Wenatchee council approves consultant, design and construction contracts, ordinance change and a grant deobligation

The Wenatchee City Council on April 9 approved several administrative actions and small- to mid-size contract awards in a single meeting.

North Wenatchee shared-use trail: Project manager Jesse King told council the North Wenatchee shared-use trail (city project 2318) will require more property acquisitions than originally planned — roughly 13 instead of five — and staff requested authority for the mayor to sign Supplement 1 with consultant Jacobs to add scope and fee (approximately $29,000 in consultant additional cost). The motion to authorize the agreement carried by voice vote.

Ordinance 2026-06 (salary commission): Human Resources Director Kim Oglesby presented a revision to the city code to remove a fixed meeting day/time and require the salary commission to meet each September. The council adopted ordinance 2026-06 after clarifying how special meetings would be advertised under the Open Public Meetings Act.

Eastbank Well No. 3 (project 2604): Jeremy Hoover, senior utility engineer, requested authorization for the mayor to negotiate and sign a design contract with Stantec Consulting to design pump and motor replacements for the regional Eastbank Well No. 3. Council approved the authorization to negotiate and sign.

Walaw Wala outfall grant deobligation: Utility project manager Darcy Ronnie reported that the Department of Ecology grant (total award $298,000) spent $258,000 and will return $39,975.13 to Ecology as a deobligation for unused funds at the close of the alternatives-analysis phase; council approved the deobligation amendment and authorized the mayor to sign.

Long-line striping contract (SW26-04): Public works staff recommended awarding the annual long-line striping contract to Pavement Surface Control for roughly $112,000 after the apparent low bidder was found nonresponsive for failing to submit executed documents. The council approved the award and authorized the mayor to sign. Staff said future solicitations will add tighter bidder-responsiveness criteria to avoid similar procurement delays.

All items were approved by voice vote as recorded in the meeting minutes; the council did not take roll-call tallies on these items during the meeting.