The Clallam County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 31 ratified an emergency declaration for storm damage to Eaton Valley Road and approved a series of budget and procurement actions to finalize a separate coroner-equipment purchase.

Emergency ratification: County staff reported a Dec. 18 storm caused a slide that undermined the roadbed at about milepost 0.92 on Eden (Eaton) Valley Road. The administrator said the county used its emergency-declaration authority to mobilize a contractor with specialized long-arm excavation equipment the county lacked; commissioners ratified the emergency declaration by unanimous vote. A contract with Brown Rock (Bruckenbruck) Construction to complete the repairs — work completed Dec. 23 — was also approved (staff cited an estimated price of about $70,000).

Gurney procurement and ARPA budget move: Separately, the board approved an ARPA budget revision to shift unspent wireless-network capital funds to cover part of a coroner gurney purchase (board discussion referenced amounts including $14,100 and $42,100 in different motions). Because the purchase sat in a threshold zone between county card limits ($5,000) and departmental approval authority ($10,000), the board voted to waive Policy 570, Section 4.4 (transaction limits) for this purchase to avoid the “card splitting” prohibition and directed staff to issue an expedited warrant to settle the credit-card payment.

Why it matters: The emergency ratification allowed immediate, safety-focused repairs to a county road. The gurney funding and procurement waiver highlight an operational policy gap around payment limits and ARPA spending deadlines; commissioners acknowledged the county needs clearer purchase policies for mid-range procurements.

Voices from the meeting: “Whenever we end up with a product that is between $5,100 and $10,000, we have a problem,” an administrator said, urging policy updates. Prosecuting attorney and county staff later secured a partial refund from the vendor to address the informal-bid/procurement concern.

Next steps: Staff will implement the expedited payment to the vendor and pursue policy updates for procurement thresholds in Q1 to prevent similar issues. The emergency repair contract work and ARPA MOU recordings are complete and the county will reconcile vendor refunds and documentation for audit.