Anticipating it would happen, Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay was right. The Hoquiam City Council accepted a bid for the Queen Avenue Stormwater Pump station, which will help as the North Shore Levee West Project gets closer to being built.

The bid process opened Sept. 17, according to city documents.

Rognlin’s, Inc., won the bidding process with the lowest bid of $873,378. The bid includes sales tax, according to city documents. The project is 100% funded by a $1.2 million Chehalis Basin Flood Authority grant to construct the pump station

The other companies who bid were Quigg Brothers, Inc., at $1,029,105 and Midway Underground at $1,821,860.

Greg Larsen, Hoquiam city councilor, asked when this would be constructed.

“We would sign a contract (Tuesday) and issue it to Rognlin’s,” Shay said. “And then we would work with them on when they wanted to start. Some work is weather-dependent because they’re digging 30 feet in the ground.”

Shay said the hope is Rognlin’s would start immediately, but it’s late September, so using “good weather” is key.

“Get as much work as possible done before the rainy season, and then maybe have to finish up in the spring,” Shay said. “But we expect to be fully operational by next June.”

The bid for this piece that will add more flood protection for Hoquiam was approved unanimously.

In June, the city approved Granich Engineer Products’ bid for stormwater pumps for this pump station. At that time, Shay said the pumps were “super vital.”

“There were several of our pump stations that we needed to upgrade as part of the North Shore Levee West project,” Shay said. “We’re doing the 10th Street construction, that’s one we needed to do. Queen (Avenue) is another one that needed to be done. We’re trying to get these pump stations done in advance of the levee project.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.