Before Bonney Lake City Council members could act on a resolution aimed at getting leaky water mains replaced, one councilman urged more data is need before city funds are spent.

During the council’s Jan. 12 meeting, Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman asked Community Development Committee members what data they reviewed before determining the water mains were leaking.

“As part of the ongoing cost and controls, I’m going to be looking very closely at things,” Swatman said. “I’m going to have a hard time simply supporting something as I did with the sewer replacement…staff is not supplying all the information to convince me that we need to be doing this now.”

Councilman James Rackley, CDC chair, said he had no reason to question the data the committee received and that it was the fifth year the city has worked on fixing leaks.

City Engineer John Woodcock said the Public Works Department hires a contractor each year to find water mains that are leaking.

Woodcock said much of the work replaces steel water line that are 50 or 60 years old. He said city maintenance workers have to dig the lines up and patch them.

“We have people going out doing the testing, we have records from our maintenance department on what lines are creating the biggest problems,” Woodcock said. “They’re out there maintaining the line and fixing the leaks on a monthly basis.”

Woodcook said the city is spending a lot of money digging up roads and repairing leaky water mains.

Swatman said he wants to see the data behind the project before spending millions of dollars.

City Administrator Don Morrison said the city is near the end of a program to replace leaky water mains. He said the program was paid for with money from Public Works Trust Fund loans.

The city has replaced approximately 49,400 feet of leaky water mains thus far, using PWTF loans.

“My main point is to keep harping on committee and councilmembers to make sure they have data to back them up,” Swatman said. “There is no way to prove – to me as a taxpayer – it needs to be done. As a taxpayer I would hope that the committee and council keeps an eye on very single dollar that we spend.”

The council approved the 2010 work plan for the Planning Commission.

Listed as high priorities the plan are: updating the Shoreline Master Plan; updating a landscaping code to include requirements for maintenance; addressing provisions for interim buildings and uses in downtown design standards and downtown core zoning; and updating a capital facilities plan that includes inventory of city-owned buildings and other facilities.

In other action Jan. 12, the council:

• approved an interlocal agreement with Buckley for planning services. The city will provide Buckley, which recently laid off its planner, with on-call planning servcies. The primary planner assigned to the agreement anticipated a quarter-time to half-time arrangement, which can be terminated by either city with a 60-day notice.

• approved a maintenance plan with the state Department of Transportation for the “vegetated medians” coming to a stretch of state Route 410.

• approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local No. 120 for 2010 to 2012. There will be no wage adjustment in 2010 aside from the 3 percent step increase and phase-in of 13 employees who fall below the minimum salary. The contract also changes union wages to a market-based scale for classifications that have fallen behind the market rate. The agreement also changes employees’ medical plans from a $5 copay with Group Health to $10 by HealthFirst and Group Health’s $10 copay effective March 1. Employees agreed to play up to $115 a month for dental insurance and $25 a month for vision.

• authorized the purchase and installation of 15 street lights in the state Route 410 medians between 214th Avenue East and 234th Avenue East at a cost of $138,000, which will come from Traffic Impact Fees.

• authorize a stormwater mitigation agreement with the state’s Department of Transportation for property along state Route 410 between 214th Avenue East and 234th Avenue East.

• authorized an interlocal agreement with the Sumner School District and city of Sumner to operate a joint recreation program.

• appointed Rackley as a representative to the Pierce County Regional Council with Councilman Mark Hamilton as alternate.

Hamilton was selected to serve as an at-large representative on the Zoo/Trek Authority Board.