Cashmere City Council meeting June 12

CASHMERE— In the June 12 Cashmere City Council meeting, the Council discussed the possibility of refitting the HVAC (Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) unit at Cashmere Riverside Center. The center’s unit stopped working leaving the facility without air conditioning during warm summer months. Of the local contractors contacted by the City, only Salcido Connect provided a quote. They estimated a pre-tax cost of $47,690 to repair the existing system. The estimated cost to replace the entire unit is $150,000 to $200,000. Though AC is handy in the heavily used facility, Mayor Jim Fletcher and the Council wanted to be responsible with the City’s finances.

“It’s kind of one of those dilemmas,” Fletcher said. “Do we just bite the bullet and get this thing fixed so we can move forward with using it, or do we want to reengineer the whole thing and do it right, but spend a heck of a lot more money?”

Steve Croci, Director of Operations for Cashmere, concurred with Fletcher’s conundrum. The City could fix the HVAC system at a lower cost which would ideally work for awhile. If they replaced the entire unit it would last longer, but the expense would increase and structural work might be needed on the building.

Councilman Derrick Pratt discussed the possibility of using mini split air conditioners with the help of the Chelan County Public Utility District. He mentioned that the PUD would be willing to help the City without financial interests.

A motion was made, seconded and passed to table the matter until the City could consult with the PUD.

After that, the Council discussed the selection of a contractor to make remote monitoring and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) improvements to all of Cashmere’s water and wastewater facilities. Two companies submitted bids. Farmers Electric of Othello offered the lowest bid at $525,328.64. Croci said the system would prove expensive but efficient.

“That’s all the water, all the wastewater,” he said. “It would be programmed by water current so they would have people to help if there was a problem with SCADA programming.”

Right now, workers take chlorine samples by hand, but this system would replace that. Manually, one sample is taken per day, but the new system would produce 100 daily samples. Right now reports are taken on paper and then entered into a spreadsheet. With the upgrade, reports would be easy to access and problems easier to diagnose.

“It’s super expensive. It provides you with a lot of good data, particularly with compliance,” Croci said. “In theory it should help with reporting because at the end of the month you say, ‘Hit monthly reports’ and it grabs the data from the SCADA and puts it in the report.”

Councilman John Perry made a motion to approve the selection of Farmers Election for the project. The motion passed unanimously.

Mayor Fletcher and the Council then talked about Task Authorization No. 4- Emergency Generator Improvements. This comes after Cashmere awarded a grant to buy a trailer-mounted generator and install connections at five of the city’s water/wastewater facilities. This project would involve RH2 designing the electrical hookups that it would take to plug in the generation at various locales around the city. If that were to happen, then there would be another bid on an actual generator.  The locations include the Museum Lift Station, Sherman Booster Pump Station (BPS), Well No. 4, Well No. 10, Vista Heights BPS and the domestic wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). All these facilities have lost power recently. In case of a power outage, the project would allow for a quick connection. RH2 Engineering, Cashmere’s engineer, generated the authorization to provide services related to the emergency generator improvements at an estimated cost of $48,660.

The generator can power one site at a time. When not in use, it would be stored at the WWTP. Considering the complicated logistical and financial factors, the Council unanimously passed a motion to table the matter to gather more information and discuss the issue further.

The last business item was discussing a policy for placing donations and memorials in City parks and open spaces. The issue proved timely as Bob and Gail Spurrell spoke during the citizens’ comments section of placing a memorial bench alongside the Wenatchee River to honor their son Mike Spurrell, of Cashmere, who died in a rafting incident last month. The Spurrells offered to pay for the bench.

Previously, Fletcher had written a rough draft on the policy based on those used in other cities. His draft stated, “Because public open space is a precious commodity, and the integrity of the City’s natural and recreational areas must be protected, the design, installation, and maintenance of donated park improvements requires standardized policies.”

Fletcher and the Council agreed to accommodate the Spurrells’ request and began discussing the exact location and look of the bench. The Council also agreed to finalize Fletcher’s policy draft over the coming months.