and then assessed for the full year.

That started a council discussion on strategies to investigate any avenue to get around monthly PUD demand charges that boost the costs to maintain the pool. The city is drafting a letter to other county cities that have public pools - Twisp, Omak, Okanogan, and Tonasket – to see what might be done to work with Okanogan PUD to reduce pool power costs.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media