Pullman nominates new ward boundaries

Pullman selected new boundaries for its three city council wards and will ask the public to share its input before adopting the new map in May.

The city hired consultant Flo-Analytics to draw up new ward maps in response to data from the 2020 census. The City Council on Tuesday narrowed three options down to one.

The new map will be published in the Daily News and on the city’s website (find it with the rest of this story on Page 6A). Staff will take public comments by email, phone and writing until the council officially revises the ward boundaries May 24.

Currently, there are 12,377 people in Ward 1 on the west side of the city, 10,703 people in Ward 2 in the College Hill area, and 9,821 in Ward 3 on the east side of the city.

At a previous city council meeting, Alex Brasch, senior analyst for Flo-Analytics, said the goal is to make each ward as close to equal in population as possible.

The city council held a public hearing on the revised ward boundaries Tuesday but no member of the public spoke.

The city council Tuesday also accepted a $1.25 million bid from Motley-Motley, Inc. to resurface Center Street, Panorama Drive, City View Street and Dawnview Court. This work is scheduled for completion by the end of September.

This bid is higher than the engineer’s estimate of nearly $988,000 because of inflation and high material prices. Pullman Public Works Director Shawn Kohtz recommended the city accept the bid because prices are not expected to decrease if the city goes out for bid again. Also, rebidding would likely push this project to next year when staff will be overbooked with other construction projects.

Terre View Drive will also be resurfaced this year from Airport Road to State Route 270. The city council accepted a bid of $713,758 from Motley-Motley for that project.

Washington’s Transportation Improvement Board will pay for the majority of that cost with a grant because it asked Pullman to use 30% recycled asphalt pavement when resurfacing Terre View Drive. The city will contribute nearly $115,000 to the total cost.

Recycled asphalt pavement reduces waste and Pullman typically uses 15-20% of recycled material in its asphalt mix.

Washington State University will provide technical support and monitor the new pavement’s performance.

WSU is also partnering with the city to improve the police department. On Tuesday, the city council agreed to partially fund a two-and-a-half year program agreement with WSU’s Complex Social Interaction Lab for $70,000.

The police have been working with WSU since 2019 and doctoral student Megan Parks was selected to provide research assistance to the city.

Through this research, the department has studied the feasibility of a municipal court, developed a police citizen academy, examined officer wellness and learned from body-worn camera footage. One of its current projects is to train officers with virtual reality technology that uses footage from body cameras.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.