Lewiston council approves ordinance to place $25 million downtown infrastructure bond before voters

The Lewiston City Council on March 10 approved an ordinance authorizing a special bond election that would ask voters to approve up to $25 million in general-obligation bonds to finance downtown water, wastewater, stormwater and roadway improvements.

The bond ordinance directs a May 20 election on a plan staff and consultants say is intended to address aging infrastructure downtown. "Tonight we bring you this ordinance, that will request the voters to approve a $25,000,000 bond," Public Works Director Dustin Johnson told the council, summarizing the package and the public outreach planned if the council approved the ordinance.

City staff and consultants said the project scope grew as engineers examined downtown utilities and found multiple systems in need of replacement. Johnson said the overall concept estimate is roughly $33 million and that the bond ordinance would let the city combine multiple funding sources…