Tumwater City Council roundup: Councilors approve exploratory well-drilling at Tumwater Valley Golf Club, letter of support for Opportunity Zone; Equity Commission members introduced

Contractors from the St. Paul, Oregon-based Schneider Equipment, Inc. construction company will soon begin work drilling wells for the city's wellfield at theTumwater Valley Golf Club, after Tumwater City Council members unanimously approved Schneider Equipment's contract bid during their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 21, at Tumwater City Hall.

During the meeting, councilors also unanimously approved a letter of support for city staff to include with the city's Washington state Department of Commerce (DOC) Opportunity Zone application.

In the consent calendar approved for the meeting were advisory board appointments as well, with the members of the newly created Tumwater Equity Commission being named and introduced.

Tumwater Equity Commission members include Vanessa Arita Reyes, Tina Crary, Sarah Ellison, Ellen Matheny, Michael Snow, Vonny Turner and Lisa Gorski. The Equity Commission's first meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 27, at 6 p.m. inside Tumwater City Hall.

Additionally, Troy Patience was appointed to the Barnes Lake Management District Steering Committee.

At the beginning of the meeting, proclamations were also made declaring April as Fair Housing Month in Tumwater, and the week of May 3 as Municipal Clerks Week in the Thurston County city.

Members of the Tumwater Police Department were also promoted and honored during the meeting. To learn more about the officers promoted and honored, read The Chronicle's coverage of it at https://tinyurl.com/zjcb7we7.

And finally, prior to their regular meeting on Tuesday, members of the Tumwater City Council held a joint meeting with members of the Tumwater School District to discuss recent concerns about Tumwater Police Department school resource officer (SRO) availability on April 14.

New wells, Opportunity Zone application

Patrick Soderberg, Tumwater Water Resources and Sustainability Program manager, explained to councilors that Schneider Equipment's bid was $2,916,412.60, which came in just under the city engineer project estimate of $2,936,120.50.

"How the contract is written, we're going to do two wells guaranteed, with a third well as an optional additive," Soderberg said.

The wellfield is located at the Tumwater Valley Golf Club, "down in the valley."

New wells are being drilled with the goal of ensuring the city can meet the water needs of industrial customers and big businesses as growth continues in the area - and maximize the city's water right to achieve a combined water supply capacity of 4,343 gallons per minute.

"We predict that we would have water for the next 15, 20 years," Soderberg added. "But, as soon as some big users come in, we would need to expand it. So this is our way of staying out ahead of growth and ensuring we have our infrastructure set up before we get to that need."

Schneider Equipment will drill the first two wells at a cost of $1,917,556, with the third well to cost $998,856.60 if needed.

Soderberg added he and other city staff had been coordinating with golf course staff and Schneider Equipment contractors to establish specific times when construction equipment is allowed to be moved around and used on the golf course to limit noise and obstacles for golfers using the course still.

"They cannot bring their vehicles, their big rigs, back and forth through the golf course during times of play. They have to do it within the first two hours, and then after play," Soderberg said. "The drilling specifications are very specific as to where they can stage, when they can move, how they are going to protect themselves during play - and the locations are chosen to be on the course, but not necessarily in play ... One of them will be close, but not in the fairway."

As for the DOC Opportunity Zone application, Tumwater Assistant City Administrator Kelly Adams told councilors the Opportunity Zone program was designed to promote private investment by offering federal tax incentives to develop in regions designated as economically distressed.

She added city staff are coordinating with regional partners in this effort including the Port of Olympia, the Thurston Economic Development Council and the neighboring city governments in Olympia and Lacey.

While local officials must designate areas and apply to have them become a part of the Opportunity Zone program, it ultimately will fall to Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to make the final recommendations to federal officials.

"There are two eligible tracts in Tumwater that the governor can nominate to the U.S. Treasury," Adams said. "The qualifications for these tracts are that they need to have a median family income that is less than or equal to 70% of the general area median family income. The tract in the north of Tumwater includes the Brewery District, and the tract in the south covers the airport. So there's some nice overlay with different partners that we have for economic development."

For more information on the Opportunity Zone program, visit the DOC's website at https://www.commerce.wa.gov/opportunity-zones/.

Tumwater School District joint meeting

As for the joint meeting with the Tumwater School District and the city council on April 14, it got off to a bit of a rocky start.

While the majority of the members of the Tumwater City Council were present, along with interim Tumwater Police Chief Carlos Quiles, Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders and other Tumwater city staff, the only Tumwater School District Board of Directors members who attended were Julie Watts and Melissa Beard.

"(Tumwater School District) Board member Ty (Kuehl) is in Montana. We know that (Tumwater School District Board member) Rob (Warner) made mention at one of your school board meetings that he would also be out of town," Tumwater Mayor Leatta Dahlhoff said. "I was not expecting Melissa or Julie to answer anything, but I would like a follow or a circle back as to why Tumwater School District staff are not here, why the superintendent (Kevin Bogatin) is not here and why the board president (Casey Taylor) is not here ... I'd like to understand, for a meeting we had been scheduling and working on since January, why no staff are present and why the superintendent is not here."

Though availability of the Tumwater Police Department SRO was the main topic of discussion for the joint meeting, city staff also wanted to discuss shared facility usage with the school district, the Tumwater FRESH (Farm Rooted Education for Sustainability and Health) Program, how to foster a more welcoming community and school system and possible ideas for future collaborative projects.

As for concerns about the SRO, Quiles wanted to clarify "perception versus reality," after the department's SRO was temporarily reassigned in February. He added Tumwater Police Detective Lieutenant Jennifer Kolb, who runs the department's SRO program, was also in attendance.

Tyler Boling was the Tumwater SRO prior to the temporary reassignment, and the department's patrol officers have been stepping in to provide SRO service for the school district.

"The perception was that reassigning the SRO was going to cause major problems for Tumwater School District. Since the temporary reassignment, officer (Seth) Stauffer has been providing (an) outstanding level of service," Quiles said. "And to date, I have not been notified of any calls, issues or investigations that have not been handled by our SRO and/or, with support of our patrol staff. And if school district staff were here, I would confirm that in making sure I'm getting accurate information. But, as of right now, we are still performing and delivering a high level of school resource officer service to all the Tumwater schools."

He added his patrol officers have actually increased the frequency at which they patrol the schools, and have also been collaborating with Thurston County Sheriff's Office deputies to ensure SRO services continue in Tumwater.

And though he has been temporarily reassigned, Quiles said Boling will still be the SRO for several upcoming events including the graduation ceremonies at Tumwater and Black Hills high schools.

"The same SRO that these kids have seen will be present for them there, even though he's temporarily working patrol right now," Quiles added.

Currently, Quiles stated the department's goal is still to get a second designated SRO hired by the start of the next school year in the fall.

"We in Tumwater firmly believe Tumwater cops should be in Tumwater schools ... We have one SRO and he is doing just fine. I do believe he is capable of handling all of Tumwater schools by himself with our patrol staff," said Quiles. "But I also know the sheriff has mentioned that if patrol staffing is available or he has staffing available, that might be something the sheriff's office would be willing to talk about or consider."

He maintained the Tumwater Police Department's main goal was to get Boling back to being a full-time SRO along with a second designated SRO, and wanted to make clear the current situation is not a worst case scenario.

To view the recording of the full two-hour April 14 joint meeting with the City of Tumwater and the Tumwater School District, visit the city's website at https://tinyurl.com/4zydcjc2.

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