Port of Chehalis Commissioner Mark Anders discusses the 105 McBride Court building project, while commissioners Mark Giffey and Ken Kostick call in remotely for the meeting Thursday morning in Chehalis.
The Port of Chehalis is shifting its focus from a regional fiber project to its 105 McBride Court building project, after negotiations for the fiber conduit went awry.
The Port of Chehalis previously earmarked $200,000 for a multi-port project to acquire and rehabilitate fiber optic internet connections from Portland to Seattle along the I-5 corridor. However, Port of Chehalis Executive Director Randy Mueller said that while the ports were negotiating the conduit purchase, another entity purchased it first.
“There is no follow-up project in the pipeline, but I would say all the ports are interested in looking,” Mueller said. “I think the need is still there. All the ports that were talking about it before that fiber is a necessary utility like water and electricity — and we put water and electricity in roads in our industrial parks all day. Just add fiber to that list.”
At the regular Port of Chehalis Commission meeting Thursday, Mueller recommended the commission reallocate the $200,000 to the port’s 105 McBride Court building project.
The Port of Chehalis has been at full occupancy for the last three years, but is currently working to construct a 20,000 square-foot building that can be divided into smaller, leasable spaces for businesses. The building will be able to house up to eight businesses, and could provide as many as 200 jobs.
There is currently $1.65 million in the port’s 2019 budget earmarked for the 105 McBride Court project. However, the most recent proposal from Kaufman Construction & Development for the the project estimates it will cost $1,792,580.75. That figure does not include about 10 excluded items, such as state sales tax, street lighting and low voltage/data wiring.
Mueller said the staff recommendation was to reallocate the $200,000 from the I-5 fiber project to the 105 McBride Court building project.
“That conduit that we were looking at acquiring was sold to another party,” said Mueller during the meeting. “Suddenly, mid-negotiation it was no longer available and the project just went away. So what I would like to do, and it’s consistent with what we have talked about before, is reprogram the $200,000 we allocated for regional fiber into the new building project. So essentially strike the $200,000 from regional fiber and bump the 105 McBride Court up from $1.65 million to $1.85 million.”
Port of Chehalis Commissioner Mark Giffey asked if there was an estimate of how much the excluded items would cost, and said he wants a firmer understanding of the final budget before the commission approves shifting the $200,000.
Port of Chehalis Commissioner Ken Kostick said he also did not feel comfortable supporting a motion to reallocate the funds without more information about the items that were not budgeted.
“We need to have some good, firm numbers of what the whole picture is so we have a good understanding,” Kostick said. “Are we a few thousand over budget, are we several thousand over budget or are we under budget? I’m not comfortable supporting a motion at this point in time for the $200,000. I’m not saying I’m not down the road, I’m just saying right now I think there is some unknowns there that can impact this.”
Giffey said he was fine with the concept of shifting the funds as well, but wants a firmer understanding of the total project cost.
The port does not currently have a contract with Kaufman to construct the building, but the proposal was the most current estimate for the cost. Mueller said he expects to bring estimates for the unbudgeted items to the next commission meeting.
“What I heard is support to keep moving forward with this plan,” Mueller said. “But before we pull the trigger on shifting the money over, just trying to come up with answers to what the rest of the costs are to get us close to a total for the project — not just a total to Kaufman Construction.”
