By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

The city of Bonney Lake is in the process of signing a deal to place a video stop-light enforcement system on state Route 410, but an arm-wrestling match with the Washington State Department of Transportation is just around the corner.

The City Council voted 5-2 at a June 13 meeting, allowing Mayor Neil Johnson to sign the contract. Councilmen Dave Bowen and Mark Hamilton voted against the proposal.

&#8220I can't support this tonight,” Bowen said. &#8220There are too many things not completed.”

Johnson said he picked up the contract the day of the council meeting and gave it to Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman to bring before the Finance Committee.

&#8220It was a matter of bringing it forward to give the City Council a chance to deal with it,” Johnson said. &#8220I wanted to make sure they had all the details. It was no problem either way (the council voted).”

Johnson said the Finance Committee suggested some changes, which were forwarded to City Attorney Jim Dionne.

The contract calls for video monitoring systems to be installed at three intersections on SR 410 and a speed control system in the area of schools.

The cost for the systems is about $470,000 for one year.

According to Johnson, the systems will not cost the city anything.

&#8220At the end of the year if the system does not cover the cost, the city is not liable,” Johnson said. &#8220That took care of one of our major fears.”

The mayor said representatives from Nestor, the company providing the monitoring system, felt confident the system would pay for itself through citations sent out to people caught running red lights.

If not, Nestor agreed to waive the difference between the cost and the money raised through citations.

The rough patch in the road ahead is convincing WSDOT to allow the city to mount the cameras at the intersections. Steve Kim of the WSDOT said the state Legislature needs to amend the current law or writes a new one allowing the city to use the system.

State Rep. Jan Shabro, R-Lake Tapps, said she would be willing to sponsor legislation supporting the idea.

&#8220We would need to explore the issues with placing these systems on state highways,” Shabro said. &#8220But when these state highways are within city limits they're just like a city street. But it will probably have to be in the statute and where the revenues go could be a question.”

The contract the city is negotiating with Nestor gives the company 90 days to convince the state to allow the system to be installed.

Johnson said if Nestor fails to bring the state on board, the speed-control system for schools will be started and the intersection system will be put on hold.

&#8220We want to improve public safety,” Johnson said. &#8220We will be pushing this hard (with the state).”

Similar systems are found in Lakewood and Auburn, where citations cost motorists $101.

Johnson said he wants the system to break even. &#8220We don't want to count on this as revenue,” he said. &#8220Money is secondary. We just want to cover the cost of the system.”

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.