Tribe’s hotel, campuses to connect with city sewer this month

Jamestown avoids litigation by paying portion of late fee

City of Sequim and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe officials anticipate connecting the tribe’s new hotel and Blyn facilities to the City of Sequim’s wastewater treatment system later this month.

Officials anticipated connecting the two systems in February but snow and COVID-19 closures and concerns delayed construction on the hotel.

Jerry Allen, 7 Cedars Casino/Resort CEO, said the tentative date for connection — which includes the approximate $40 million, 100-room hotel — is June 28 or June 29.

“We’re at a place now where we want to flush toilets and do checks and balances,” he said.

“We’re happy that we’re going to be connected.”

The new hotel opens reservations on July 7 for an Aug. 4 opening with soft opening for tribal citizens and employees between those dates, Allen said.

“We’re almost ready,” he said.

A sewer connection has been discussed for more than a decade with tribal leaders agreeing to pay the city about $1.59 million for a buy-in cost based on the percentage of piping and sewer capacity at somewhere between 5-6 percent of the Water Reclamation Facility’s capacity.

Payment

On June 2, Sequim City Councilors unanimously agreed after an executive session to send a letter to the tribe explaining that the city’s wastewater treatment plant would not accept wastewater, or effluent, until the tribe paid $50,000 up front of its late fee of about $159,000.

They agreed that the tribe had until Dec. 31, 2020, to pay the balance off without interest or penalty.

Sequim Public Works Director David Garlington said in a phone interview that they reached out via mail and email to the tribe on June 3 and the $50,000 was paid the same day.

In previous stories, Tribal Council Chairman W. Ron Allen said the approximate $8.5 million sewer project was funded with a 40-year loan from the federal Department of Agriculture, which allows for future growth in the purchased sewer capacity.

The pipeline on the south side of U.S. Highway 101 connects 7 Cedars Casino, administrative and business buildings, Blyn Fire Station, Jamestown Public Safety and Justice Center and the tribe’s hotel/resort to the city’s Water Reclamation Facility via Whitefeather Way.

Sequim Mayor William Armacost said at the June 2 meeting that in a phone interview Ron Allen told him the tribe felt they haven’t been good about communicating about progress with the sewer system; Ron Allen could not be reached for comment by press time.

Tribal representatives sent a letter requesting a waiver from the city for an extension, but city staff said they maintained the stance of not allowing the connection until a payment was made.

Jerry Allen said they respect the process and he’s “glad the tribal council got it resolved so we can all move forward.”

Deputy Mayor Tom Ferrell said city councilors support the connection.

“We want the casino to open,” he said. “We want the tourism. We want the advantages of that.”

Wastewater back to normal

On Monday, June 8, Garlington said the wastewater treatment plant began circulating reclaimed water into the city after a few weeks being shut off due to high turbidity, a level where water loses its transparency due to particulates.

He previously said the city’s Class A Reclamation Facility has gone out of compliance and normally runs at a Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) rate “well below 1,” but it’s been at about 10, about 5 over the noncompliance level to distribute reclaimed water.

On Monday, the level was at about 1.5 and appeared to continue dropping.

He and other state officials speculate the high level was due to residents using more bleach products during the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the city’s treatment plant’s process.

Unused water was being sent into the Strait of Juan de Fuca but now will be used for watering flower baskets, in the city’s fish pond, for irrigating parks, for cleaning purposes at the city shop and to provide services for about 10 city residents.

Garlington said on occasion the water is used in the city’s reclaimed park’s rapid infiltration basin but water is pumped just below the surface and does eventually get into the aquifer.

For more information, call Sequim Public Works at 360-683-4908.