Whatcom County governments send public works wish list to state

SAM TAYLOR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Local officials from the county's seven cities and other agencies finalized a list of public works projects Monday, Jan. 5, that might get a boost from a huge federal stimulus package.

Leaders had already met a couple times as the Whatcom Council of Governments to figure out how to request millions in public works projects throughout the county. Some wanted the list whittled down to a top 10, but others thought it not such a good idea.

In the end, officials chose 34 projects at a total price tag of about $87.8 million. Thrown off the main list was a request for $12 million by Whatcom County for a new Lummi Island ferry and $15 million for Lummi Nation to build a transportation facility at Gooseberry Point.

"The following projects were submitted (to WCOG), but were deemed more appropriate for other funding sources in the anticipated stimulus package," according to the final document sent to the state.

Whatcom County had already included a request for a new ferry on an individual list sent off to the state.

The list of 34 projects includes a request of $7 million for Whatcom County to flood-proof the low section of Slater Road east of the Nooksack River, reconstruction of Church Road in Ferndale at a cost of $4 million and $2.3 million to complete Grover Street in Lynden as part of an east-to-west arterial connector system.

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike, initially against trying to put one project as a No. 1 for fear of other projects losing out on funding, said he was pleased with the work the Whatcom Council of Governments did.

Bellingham sought $7 million to relocate railroad tracks on the waterfront, according to the list. Pike said that after speaking with state officials that $5 million may also come from state coffers for that project.

"I thought overall it went pretty well. It's something where we're kind of working in a paper bag in the dark. But I thought that we actually ended up with a process that ended up with some rationality to it."

That rationality was initially missing from the process, with local officials complaining that state and federal officials were not providing enough detail on the requirements for projects to be eligible for funding. One requirement was that a project needed to be able to go to bid quickly to stimulate the economy. But even the detail on how quick that needed to be - some officials thought it was 100 days, others 120 days and even others 180 days - was muddled.

The list now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire's office, which will rank the projects and send them to federal officials to place in a stimulus bill. Reports now say the bill won't be passed immediately upon President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, as some had speculated.

Reach Sam Taylor at sam.taylor@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2263. Read his Politics Blog at TheBellinghamHerald.com/blogs.