County staff urges OK of Klamath Basin pact 

Jessie Faulkner

The Times-Standard

February 18, 2008  

EUREKA -- Humboldt County Public Works Director Tom Mattson is recommending the Board of Supervisors approve the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, contingent upon an agreement to remove four dams.  

The main impact of the agreement on the county, Mattson wrote in a report to the board for Tuesday's meeting, is the on-going expense of funding a representative to attend regular meetings of the Klamath Basin Coordination Council for the next 10 years.

”The Department estimates that there will be six to 10 meetings per year for the first three years,” Mattson wrote. “The estimated cost to the county's water budget could run about $1,200 per meeting or $7,200 to $12,000 per year, assuming the meetings were attended and held in Yreka or Klamath Falls . The estimate would be about $100 more per meeting if the meetings are held in Sacramento .”

The board is also scheduled to consider a resolution that will commit the county to payment of prevailing wages in any public works contracts issued in its role as the regional manager for the North Coast Integrated Regional Water Management Plan.

”This means that all projects in the Proposition 50 Implementation Grant are subject to state prevailing wage,” Community Development Services Director Kirk Girard wrote in a report to the board.

To meet those requirements, the county contracted with SHN Consulting Engineers & Geologists Inc. for assistance in preparing a labor compliance program that will be submitted to the state Department of Industrial Relations. The supervisors are scheduled to vote on whether to submit the proposed program to the state.

The county continues to be actively working on the situation resulting from the closure of the Martin's Ferry Bridge over the Klamath River . At Tuesday's meeting, the supervisors will consider a request from the Yurok Tribe to respond in writing regarding the county's plants for emergency medical and fire coverage in the Tulley Creek area as a result of the bridge's closure.

Fifth District Supervisor Jill Geist is requesting that the board authorize her, as chair, to sign a letter in response to the tribe's request.

At the same time, Public Works Director Mattson reports that county, state and federal representatives met at the bridge on Feb. 14 for a field review of the work proposed to stabilize the span.

”After site review,” Mattson wrote, “the representative from the FHWA (federal highways) signed the funding approval request for improvements to Dowd Road as a detour, stabilization of the pier on the bridge which was the cause of the bridge closure, and drainage gallery installation upslope of the bridge to reduce the movement of the slide which destabilized the pier.”

Mattson said a walk-through at the site with interested contractors has been scheduled for Feb. 22, the bid opening for Feb. 29 and awarding the contract on March 4.

The Federal Highway Administration will pay 100 percent of the cost of work completed before June 1, according to the staff report. For work after June 1, the federal contribution falls to 88.5 percent with the balance (11.47 percent) to be made up between the county (25 percent) and Office of Emergency Services (75 percent).

Those funds, if necessary, will come from the Humboldt County Public Works Department's Engineering budget, Mattson reported.

Jessie Faulkner can be reached at 441-0517 or jfaulkner@times-standard.com.

If You Go

What: Humboldt County Board of Supervisors

When: 9 a.m. Tuesday

Where: 825 Fifth St. , Eureka

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Source:  http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_8293907