St. Ignatius water project moves forward
Megan Strickland
Mission Fire Chief Jeremiah Morigeau
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ST. IGNATIUS — At a Feb. 4 meeting the St. Ignatius Town Council unanimously approved taking $37,700 from the Water Tower Fund to pay for additional costs to a water improvement project that is more than a year behind schedule, but is set to begin construction this spring.
At a previous January meeting officials from Great West Engineering and members of the council argued over who should pay additional costs for the project to replace the town’s water lines. The engineering firm claimed the town was nonresponsive to its requests for guidance and that caused delays for the project. Public Works Director Scott Morton said he never received much of the correspondence the engineering firm claimed was sent. The council agreed to pay the additional costs.
An agreement letter that specifically lists the town’s and the engineering firm’s obligations was approved at the Feb. 4 meeting to cut down on future confusion.
Council member Ray Frey and Morton sat down before the letter was sent to make sure that everything in it was correct. Morton and Frey were able to save the city $9,500 by reading the agreement between the city and the contractor and determining that the contractor is supposed to pay for some electrical elements of the project.
“We’re reading real close on all of their stuff,” Frey said.
The project is supposed to break ground by March 25.
In other business:
• The council approved Police Officer Logan Martin as a half-time employee.
• Jeremiah Morigeau was appointed as fire chief. Dave Snyder was appointed as assistant chief.
• The council reviewed, but did not take action on, ballot language for the option to form a Local Government Review Commission. State law requires the town to give citizens the option of forming a review commission every 10 years.
