Brewster Council addressed manganese, airport, chip seal issues

BREWSTER – In what they considered a routine monthly meeting on Valentines Day, Feb. 14, council members addressed and dispatched a variety of city issues from the renovated water reservoir and manganese project to the airport lighting and street chip seal work. In between they found room to pass a couple of resolutions.
One was a Conflict of Interest Resolution required by the USDA Rural Development Agency (RDA).
“We were already following RDA guidelines,” said city clerk-treasurer Misty Ruiz. “We just didn’t have it in writing.”
Council addressed a second resolution for the Okanogan Transit Authority and appointed council member Tim Reib to serve on the OTA Board, with council member Jan May as alternate.  
The test well drilling bid package is ready to submit to contractors as part of the first phase of the manganese project.
“We try to get that out early in advance of the spring rush,” Ruiz said of the bump in contractor business. Meanwhile, the city is awaiting reimbursement from the state for earlier water project costs.
“We did receive a payment of $144,000 for the airport runway lighting project,” Ruiz said.
The reservoir renovation project is getting closed out as the city applies fixes to a few remaining items including installation of the final mixer and replacement of the pressure reducing valve (PRV) vault lid.
Council also authorized mayor Art Smyth to negotiate the parking lot lease documents with the Brewster School District as part of the school’s new building project.
Public Works Director Lee Webster said he is working with the Okanogan County Road Department to secure estimates for chip seal on several Brewster streets including Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Jay, Plaza Way and portions of old Highway 97.
“We can work with the county through an interlocal agreement and it beats any bid prices we can get,” Webster explained.
The city has already been putting its new street sweeper to work this year on days when freezing temperatures don’t cause debris to stick to the pavement surfaces.
The next regular meeting of the Brewster City Council will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 21.