Grapeview looks at maintenance, grants

Kirk Boxleitner | Sep 14, 20230

Port of Grapeview Commissioner Art Whitson said several matters worthy of public interest were raised at the port’s special meeting Aug. 22.

Under the port’s maintenance plan, landscaping, irrigation and septic systems were addressed, its trees have been trimmed, and its restrooms and gutters have been cleaned, although replacing the women’s restroom toilet requires some work.

Whitson praised AAA Septic in Shelton, which had to deal with hundreds of pounds of invasive roots infiltrating the port’s septic system. That fact made Whitson, an environmental engineer, realize that septic system maintenance needed to be scheduled far more frequently.

The port has pressure-washed its ramp and dock floats, and while there had been plans to supplement the gravel levels of the port’s upper parking lot, Whitson determined that to be unnecessary.

“We had enough gravel as it was, in all the wrong places,” said Whitson, explaining how its previous plans shifted to redistributing the existing gravel with tractors, in addition to restriping the parking lot.

An admittedly minor issue was the state of the parking lots’ signs, which Whitson reported had also been addressed, although he said the pavement and gravel surface maintenance plans for the parking lots need to be completed.

With almost all of the remaining maintenance plan tasks that have yet to be completed, Whitson said those incomplete tasks pose no risk of causing outright system failures.

The tasks include the catch basin maintenance that Whitson had expected Mason

County to address by now, especially since the only nongovernmental companies who perform such work are based outside the county.

While the port’s water-well valve verification has been completed, its water system inspection and maintenance plans remain incomplete, as do the repairs to the resting stilts on the port’s dock. Whitson said he intends to have most of these matters addressed by the end of the year.

A notable exception is the port’s missing south buoy, which Whitson stressed is being dealt with far more urgently.

In a preview of matters that will take center stage during the port commissioners’ regularly scheduled Sept. 19 meeting, Whitson said the port could potentially expect grant funding from the state Recreation and Conservation Office to conduct local parks maintenance, in an amount from $35,000 to $100,000.

Among the tasks included in this potential matrix of local parks maintenance would be removing the trees in the port’s upper parking lot, repairing the port’s fencing, epoxy-treating the floors of the port’s restroom and addressing the erosion on the sides of the port’s ramp.

In other news, Whitson said he and fellow Commissioner Mike Blaisdell’s terms of office are up for re-election in November, while Jean Farmer, the third port commissioner, plans to retire when her term concludes in 2026.