Roy City Council votes to reallocate funding for crosswalk project

In a special city council meeting Tuesday, July 22, the City of Roy unanimously voted to approve a motion that allows Clerk-Treasurer Kris Ballerini to request that the Washington state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) reallocate funds for the city’s crosswalk project across state Route 507.

“For the crosswalk, we were informed by WSDOT that we do need to do a fund reallocation,” Mayor Kimber Ivy said during the meeting. “And just for recap for everybody on how this works, is the $200,000 grant that we received, we don't technically get the money in. We hold all of our receipts, and we put it in for reimbursement.”

Ivy added that the money has to be allocated before the project starts. She said $100,000 was earmarked for construction and set aside, and then the rest of the funds were put into planning.

“When planning was done, we then moved the funds to design,” Ivy said. “During all of that, a portion of the money, $11,694, was earmarked for ‘agency.’”

Ivy then asked Ballerini to speak on the matter. Ballerini said that the $11,694 was allocated for a “workforce agency,” and, because the city is not in that phase, WSDOT suggested submitting an application to move the $11,694 into the “consultant fees” category.

In this case, the money would, ostensibly, be used to pay Skillings, the engineering firm contracted for the project — or else other consultants tied to the project’s next phase.

“Because it's there for us to use, but right now, it's being earmarked as this agency that we aren't going to use at all,” Ballerini said.

In an email to the Nisqually Valley News, Mayor Ivy confirmed that the $200,000 grant falls under the 2023–25 State Transportation Budget and includes both the installation of the flashing pedestrian crossing sign across state Route 507 and the construction of a sidewalk along Huggins Greig Road.

“Although there was an initial internal breakdown of $100,000 for design and $100,000 for construction, WSDOT’s award letter specifies only a lump sum of $200,000 without a mandated internal split,” Ivy wrote. “That said, based on subsequent budgeting and state transportation updates, the construction portion of the project has now been moved to ‘future’ status — likely post-2030, pending supplemental budget adjustments or alternate funding.”

The city had hoped to start construction on the crosswalk project this past June. On June 9, Rep. Andrew Barkis, speaking to the Roy City Council, said the indefinite push was more of a “clerical error.”

During the July 22 meeting, Councilmember Yvonne Starks said the council has seen no drawings of the crosswalk, and asked if they were going to get something for the money that has already been spent. Ivy said that plans should be coming to the council once WSDOT approves them.

In her email to the Nisqually Valley News, the mayor indicated that, to date, a projected $78,548 has been spent on the planning and design by Skillings.

Ivy reminded council members during the special meeting that Rep. Barkis is working to move the $100,000 “back to active.” She said the city projects that the $100,000 will become available again, but if not, they are applying for Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) grants that will open up funding sooner than the projected past-2030 date.

“So, this project, these plans, are not going to go in a box to sit and wait, because we need that crosswalk for our kids. Those kids need to be able to cross the street safely. So, we're not going to give up finding funding, just because the $100,000 that we had is not accessible right now. There are other pots of money that we can find and we are doing that,” Ivy said.
Starks said that looking for other grants is like “pie in the sky.”

“I mean, we're trying to grab something that's not there, and maybe we'll catch something, maybe we won't,” Starks said.

Councilmember Edmund Dunn emphasized that the designs for the crosswalk are still good, regardless of the current funding status.

“They may need to be adjusted to get up to whatever the current code is,” Dunn said. “But Skillings, when they came in to talk to us, did say those designs will hold good. So, it's not like we're going to have to tear them up and throw them out.”

Ivy reiterated the “promising” possibility of TIB funding.

“And that's where the conversation of mitigating traffic on (state Route) 507 came from, too, is there are pots of money for us to apply into that are very likely and we have been encouraged to apply because they are very ready to help us with projects that we have,” Ivy said. “We have expressed the need for our children to cross 507 and the state of traffic there, and they're willing to work with us. So having these plans completed so that we can construct that sooner rather than later is in the best interest of our constituents.”

Still, some members of the council remained doubtful. Jim Rotondo suggested that he didn’t expect to see the crosswalk in his lifetime.

“And that’s all we asked for was a flashing light crosswalk,” Rotondo said.
“And we almost have it,” Ivy said.