Around the Point: October

Former water district manager Dan Bourks has agreed to fill the water commissioner seat left vacant by the recent death of Arthur Reber. The appointment will last for the remainder of 2025.

Reber’s seat was up for election in November as he did not file for re-election. It will be contested by Rhonda Granger and Grant Heitman. Despite the fact that Granger has been attending water district meetings in recent months, remaining commissioners Scott Hackleman and Madeleine Anderson avoided putting their finger on the scales by picking Bourks.

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Port of Bellingham director of economic development Tyler Schroeder will be presenting results of the Point Roberts economic development study performed by consultant Maul, Foster & Alonghi at the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee’s regular monthly meeting on Thursday, October 16. It will be a hybrid in-person/Zoom meeting.

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Local contractor Ken Calder has been recognized with a Special Achievement award by the state Department of Archaelogy and Historic Preservation. Owner of Ken Calder Construction, Calder was praised by the department for designing and implementing a fully above ground septic system that requires little or no digging for use in archaelogical sites and areas of archaelogical concern.

Installation includes placing ground protection mats on grade for equipment and delivery trucks, reducing the potential for ground disturbance. A pump basin with a sewage ejection pump is installed inside the original in-ground septic tank to pump up to the new tanks.

Landscape fabric is laid down and a gravel pad leveled for the new tanks to sit on. All plumbing is run above existing grade and insulated.

Calder will be making a presentation about his septic systems at Septic-Con in January to help others in the industry understand that there are ways to work around archaeological sites with minimal to no ground disturbance.