Officials with the Clallam County Department of Community Development have requested that county commissioners reject a bid for its Phase 2 Lower Dungeness River Floodplain Restoration & Levee/Realignment Project.
The solitary bid the DCD received on June 7 from Delhur Industries Inc. for $13,817,361, exceeded engineers’ estimates by 47 percent and was more than the current level of grant funding for the project — information summarized in an agenda item during the commissioners’ work session on June 21.
“We tried taking some elements out (of the bid) to see if we could make it affordable and doable … so our request to the board is that that bid be rejected and we re-issue one with a more relaxed timeline,” DCD senior habitat biologist Cathy Lear said. “I think that will have more bids and they’ll be more competitive.”
Commissioners took the advice under consideration.
Also during its work session on June 21, commissioners agreed to review a two-year contract amendment between Clallam County Health and Human Services and the state Department of Social and Health Services — Developmental Disabilities Administration.
The second-year DSHS installment of $1,514,493 “provides a coordinated and comprehensive state and local program of services for persons with developmental disabilities.”
The second-half installment brings the total awarded to Clallam County to $3,028,986 for the period between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023.
Commissioners agreed to review a request from Clallam County Parks, Fair and Facilities (PFF) to sign a grant application from the state Department of Commerce to support “legacy festivals and grants” for the county fairgrounds. The grant is worth $35,000 with no county match required.
“It’s (the grant) got a great niche and we fall right into it,” PFF director Don Crawford said. “You know, our fair’s over 100 years old, we’re in a county with less than 100,000 residents, so we just fit right in the sweet spot.”
The application, Crawford added, would allow the county to remove the existing first aid building, put a modular unit on site, add air conditioning for a cooling station and make a dedicated mother’s lounge.
