Tonasket City Council is still trying to find a solution it can afford for replacing the front doors to city hall and the public library. They are looking for doors that are more easily opened by people with physical needs, according to Mayor René Maldonado.

TONASKET- The Tonasket City Council unanimously voted to approve the Transportation Improvement Board consultant agreement with Varella Engineering in the amount of $50,530.00, during last Tuesday’s regular meeting.

“These are the funds we received for the Transportation Improvement Board, I believe for $97,000, right around that,” said City Clerk Alice Attwood.

The scope of work includes construction of a five-foot sidewalk on the south side, and bike lanes on both sides of 4th Street, with existing pavement width and installation of ADA compliant ramps at each intersection.

“I just want to clarify, this is money we went after and this money is being used for the purpose we received it for,” said Councilwoman Teagan Levine.

Council member Jeff McMillan further explained the funds would cover the engineering portion of the project.

Levine said there will be a couple more items in the process before going out to bid.

“This is the first,” said Levine.

The council discussed a quote from Discount Glass for the front double door replacement at city hall in the amount of $14,220.01.

“We’ve been working on this even before I came on council. I know this isn’t what the council wanted, they wanted sliding glass doors but we didn’t have any bites. This to me, is at least a good temporary fix. I know at some point, we will probably be remodeling city hall,” said McMillan, adding the doors can be part of the remodel.

In the meantime, McMillan encouraged the council to consider this as a temporary solution to the current problem.

“We will have doors that work, doors that people can get in and out of and it will make our building look just a little bit better with functioning doors. That’s my thoughts,” said McMillan.

Mayor René Maldonado said the council has been working on this for a long time.

“It’s been unsuccessful and I have not been able to get any bites,” said Maldonado.

Attwood said she received a quote on new doors earlier.

“I got it today,” said Attwood.

The quote came from a company in Yakima. She said she received a phone call within five minutes of her request.

“They sent me a quote. I sent them pictures of the front door,” said Attwood.

Maldonado said the quote is $1,000 below what the city has budgeted for.

The council moved to table the discussion and revisit the topic in two weeks at the next meeting.

Maldonado shared a story about witnessing with his own eyes the difficulties presented by the current doors, for those with physical limitations. He said two months ago a community member attempted to open the doors and broke the glass.

“Guys, he could not open the door,” said Maldonado. He asked the council, as they move forward with their considerations, to look at what the extra money will do for those people who have those physical needs.

The Tonasket City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at city hall.