The Baker City Council will discuss two options for new restrooms at Geiser-Pollman Park when councilors meet Tuesday, May 13.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Baker County Event Center (the old armory), 2600 East St.

City officials have been planning to install new restrooms at the city’s largest park for more than a year.

The current restrooms are at the northwest corner of the park near Campbell Street. They will remain available at least until the new restrooms are finished, which could happen either late this summer or in the fall, said Joyce Bornstedt, the city’s public works director. Installing restrooms during the summer, when the park is the site of multiple events, could be challenging, Bornstedt said.

The current restrooms, which the city last renovated about 15 years ago, aren’t in an ideal location based on park use, Bornstedt said. The security cameras in the park also don’t have a good view of the restrooms’ entrances, and there have been several cases of vandalism over the past several years, she said.

The new restrooms will be placed at the southwest corner, just north of Madison Street. That site is more accessible to park visitors, and security cameras have a good view of the area, Bornstedt said.

Councilors will consider two options, one for a building constructed at the park, the other for a pre-fabricated structure.

The on-site construction option is from the Romtec company. Installation would take four to eight weeks, with an estimated cost ranging from $376,000 to $434,000, according to a report to councilors.

The second option, from the CXT company, is for a precast concrete building similar to the restrooms at Central Park.

This building can be installed in one day, and the estimated cost is $249,000.

That includes an estimated $20,000 to accommodate turning off and removing a section of power line, which would be required to accommodate the crane that would lift the two pieces of the structure.

The power outage would last eight to 10 hours and affect homes and businesses on part of Madison Street between Grove and Resort streets, and Resort Street from Campbell to near Broadway Street, according to the map included in the report to councilors.

The city has budgeted $300,000 for the restrooms, Bornstedt said.

The Baker County Board of Commissioners last year gave the city $150,000 in lodging taxes for the restroom replacement. That’s the tax that guests at motels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rental homes and other lodging establishments pay. The city also has allocated $150,000 from its share of a federal aid bill that Congress passed during the pandemic, Bornstedt said.

In other business Tuesday, councilors will consider a resolution to loan $588,000 from the Anthony Silvers Street Tree Trust Fund to the golf course capital projects fund to help pay for the $1.3 million irrigation system installed at the city-owned Quail Ridge Golf Course in October 2024.

The city’s budget for the current fiscal year, which continues through June 30, included a $700,000 loan from the Silvers fund, but fundraising from other sources, including local golfers, reduced the amount needed.

The city’s plan is to repay the Silvers Fund over five years, at an interest rate of the state’s short term fund rate (4.6% now) plus 1%. Based on that rate, the total payments to the Silvers Fund would be $719,000, meaning that fund would gain about $131,000.

Councilors will also consider approving water, wastewater and stormwater projects for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The biggest project is phase 6 of the ongoing replacement of the concrete pipeline that brings water to town from the city’s watershed in the Elkhorn Mountains. That pipeline, sections of which were installed about a century ago, is prone to leaking, in part because the pipe is in 3-foot sections with thousands of joints. A test done in the early 2000s showed that when the pipe is at capacity as much as 22% of the water can be lost to leaks.

The replacement project started in 2009. The city has been installing a 24-inch-diameter PVC pipeline, which has longer sections and fewer joints.

The money for the work comes from water bill revenue. The city raised water rates several times over the past 15 years for the replacement project. The water fund had a balance of $3.2 million at the start of the current fiscal year.

The proposed project for this year is replacing a section of line between Elk Creek and Little Salmon Creek at an estimated cost of $800,000. Last summer, crews replaced 4,150 feet of line between those two streams, both of which supply water to the city.

The city also plans to replace two sections of water supply line in the city this summer: Place Street between 13th and 17th streets for an estimated $186,000; and Birch Street between Washington Avenue and Campbell Street, at an estimated cost of $145,600.