Ashland City Council to Meet on Tuesday to Decide on Public Works Contracts

ASHLAND, Ore. — Ashland City Council will be meeting on Tuesday evening to consider multiple projects from the public works department.

One of these contracts will involve $215,038 with nonprofit organization Freshwater Trust in order to perform a “Flow Augmentation Feasibility Study”. It will fulfill a regulatory requirement for allowing the city’s wastewater treatment plant to hold its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit. The cost is already accounted for within the city budget, the meeting materials say.

The city council is also expected to vote on a $210,209 contract with ORW Architecture for the creation of a Facility Optimization and Management Plan. A plan like this hasn’t been approved since 2008. The contract will involve evaluating all of the city’s facilities in order to potentially enhance their efficiency and possibly enhance the usage of solar power. It’s also used to prepare the buildings for climate change, and because of that, roofing and other structural elements will be examined in order to “be proactive when it comes to budgeting for replacement or upgrades”.

A $1,187,680 construction contract will also be considered for approval. Its purpose would be to install a new waterline from Morton Street to Ivy Lane. According to meeting materials, this specific plan has already been approved under Ashland’s water master plan in 2020. The funds for the contract have already been considered in the city budget.

While that wraps up the contracts, there will also be a vote on ballot language for a change to the city recorder position. If it’s approved, then the position will no longer be an elected official, but instead an employee.

The position of recorder has, over the years, become an administrative position. Because of this changing the position to just an employee would lead to fiscal savings.

Also up for consideration is an annual City Council planning retreat, allowing them to discuss work initiatives and priorities without “the consideration of business actions”.

Each retreat would be held in spring at the Ashland Hills Hotel or a similar location. The cost would be $1,400 and has already been accounted for in the budget.

The meeting will start at 6 p.m on Tuesday, February 6th, held in the Ashland City Council chamber, located on 1175 East Main Street. The meetings can be watched on cablecast live on Channel 9 (or 180).