Astoria council authorizes DEQ loan amendment, accepts extra grant and OKs CMGC procurement for lift‑station rebuild

Astoria City Council on Feb. 18 authorized a Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan amendment for the city’s sewage lift‑stations rehabilitation project, approved an increase to an overflow sewer and stormwater grant and adopted an exemption that allows a construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) procurement method for the work.

The actions together secure a funding package staff says will allow the city to replace six Archimedes screw pumps and resurface concrete chutes at three lift stations along the sewer interceptor route. Assistant City Engineer Cindy Moore told the council the work is largely a maintenance project: “The main project elements are to replace the Archimedes screws completely, all 6 of them, resurface the concrete channels, and then modernize the control mechanisms and motors,” she said.

The nut graf: staff estimated the total project at about $3.6 million and said DEQ offered a CWSRF loan in the amount the council considered. Under the DEQ offer, roughly half of the loan amount would be forgivable if the city meets program conditions; the loan’s interest rate would be 2.58% with a 30‑year repayment schedule and no early‑payoff penalty. Moore said staff’s funding scenario would mean roughly a $1.50 per month increase in sewer rates for a residential customer if no additional grants are secured.

Why it matters: the three lift stations —…