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County staff to rebid well project after original contractor delay; engineering requirement debated
Summary
Staff told commissioners a scheduled well contractor cannot deliver until December, placing a WSDA grant at risk. The county plans to re-issue a bid, consider former driller John Hubbard for the work, and clarify whether independent engineering is needed to satisfy the grant.
County staff briefed the Board of Commissioners about the status of a grant-funded well project and said they will re-issue a bid after learning the original contractor could not complete drilling until at least December, staff and commissioners said.
According to staff, the Department of Health is conducting water testing and site analysis and county staff have sought engineering input. Staff reported they were exploring whether engineering is required for the well itself or only for the larger system; one county engineer said portions of the project beyond the drilling may require design work. Commissioners and staff discussed using the county's prior 2018 bid as a template and updating dates and prevailing-wage, bonding and retention language for the new solicitation.
Staff said they have identified John Hubbard, who previously did well work for the county, as a potential contractor and that Hubbard had agreed to come out of retirement to drill if the county chose to award him the contract; county staff suggested using the 2018 bid documents with updated dates and retention/bond requirements. The board instructed staff to prepare a new bid notice for release, including prevailing-wage language and either a performance bond or retainage consistent with past county practice.
Commissioners and staff also discussed system-level questions: whether the new well would remain strictly domestic (potable) or whether it could be used for irrigation and how cross-connections and backflow prevention would be handled. Staff said the grant under discussion was for domestic water, so labeling and configuration would need to meet potable-water requirements. The board asked staff to verify the grant award and expiration conditions before proceeding.
Ending Staff will draft and publish a revised bid notice, confirm grant timing and any WSDA/Department of Health requirements, and include prevailing-wage and bonding/retainage language in the solicitation.
