The City of Pacific will turn to King County for financial help to remove and replace every year the double rows of flood-control barriers blocking the entrances to Pacific Park.

At a workshop this week, the City Council moved a resolution to Monday’s council meeting, where it will vote on applying for a grant from the King County Flood District Flood Reduction Fund.

“King County has made available a contingency fund, money that is available with these projects,” Mayor Leanne Guier said. “I don’t know if you want to call them incidental, but we’re going to need to open and close the park and make it available for citizens. And that is a cost. So, this is a grant we’re applying for to open and close the park until the levees (along the White River) are completed, so it’s not a cost to the City.”

This year King County picked up the $40,000 tab to remove the HESCO wall, composed of deployable rock-and dirt-filled mesh containers. Guier said the cost to reinstall HESCOs will cost even more.

If the resolution is approved, the City will submit a grant application to the county.

“And, if we’re lucky, it will get approved,” Guier said. “It’s not guaranteed.”

The HESCO barriers are to remain in place at the park until the county finishes work on beefing up the levees. The job should be completed in five years.

“It’s not very pretty, having that second wall there. I don’t like it,” Guier said. “But I don’t like the loss of property and lives even more. The fact that we’re all working together to make (the park) available to the citizens is a good thing.”

Also

The Council votes Monday on an agreement with Pierce County to provide maintenance work on Pacific streets. The $10,000 annual contract would allow the county to re-stripe several roads in Pacific, including Ellingson Road, Milwaukee Boulevard, and Butte and Pacific avenues.

All told, nine miles would be painted. The contract, which would be in effect until Dec. 31, 2019 according to Resolution 2014-18, would task the county with maintenance on street lighting, traffic signs, roadway markings, raised pavement markings and minor engineering projects. According to Guier it was cheaper to make the agreement with Pierce County, rather than contract with a private company to paint the stripes.

Guier said the City would contract with Apply-A-Stripe to paint crosswalk and stop lines on the roads this summer.

The council also will vote on an amendment to the 2014 budget, which would fund new positions in the City. The council previously approved changing the job description of the public works community development director, splitting the position into two – a public works manager and a community development manager. A city administrator position and administrative office assistant job will be added, too, as will two seasonal maintenance worker jobs.

A public hearing is at 6:30 p.m. Monday to obtain testimony about the City’s 2015-2020 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Plan. The council meeting immediately follows.