These reports are from the previous four issues of the Daily Bulletin in Colfax. They are reprinted here for the benefit of Gazette readers who reside outside of Colfax. Some accounts have been updated.
The present passing lane located south of the Trestle Creek Road intersection would be extended under the state plan for added passing lanes on Highway 195. A new northbound passing lane has been proposed on the other side of the highway in this general location. See full story below.
CITY STARTS METRO PARK PROPOSAL
Colfax City Council Monday night voted 6-0 to start the process which could lead to formation of a metropolitan park district. The council authorized the city to prepare a resolution which would be used as the basis for a petition drive to get the metro park district proposal on the ballot.
The petition would aim to form a park district which would include the city and the Colfax School District. City Administrator Michael Rizzitiello said the relatively new state law for formation of a metropolitan park district requires at least 15 percent of the voters in each entity to sign the petition to get it on the ballot. Rizzitiello advised the council to choose the metro district option over formation of a parks and recreation district. He said parks and recreation districts more or less become an entity of the county and that would lead to a loss of control by the city.
The metro district option also allows for the vote on a formation of a district, a proposed panel to oversee the new district and funding on one ballot. Under a parks and recreation voting format, those steps have to be done on separate ballot votes which would extend the process over several months, possibly into the next year.
Options for the metro format allow for the city council or park board to oversee the park district with an approval vote from the district. Options could be presented on the ballot.
Formation of some sort of parks district has surfaced at city hall this year in conjunction with discussion on the fate of the Colfax swimming pool. A metro park district, which would include property in the school district, would provide a larger tax base to generate funds.
Metropolitan park districts can levy up to 50 cents per $1,000 assessed value for capital projects and 25 cents for operation.
The 50 cent levy on a combined city and school district park district would generate approximately $200,000 per year.
Councilman Al Vorderbrueggen Monday night said the aim would be to place the metro district proposal on the general election ballot next November.
Timing for a metro proposal has to include a period when petition signatures have to be validated to ensure that at least 15 percent have been collected in the city and in the school district.
Funds for Colfax parks now come out of the city’s budget which uses property and sales taxes for revenue.
Rizzitiello noted after the meeting that the city has no way of paying for a new pool under that revenue format without big cuts elsewhere in the city budget.
Vorderbrueggen at a previous council meeting noted the cost of replacing the Colfax swim pool now could be expected to run in the millions.
A funding proposal for replacing the pool, probably with a bond issue, would have to go before voters in the metro district in a special election proposal.
POOL MEETING SET MARCH 17
A meeting for a Colfax Swim Pool task force has been scheduled for March 17 at 6 p.m. at the Colfax library. Sara Golden, who has been a Colfax resident for the past two years, is coordinating the meeting. She said one of the aims of the session will be to create a formal group to consider what the future will be for the Colfax swim pool.
Colfax city council has approved operating the pool for one more year. This summer the pool will start with just one of two water heaters on line. The other heater in the pool system failed last year, and the park board has decided not to spend funds to replace it because of other anticipated costs of getting the pool in operation for the coming year. Estimated cost of the new heater would have been $13,000.
Among other costs anticipated in launching the pool this year is installation of a sump pump to halt the spill of pool water into the North Fork of the Palouse River. The change has been required by the Department of Ecology because of the treated pool water draining directly into the river.
Also included in the startup costs is replacing caulking for more of the panel seams in the pool to reduce the amount of water loss. Cost of the caulking job has been estimated at $6,500.
Golden’s husband, Blaine, is a member of the Colfax Park Board. The Golden family moved here two years ago after he retired from military service, and he is now the advisor for veterans’ service at Washington State University. The Goldens have three boys ranging from kindergarten age to five months.
Golden said she has been contacting residents who attended a Dec. 2 meeting which was called by the park board to determine residents’ ideas about the fate of the pool. After that session, the board asked the city council to put the pool in operation for the coming summer without spending the anticipated $13,000 to replace the failed water heater.
The city has also invited residents who attended the Dec. 2 session and others who have expressed interest in charting a future course for the swim pool to attend the public session next week.
METH ARREST IN COLFAX
Annette Trimble, 54, Clarkston, was booked into the county jail early Friday after she was arrested on Main Street in Colfax on a probable charge of possession of a controlled substance. An arrest report filed in court said Deputy Tim Cox stopped the vehicle Trimble was driving southbound on Main Street late March 3 because the license plate appeared partially obstructed. Trimble was later arrested after deputies determined she was driving with a suspended license.
The report said the suspect appeared to be sweating. She gave permission for a search of the vehicle, and a wallet containing three baggies of methamphetamine was allegedly found under the front seat of the car. The report said deputies also found a clear glass pipe which they believe contained residue of methamphetamine.
The arrest report alleges Trimble later admitted she had traveled to Spokane where she purchased three eightballs of methamphetamine for $300. She said she had been given $100 by two people to make a purchase for them. Total weight of the three baggies was said to have been 14 grams.
PROPOSES PASSING LANE SITES
Proposed sites for the Highway 195 passing lanes projects were posted March 2 night for viewing and discussion at a public input session in the CHS auditorium. Department of Transportation officials slated the session to get public comment on the project which has been scheduled for the 2017 construction year.
Bob Hilmes, district engineer for the project, said it has been funded for $11.7 million. He anticipates a bid call for the job will go out at about this time next year.
The proposed sites were designated on a large poster board of Highway 195 which was placed at the entrance to the auditorium. After the discussion period, maps were laid out on the auditorium stage, and participants were encouraged to get a close look and make comments.
Hilmes said the plan calls for work to be done on the two passing lanes which are located on the southbound side of the highway. Two more passing lanes would be added to the southbound side, and four sites have been proposed for the northbound side.
The present sites, which were originally designed as truck passing lanes, are south of the Highway 271 intersection at Rosalia and south of the Trestle Creek Road intersection. The proposal would add six tenths of a mile to the Trestle Creek lane which now measures .63 of a mile.
The two new sites proposed for the southbound side of 195 are the long straight south of Plaza and at the long sweeping curve south of Steptoe. The lane south of Steptoe would begin at mile 47.35 and continue for more than a mile south on the grade approaching the Hume Road intersection.
The four proposed sites on the northbound side of the highway, starting at Colfax, include a 1.7 mile lane north of Steptoe starting at mile 48.15, a 1.57 mile lane across from the southbound Trestle Creek lane starting at mile 55.83, a 1.35-mile lane starting at mile 67.9 north of Rosalia and going into the cut north of the Babb Road overpass north, and a 1.4-mile lane north of the Bradshaw Road intersection starting at mile 76.8.
POOR DRIVING DISCUSSED
Much of the public discussion segment of the March 2 Department of Transportation meeting at Colfax centered on concerns over bad driver habits. The session was conducted by Bob Hilmes, project engineer for the passing lanes project for Highway 195 between Spangle and Colfax.
Hilmes said one of the studies in advance of the proposal included a review of accidents on 195 for a five-year period ending in 2009. The highway logged 16 fatality accidents and 23 serious injury accidents. Eleven of the fatalities involved collisions of vehicles traveling in opposite directions, and five involved vehicles going off the roadway. Hilmes said those factors pointed to the need for passing lanes which could make the highway safer.
In response to a question, Hilmes said most of the fatalities in the study happened south of Colfax, a segment of the highway which is not included in funding for the passing lanes project.
County Commissioner Art Swannack asked if preliminary studies for the project ever considered what the cost would be for increased law enforcement on the area highways.
Hilmes answered that law enforcement is one of the “Four E” factors used in highway planning, but the cost of increasing enforcement on area highways was not considered in planning for the passing lanes.
Cost of the lanes project has been budgeted at $11.7 million. Sheriff’s Deputy Vince Waltz, who serves as area commercial vehicles safety officer, said one of the major concerns of truck drivers in the area is a failure of drivers of smaller cars to recognize the mass and space involved in operating big trucks.
Bad passing, tailgating and cutting off trucks after passing them are among the dangerous driving trends relayed to Waltz by commercial drivers.
He said many young drivers just don’t recognize the dynamics involved in driving a big truck.
Jim Thompson of Colfax pointed out the number of young drivers who are distracted by cell phones. The Thompsons’ son, Sam, was fatally injured when the car he was driving was involved in a head-on collision with a semi truck south of Colfax. Jim Thompson said at one time he conducted a survey for approximately one hour, and in a count of 50 cars 15 of the drivers were talking on cell phones.
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