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Lakewood council approves road and park contracts; staff explain new apprenticeship penalty/incentive under state law
Summary
Council approved three construction contracts totaling roughly $8.96 million and a $98,814 fence contract. City staff said a new state RCW requires an apprenticeship utilization bid line that can pay an incentive if goals are met or impose a penalty if not.
Lakewood, Wash. — The Lakewood City Council approved multiple construction contracts on June 16, including a $5,760,819.09 contract for the Nyanza Road/Gravelly Lake Drive projects and a $3,201,150 contract for the Interlochen/112 Idlewild to Washington Boulevard to Idlewild Elementary project, and authorized a $98,814.75 fencing contract for a Fort Steilacoom dog park.
Council members front‑loaded questions about a newly required apprenticeship bid line before advancing the consent‑agenda items.
The bids included a line labeled “apprenticeship incentive/penalty.” Troy Potwinski, capital projects manager, told the council the line reflects a state law enacted effective July 1, 2024, that applies to public works contracts above specified thresholds. “It is a new RCW that we are complying with,” Potwinski said. “It does require that we set up a bid item for the contractor to either get paid out at the end of the contract a certain amount, or there is a penalty that we calculate based upon the percentage of hours that they did not meet their goal by.”
Potwinski explained how the line works in practice: the bid item sets a target percentage of apprenticeship hours (for example, 15%). If a contractor hits the goal, the contract includes a modest lump‑sum incentive; if they fall short, the contractor owes the city an amount calculated from hours not met and a per‑hour rate. Using the Nyanza example Potwinski gave, if the contract included 10,000 labor hours and a 15% apprenticeship goal, the incentive was $5,000 and the maximum penalty if no apprentices were used would be calculated as $10 per hour for the shortfall.
Councilmember Brandstetter said the explanation eased his concerns and he supported approval once the policy and numbers were clarified. Councilmember Branstetter (who had pulled the item for discussion) said the apprenticeship requirement “does the opposite” of discouraging apprenticeships and pledged his support after staff’s explanation.
The council approved the consent agenda items containing the contracts after discussion.
Clarifying details: Keller Associates — the council also approved a separate $198,700 agreement with Keller Associates to assist in updating the Lakewood Municipal Code (motion 2025‑37), which remained on the consent agenda and was approved as presented.
