City of Montesano officials on Tuesday expressed their frustrations at the Grays Harbor Hospital District 2 for its lack of participation in an upcoming street project.
Contrary to a story in Tuesday’sDaily World, the hospital district did not agree to participate in the city’s East Pioneer road and sidewalk project. The hospital district did agree to grant a temporary construction easement with the city for a storm drain project (which had been part of the street project but has since been separated into its own project).
Following several delays from the hospital district, which operates Grays Harbor Community Hospital, the city was at its deadline for paperwork for the state Department of Transportation to move forward with the East Pioneer project. The hospital district owns a clinic on the street. The project will include work to widen the sidewalks for handicap accessibility. The city had asked the hospital district for a sliver of its property (6 inches to 1 foot deep across one end of the property that is about 100 feet wide). City Chief Financial Officer Doug Streeter says the value of that sliver of land is about $97, based on values from the Assessor’s Office.
After receiving last-minute demands from the hospital district, Mayor Vini Samuel decided the city would press forward with the East Pioneer project without the hospital district’s property at 319 E. Pioneer Ave.
While every other property within the scope of the project had come to an agreement with the city, the hospital district did not. The hospital had asked the city to trade for a plot of a city-owned land that fronts a highway for the easement. The city declined. When the hospital district was told the city planned to build a billboard at that location, the hospital district then asked for an agreement that would allow the hospital district “first refusal” on advertising for the billboard. However, the hospital district included a stipulation that if the city had not built the billboard by December of this year, the city would owe the hospital district an unspecified amount (according to Streeter, hospital district Chief Operating Officer Larry Kahl floated a $40,000 penalty, and when Streeter balked, Kahl suggested $30,000).
Now that the street and sidewalk portion of the project is moving forward without the hospital, it will cost the city some $5,000-$6,000 to have consultants revise the project plans.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Councilman Dan Wood was uninhibited in his criticism of the hospital district.
“Given that every other public and private entity along that road worked with us in order to get the new road, new sidewalks … the hospital district laid out demands that would have cost the city tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for a $97 strip of property,” Wood said. “It is absolutely ridiculous for another public entity to try to screw the City of Montesano like this. They should be ashamed of themselves and they have some explaining to do.”
Councilman Tyler Trimble had similar feelings on the issue, he said.
“It’s difficult for me to understand, and it’s extremely disappointing that a public hospital — that we pay taxes into and they’re our hospital district — can’t see the bigger picture of their own constituency, and that we’re paying them to do this,” Trimble said. “You would always hope that the compromise for the greater good would prevail, and I don’t believe the hospital is doing that.”
Councilwoman Nikki Hutchinson-King questioned the whole situation saying, “I just feel like there has to be more to the story. It’s very disappointing.”
The hospital district declined to comment for this story.
Ultimately, $800,000 in federal funding was on the line if the project didn’t move forward.
The $800,000 was awarded to the Grays Harbor Council of Governments (COG) as a block grant through the Surface Transportation Program administered by the Federal Highway Administration. Through a competitive process, COG awarded the funding to the City of Montesano for the East Pioneer Project. If the project hadn’t moved forward, that $800,000 would have been unobligated.
“It’s an $800,000 deadline, and if we don’t meet it, we lose $800,000, and COG loses $800,000 going forward into the foreseeable future on any transportation projects,” Streeter had said earlier in the week.
During the council meeting, Councilman Ian Cope noted the danger to countywide funding in his criticism of the hospital district.
“When you factor in the risks it’s putting on the entire county’s transportation dollars for the Council of Governments that just compounds it,” Cope said. “Talk about a lack of greater vision for the entire area.”
