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Council approves contractor partial payments, hears water interconnect and 12th Street grant update
Summary
Council approved partial contractor payments for the 2025 street project and 3rd Avenue work, heard updates on 17th Street change orders and a Cottage Grove water interconnect that will provide PFAS-treated water, and learned the EPA-funded 12th Street award is delayed for Buy America/Built America contract language.
The Newport City Council on July 16 approved partial payments for two ongoing street-and-utility projects and received multiple project updates from City Engineer John Hurdigan.
Hurdigan said Meyer Contracting remobilized to install storm sewer near the Circle K tank farm and requested partial payment No. 9 for the 2025 Street and utility improvements in the amount of $222,637.96. Council member Sumner moved to approve the payment and Council member Engemann seconded; the voice vote carried.
Hurdigan reported progress on the 3rd Avenue improvements contract with Geisslinger (total contract $3,085,000). He said the contractor had completed just under $670,000 of work and requested a first partial payment estimate of $636,060.77 (less 5% retainage); the council approved that payment after a brief discussion about work hours and heat-related shifts.
On 17th Street, Hurdigan said staff is negotiating a change order to move some storm-sewer work into the 3rd Avenue contract to streamline work; unit prices are being developed and staff hopes to present a change-order recommendation in roughly three weeks to mid-August.
Hurdigan also described a startup next week for a water-system interconnect with Cottage Grove. He said Cottage Grove’s treatment plant filters PFAS and that, under a short-term (three- to five-year) contract, Newport would receive treated water while the city pursues its own treatment options. “This interconnect is really about the fact that Cottage Grove has built a water treatment plant that filters out PFAS,” Mayor Elliott said, adding the interconnect is not a permanent solution.
Finally, Hurdigan said the city received a congressionally directed EPA grant for the 12th Street area improvements (stated in the meeting as approximately $1,093,000) but will delay awarding the low bid until contract language is updated to include federal requirements such as prevailing wage rules and Buy America/Built America (BABA) certifications so that grant costs remain eligible.
No substantive public comment was received during the public-comment period. The council did not reverse or amend any contract approvals at the meeting.
