Council authorizes loan execution and advances PFAS treatment upgrades at Water Station 4

Vancouver City Council on Feb. 3 approved amended language authorizing the city manager or designee to finalize and execute three loan contracts identified in the meeting as DWL29301-0, DWL20977-0 and PC25-96103-005 and approved related consent items that include the Water Station 4 PFAS treatment upgrades project.

The amendment to the consent agenda—adding the words “or designee” to the signature authority—was moved from the dais, seconded by Councilor Hansen and approved by voice vote. Later in the meeting council approved items 1, 2 and 4 together (which include the loan contracts and project steps) by voice vote.

Maren Selinger, senior civil engineer in the city’s water engineering section, said the water department has already advanced the Water Station 4 PFAS treatment project design. “We actually just had our 60% design meeting this morning,” Selinger said. She told council staff expect to finish final design by about May and to go out to bid in summer, and that the team does not anticipate problems meeting an 18‑month construction award timeline because design is already underway.

Selinger also clarified disinfection practices in Vancouver’s system while responding to public comments at the meeting. “We actually don’t use chloramines for any mode of disinfection here at the City of Vancouver,” she said, adding that some facilities use gas chlorination that the city is converting to on‑site sodium hypochlorite.

The contracts discussed were described at the meeting by their identifiers; the transcript does not provide additional public details about lenders’ full program names or exact loan amounts. If the boundary expansion of approvals or contract execution requires further administrative steps, staff said the city will return with the executed instruments or additional documents as required.

The council’s actions enable the city to complete design, seek bids and pursue construction so the Water Station 4 PFAS treatment upgrades can proceed on the schedule described by staff.

Questions from council focused on schedule risk and the city’s source water and disinfection chemistry. Selinger told council Vancouver extracts its drinking water exclusively from groundwater aquifers and that treatment choices vary by source and location across the city’s well field sites.

The amendment language change to authorize the city manager (or designee) to finalize and execute the loan documents passed on a motion from the dais and subsequent voice vote. The approval of the packaged consent items (including the contracts and Water Station 4 project steps) was moved from the dais and passed on a separate voice vote.